Amsterdam Detours

The Amsterdam Detours project is also part of Placemakers’ ‘Bloody Tourists Toolkit’; a series of interventions, events and designs, dealing with tourism and local-visitor interactions in alternative ways. Have a look at the Toolkit here.

Did you know that a tourist in Amsterdam crosses Dam square on average 4 times?

By implementing three small scale spatial interventions, Placemakers attempted to research to what extent and in what ways we may influence pedestrians’ route choices. Will we still follow the crowd without a second thought? Or can we tempt visitors to take an alternative route?

Based on insights on the concept of ‘nudging’, ‘wayfinding’ and environmental psychology, Placemakers implemented the project ‘Amsterdam Detours’ in collaboration with the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences, design studio KNOL and the municipality of Amsterdam. Across three Fridays, different types of interventions were placed on the crossing between a busy popular street (Damstraat) and a quiet yet interesting street (Nes). Each intervention represents a different way of subtly inviting people into the Nes: unconventional signage design, information on the level of crowdedness, and painting the sidewalk with a colorful graphic pattern.

The experiment is part of the policy programme ‘Stad in Balans’. The municipality of Amsterdam invites residents, entrepreneurs, educational and cultural institutions and other local stakeholders to experiment with different responses to the growing pressure of tourism in/on the city.

When: february 2017
Where: Amsterdam city centre
Client: Municipality of Amsterdam
Collaboration partners: Hogeschool van Amsterdam, Studio KNOL