Amsterdam’s Quay Walls: Methods for Connecting Past, Present and Future

Authors

front cover

Downloads

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2025.2.16

Published

2025-11-26

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 2 (2025): Water Management in World Heritage Properties at a Time of Climate Change

Section

methodologies and case studies

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Carola Hein, Regina Klinger, Christel Voncken, Prapti Gupta, Vincent Baptist

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

How to Cite

Amsterdam’s Quay Walls: Methods for Connecting Past, Present and Future. (2025). Blue Papers, 4(2). https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2025.2.16

Keywords:

UNESCO World Heritage, quay walls and bridges, climate change, narratives, sustainable design

Abstract

The much-needed repair and rebuilding of Amsterdam’s historical quay walls and bridges coincides with growing demand for innovation, ranging from improved logistics and energy systems to enhanced biodiversity and climate resilience. These technology-driven transformations are unfolding in the heart of a World Heritage property known for its distinctive architectural and urban character. This article explores the complexities of integrating heritage into transdisciplinary design processes, focusing on the Canal Ring Area inside the Singelgracht. It proposes three axes for planning interventions that draw meaningfully on the past while addressing future needs, including those related to climate change. In particular, the article considers how historical analysis, spatial mapping and narrative-based approaches can strengthen the integration of historic spaces and practices into locally grounded, sustainable, climate-responsive design.

Author Biographies

  • Carola Hein, Delft University of Technology

    Carola Hein is Professor History of Architecture and Urban Planning at Delft University of Technology, Professor at Leiden and Erasmus University, and UNESCO Chair Water, Ports and Historic Cities and serves as director of the PortCityFutures Center. She has published and lectured widely on topics in contemporary and historical architectural, urban and planning history and has tied historical analysis to contemporary development. Among other major grants, she received a Guggenheim and an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship. Her recent books include: Port City Atlas (2023), Oil Spaces (2021), Urbanisation of the Sea (2020), Adaptive Strategies for Water Heritage (2020), The Routledge Planning History Handbook (2018), Port Cities: Dynamic Landscapes and Global Networks (2011).

  • Regina Klinger, Delft University of Technology

    Regina Klinger is a landscape architecture professional and junior researcher at TU Delft’s Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, in the Department of History, Form and Aesthetics. She holds a master’s degree in landscape architecture from TU Delft and a bachelor’s degree from TU Munich. Having worked in design offices in Singapore, Zurich and Munich, she combines international design experience with a strong research focus on water as landscape infrastructure in dense urban and UNESCO World Heritage contexts. Her recent research explored how subterranean water systems in Naples can reconnect with the surface to create three-dimensional public and heritage spaces. At TU Delft, she currently contributes to Work Package 7 - Heritage in the National Growth Fund project Multifunctional Urban Waterfronts, developing methodologies to translate archival narratives into contemporary and sustainable design practice in the Amsterdam Canal District.

  • Christel Voncken, Delft University of Technology

    Christel Voncken is a junior researcher at TU Delft’s Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment, in the Department of History, Form and Aesthetics. She holds a master’s degree in urbanism from TU Delft and has gained experience at several design and engineering companies, working on projects in climate adaptation, spatial planning and urban design. Her fascination with the relationship between human settlement and water systems and with how deltas evolve under human influence has shaped both her professional and academic work. Christel is currently involved in Work Package 7 Heritage (WP7) of the national Groeifonds project Multifunctional Urban Waterfronts, led by the UNESCO Chair in Water, Ports and Historic Cities. In this role, she contributes to developing innovative approaches for preserving and adapting waterfront heritage, while exploring strategies to reimagine waterfronts as resilient and meaningful places for future generations.

  • Prapti Gupta, Delft University of Technology

    Prapti Gupta is a master’s student in architecture at TU Delft’s Faculty of Architecture and the Built Environment. She is a former student assistant at the Heritage and Architecture Chair, where she contributed to archival research by studying historical images and materials. Her work combines an interest in heritage with contemporary questions of housing, community and sustainable design.

  • Vincent Baptist, Delft University of Technology

    Vincent Baptist is an assistant professor in the Department of Architecture at TU Delft. He is part of the History of Architecture and Urban Planning Group, where his research focuses on transitions regarding health and livability in historical urban environments and digitally oriented methodologies. He has published in a variety of journals, including Journal of Urban History, Urban Planning, Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, LA+ Interdisciplinary Journal of Landscape Architecture and Mediapolis.

References

AMS (Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions). 2022. “Urbiquay: Urban Bridge and Quay Wall Innovations.” https://www.ams-institute.org/urban-challenges/resilient-cities/urbiquay-urban-bridge-and-quay-wall-innovations/.

AMS. 2025. “The Canal of the Future: Multifunctional Quay Walls as a Catalyst for Urban Transitions.” https://www.ams-institute.org/news/the-canal-of-the-future-multifunctional-quay-walls-as-a-catalyst-for-urban-transitions/.

Amstel Suikerraffinaderij gezien over de Singelgracht. 1905. Amsterdam Cultuur-Historische Vereniging. https://www.amsterdamhv.nl/wiki/bolwerk_osdorp.html.

AmsterdamHV. n.d. “Bolwerk Sloterdijk.” September 23, 2025. https://www.amsterdamhv.nl/wiki/bolwerk_sloterdijk.html

Bakker, Theo. 2007. Amsterdamse markten. Theo Bakker.

De Kruyff, Lutz, and Buffa & Sons. 1825. Vue d’Amsterdam| De Haarlemmer Poort van buiten te zien. Beeldenbank Amsterdam. https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/b9692f6e-c09d-6104-bf41-979700d7e8b8/media/c6c9e09a-a620-5fdd-bd38-2b327213a5d1?mode=detail&view=horizontal&q=kraay&rows=1&page=29.

De Waard, D. 1947. “Zwerfstenen als ballast van schepen II [Erratic stones used as ship ballast II].” Geologie en Mijnbouw 9 (1): 4–13.

Korff, Mandy, Mart-Jan Hemel and Dirk Jan Peters. 2022. “Collapse of the Grimburgwal, a Historic Quay in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.” Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers - Forensic Engineering 175 (4): 96–105. https://doi.org/10.1680/jfoen.21.00018.

Kremer, Theo, Marco Scheffers and Julia Geven. 2023. “The Role of Historical Data Regarding Water Infrastructure in the Spatial Development of the Nieuwmarkt Area, Amsterdam.” Blue Papers 2 (2). https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2023.2.09.

Municipality of Amsterdam. 2024a. “Bruggen En Kademuren.” Openresearch.Amsterdam. 2024. https://openresearch.amsterdam/nl/page/50105/bruggen-en-kademuren.

Municipality of Amsterdam. 2024b. “Beeldkwaliteitsplan kademuren.” Openresearch.Amsterdam. Municipality of Amsterdam. https://openresearch.amsterdam/image/2024/7/15/20240530_bkp_kademuren_2_0.pdf.

Nassaukade tussen Nassauplein en Eerste Nassaustraat en links Marnixkade 2-5, Afb ANWU01721000004. 1925. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nassaukade_tussen_Nassauplein_en_Eerste_Nassaustraat_en_links_Marnixkade_2-5,_Afb_ANWU01721000004.jpg.

Schelling, J. 1946. “Zwerfstenen als ballast van schepen [Erratic stones used as ship ballast].” Geologie en Mijnbouw 8 (1): 6–20.

Stadsarchief Amsterdam. n.d. Marnixstraat. Beeldenbank Amsterdam. https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/69069f1a-d102-7f85-2228-2185559b3fba.

Time Machine Organization. 2019. “Time Machine: Big Data of the Past for the Future of Europe.” CORDIS. Accessed September 25, 2025. https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/820323.

Time Machine Organization. 2025. “Time Machine.” Time Machine Europe. 2025. https://www.timemachine.eu/.

UNESCO. 2023. “UNESCO Urban Heritage Atlas.” 2023. https://whc.unesco.org/en/urban-heritage-atlas/.

UNESCO. “UNESCO Urban Heritage Atlas: Cultural Mapping for Historic Cities and Settlements.” Accessed 25.9.2025. https://www.whc.unesco.org/en/urban-heritage-atlas/

Verrijk. 1786. “Singelgracht. Gezien naar Raampoort. Techniek: pen en penseel in kleur.” Stadsarchief Amsterdam. 1786. https://archief.amsterdam/beeldbank/detail/20544ce0-a923-06cc-db2f-87b215dc2ba6.

World Heritage Centre. 2014. “Periodic Report - Second Cycle Section Section II-Seventeenth-Century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam Inside the Singelgracht.” 1349. World Heritage Centre. https://whc.unesco.org/document/164299.