21 March 2023 Video

Multifunctional bridges for city life

Amsterdam municipality manages around 1,800 bridges and 600 kilometres of quays. The many bridges and quay walls connect neighbourhoods and districts and give the city character. Many are not meant for the heavy traffic that crosses them these days. One option to save the bridges is to close them to car and truck traffic. But how do you explain that to residents? And what do you do with that freed-up space? What if Lab and the City of Amsterdam joined forces and looked for designers to work on this challenging and complex issue.

What if… bridges become multifunctional spaces for city life?

Social collective PLYGRND.city and architect duo Ivanka Bakker and Florian Eckardt took up this challenge! Curious about the process and the concepts? Watch the video here!

With this video, What if Lab Bridging the gap has come to and end! Well, at least our role in it has. The Municipality of Amsterdam and the designers are exploring ways to take the concepts further.