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urban planner
Ab Oskam
1981-1997
managing director / chief planner of the
Physical Planning Department of
Amsterdam
After more than 15 years of experience as the chief urban planner of the city of Amsterdam I will welcome the possibilities of new professional challenges all over the world. Prefer teaching, coaching or consulting.
Academic and professional experience
1967 graduated at he Technical University Delft (Ir., B.I.)
1968-1971: Lecturer Technical University Eindhoven, faculty of Architecture
1971-1976: Architect
1976-1981: Chief of Planning city of Dordrecht
1981-1997: Managing Director/Chief of planning city of Amsterdam
1990-1992: Chairman of the combined Board of the Planning Dept., Real Estate Dept. and Project Managing Bureau.
1998-1999: (adj.) Professor, the University of New South Wales, Faculty of the Built Environment, Sydney, Australia.
Current Public Roles
AMSTERDAM COLLEGE of HIGHER EDUCATION of the ARTS, Academy of Architecture: Supervisor for Planning.
THE OVERHOLLAND FOUNDATION, Member of the Executive Board.
THE REPUBLIC of SLOVENIA, Ministry for the Environment and Physical Planning. ONIX project for Geo-Information Infrastructure. Advisor to the Secretary of State.
REPÚBLICA de NICARAGUA, Instituto Nicaragüense de Formento Municipal. Advisor to the Minister.
AMERICAN INSTITUTE of URBAN and REGIONAL AFFAIRS. Advisor to the President of the Institute.
As a cultural and racial melting pot Amsterdam is unrivalled by comparable European cities. At its best Amsterdam provides a climate in which both its citizens and its administrators favour change and innovation, welcoming exotic influences, new ideas and new customs. That is what has made Amsterdam great. The combination of dynamism and soberness has meant it has been possible to develop the city in a unique fashion. Though the city's best urban designers were at the forefront of renewal, they nevertheless always kept the coherence and totality of the city clearly in mind. Their plans were often bold, sometimes successful, sometimes less so. But whatever else can be said of the seventeenth-century canal belt, Kalff's late nineteenth-century plan, Berlage's Plan-Zuid, the 1935 General Extension Plan, or more modern ventures such as Schiphol airport, the Bijlmermeer development, the Waterfront area, the new centre in Zuidoost and the already famous IJburg, they all broke new ground. This remarkable combination of harmony and anarchy, order and chaos, is a constant factor in the history of the city. It is its strength. A second constant feature is the unceasing expansion of the city. In the space of seven centuries the small settlement at the mouth of the Amstel has developed into a cosmopolitan city. Further development does not mean growth for growth's sake. Above all it means growth which improves the quality of the living environment and results in sustainable development.
A few characteristics:
-Population of the municipality: 720.000; of the urban region 1.386.000. -Surface of the municipality: 212 km2; of the urban region 1245 km2. Of the municipal land 23% is housing, 18% business, 27.5% green, parks and agriculture. Infrastructure takes 5% and 25% is water. -The housing stock in the municipal area is 357.650; the city has 8012 officially recognised historical monuments. -The municipal budget is (in 1997) 7.3 billion Dutch guilders (approx. 3.3 billion ECU; 3.65 billion US$); 32% is spent on social welfare, 8% on health and environmental care, 13.5% on housing and urban planning. -The City has 3 universities and 9 colleges with 46.440 students. There are 68 theatres and 34 museums; 3.4 million foreign tourists visited the city and the congress centre welcomed 2.5 million participants last year.
The Physical Planning Department (dienst Ruimtelijke Ordening:dRO) was founded in 1928, when the political and social need for new guidelines to control twentieth-century growth was strongly felt. The agency's task was to design an adequate development plan and the city chose Cornelis van Eesteren, a representative of the avant-garde to do that job.
The result was the General Extension Plan in 1935. It was one of the first plans ever to apply scientific research systematically to town planning. The Second World War called a halt to the G.E.P. but in the fifties and sixties the concept could continue to provide the basis for the development of the city. Only a few adjustments for North Amsterdam and - especially - the Bijlmermeer had to be made.
Nowadays the Department is charged with: regional planning; urban renewal and urban reconstruction; urban extension; survey; infrastructure planning; landscape planning; urban ecology; environmental planning; recreation, urban facilities; urban design; (air)port planning; strategic (investments) planning.....
Its staff has 225 members; 1/3 of them planners, architects, landscapers and (traffic) engineers; 1/3 researchers: demographers, geographers, economists, ecologists and 1/3 legal and administrative staff
lectures, publications and papers.
index:
Regional and national planning
all can be obtained at the library of the Physical Planning Department (dRO) of the municipality of Amsterdam, Jodenbreestraat 25, 1101 NH Amsterdam, the Netherlands, tel: 00-31-20-552.7191; fax: 00-31-20-552.7199.
e-mail:
VDL@dro.amsterdam.nl
A.W.OSKAM:
NEW WAYS IN PLANNING (dutch) Densifying and extension; new great projects. 1982 (dRO litt. PU 53-051)A.W.OSKAM:
WE MUST HAVE AN OTHER PLANNING PHILOSOPHY (dutch) Planning in Amsterdam from the 50ies up till now. 1982 (dRO litt. PU 73-912)A.W.OSKAM:
PHYSICAL PLANNING IN AMSTERDAM (dutch) The role of physical planning in society and the tasks it should have in our days. 1983 (dRO litt. PU 51-410)A.W.OSKAM:
THE ACTUAL PLANNING CONCEPT OF AMSTERDAM (dutch) Symposium 'building in the historic city of Amsterdam' 1984 (dRO litt. 73-916)A.W.OSKAM:
BIJLMERMEER CITY EXTENSION (Eng) I.F.H.P.-congress Budapest 1985. 1985 (dRO litt PU 53-874)A.W.OSKAM:
MANAGEMENT OF SPACE (dutch) about the time-budget of people, education, trade and technology, communication. Projects in the historical city, the eastern harbour district, Sloten. 1987 (dRO litt. 00-53-886)A.W.OSKAM:
AMSTERDAM AND PHYSICAL PLANNING IN THE NETHERLANDS.(dutch) Creating possibilities for a better social/economic position for weaker groups in society by using the economic and spatial qualities of the agglomeration. 1987 (dRO litt. 47-571)A.W.OSKAM:
STATE OF THE ART 1988 (dutch) (National) traffic problems, economic developments, the demography of Amsterdam, the need for housing for the middle income groups in Amsterdam, unemployment, urban renewal, the management of urban spaces and architecture in Amsterdam. (dRO litt. PU 47-752)A.W.OSKAM:
PROYECTOS URBANISTICOS PARA LA CIUDAD DE AMSTERDAM (sp/eng) JORNADAS SOBRE LA INTERVENCIÓN EMPRESARIAL EN EL URBANISMO Confederación empresarial independiente de Madrid, dec. 1987 Published in: "La intervención empresarial en el urbanismo", Camara de Cómercio e Industria de Madrid, 1988 (dRO litt. 52-132)A.W.OSKAM:
DE STAD BINNENSTEBUITEN, NOG STEEDS STAD? (dutch) (The city inside-out, still a city? about the developments in the periphery of the city ) BOOM-TOWN symposium by the Centre for Architecture Amsterdam (ARCAM), Amsterdam, june 1988. (dRO litt. PU 73-287)A.W.OSKAM:
THE SOUTH-AXES: INTERNATIONAL PERFORMANCE (dutch) The development of the southern zone between Schiphol-Airport and the South-Eastern part of the town. 1989 (dRO litt. PU 73-935)A.W.OSKAM:
STADSONTWERP AMSTERDAM (dutch) (Urban design of Amsterdam; opening speech) course: "stadsontwerp" Technical University Delft, Delft, april 1988. Published by T.U.-Delft,ISBN90-5269-042-1, 1990. (dRO litt. 63-685)A.W.OSKAM / H v.d.HEERIK:
HET PROGRAMMA VOOR DE RUIMTELIJKE INVESTERINGEN 1991 (dutch) (The Amsterdam' investments program) Symposium European Business Studies, juni 1991.A.W.OSKAM:
CONSERVATION OF TRADITIONAL ASSETS AND LANDSCAPING IN WATERFRONT DEVELOPMENT (eng) Osaka, "International Forum Waterfront" 2001, oct.1996. Published............A.W.OSKAM:
DE IJ-OEVER ONTWIKKELINGEN (dutch) (The waterfront development in Amsterdam) Symposium grootstedelijke ontwikkelingen, Free University Amsterdam, juni 1992A.W.OSKAM:
HIGHRISE IN AMSTERDAM (eng) Symposium Stichting Hoogbouw, Delft, june 1994.A.W.OSKAM:
PUBLIEKE BETROKKENHEID BIJ GROTE STEDELIJKE PROJECTEN (dutch) State of the art 1995, Amsterdam, jan 1995.A.W.OSKAM / JOOST SMIT:
OVER STEDELIJKHEID (dutch) (About urbanity) Congres "Stedelijkheid" Amsterdam, november 1996.A.W.OSKAM:
IJBURG (dutch) (About IJburg, a new extension for 45.000 inhabitants in the water of the IJmeer) Key-note speech IJburg serie Zuiderkerk, Amsterdam, juni 1996.A.W.OSKAM:
PROJECT EN VISIE IN DE AMSTERDAMSE REGIONALE ONTWIKKELING (dutch) (About projects as vehicles for development) Meeting with the representatives of the Dutch central government, Amsterdam, dec.1996.A.W.OSKAM:
BESCHERMD STADSGEZICHT VOOR AMSTERDAM (dutch) (about historical conservation in a progressive city) blad HEEMSCHUT, okt. 1997.A.W.OSKAM:
AN, AUF, HINTER, NEBEN, IN, UNTER, ÜBER, VOR und ZWISCHEN DEM HOLLÄNDISCHEM WASSER (ger & eng). Europäischer Kongress "Neue Adressen am Wasser", Berlin, oktober 1997 (Wasserstadt GMBH, Berlin)A.W.OSKAM:
THE COMPACT CITY, A DUTCH PLANNING EXPERIENCE (eng.) lecture Professional Development Program UNSW, Sydney, April 1998.A.W.OSKAM
: PLANNING AS A CULTURAL ACHIEVEMENT (eng.) International Congress Planning Historians, Sydney, July 1998.
A.W.OSKAM:
DE GROTE AMSTERDAMSE WONINGBOUWLOKATIES (dutch) (About the new residential areas) 1982 (dRO litt. PU 73-929)A.W.OSKAM:
HET VOORONTWERP STRUCTUURPLAN 'DE STAD CENTRAAL'(dutch) (About the draught-structural plan 'focus on the city') 1989 (dRO litt. PU 73-928)A.W.OSKAM:
THE STRUCTURAL PLAN AS A GUIDELINE TO POLICY MAKING (eng) Conference Union of Capital Cities in Europe, Madrid, march 1986 (dRO litt. 00-54-344)A.W.OSKAM:
LA PLANIFICACIÓN TERRITORIAL EN HOLANDA (sp/eng) CEUMT congress, Madrid 1988. (dro litt. 49-004)A.W.OSKAM:
PHYSICAL PLANNING IN THE NETHERLANDS AND ECONOMIC COMPETITION IN EUROPE. (eng) Second International congress on Cities and Ports, Barcelona, december 1989.A.W.OSKAM:
IDEAS AND STRATEGIG OPPORTUNITIES (eng) Town and Country planning summer school, univ. of East Anglia, Norwich, september 1989.A.W.OSKAM:
THE URBAN REGION (eng) Seminar Managing the Metropolis, Salford, september 1989.A.W.OSKAM:
THE NORTH WING OF THE "RANDSTAD"; THE PLANNING VISION FOR THE FUTURE (eng) Jubilee Seminar Randstad and Form, ISOCARP, Amsterdam,january 1990.A.W.OSKAM:
DE POSITIE VAN DE RUIMTELIJKE ORDENING BIJ STEDELIJKE VERNIEUWINGSPROCESSEN (dutch) (About the possibilities of physical planning for urban restructuring processes) NIROV (Dutch Insitute for Planning and Housing), april 1991A.W.OSKAM,J.B.SARIS,H.M.E.VAN VELDHUIZEN:
AMSTERDAM OP WEG NAAR 2005 (dutch) The strategic action-plan for the coming ten years. De Lijn. 1993 (dRO litt 65-999)A.W.OSKAM:
FLEXIBILITEIT EN BESLUITVORMING (dutch) (About procedures and decision-making in planning) RARO(=formal advisory board for the minister for housing, planning and the environment)-seminar over "de proce- dures bij planologische beslissingen" The Hague 1995.A.W.OSKAM:
RUIMTE VOOR DE REGIO (dutch) (make room for the region, about organisation of the administration as related to the national planning philosophy, the so called 'VINEX') seminar "de VINEX en de stadsprovincie", University Amsterdam, may 1994.A.W.OSKAM:
DE RUIMTE IN NEDERLAND (dutch) (space in holland, scarce or not?) symposium "RUIMTENOOD", Nederlands Studiecentrum, Rotterdam, june 1995.A.W.OSKAM
: AMSTERDAM AND COPENHAGEN, a tale of two cities. (eng). Key-note address congress "THE EUROPEAN CITY: SUSTAINING URBAN QUALITY', Copenhagen, april 1995. Published by the Danish Ministry for the Environment; ISBN 87-601-6277-5.A.W.OSKAM:
ER IS GEEN ALTERNATIEF VOOR SCHIPHOL (dutch) (There is no alternative for Schiphol Airport) "Vol, het debat over de ruimtelijke inrichting van Nederland, De Volkskrant, okt. 1997, ISBN 90 -71474-44-5.A.W.OSKAM
: PLANNING LEGISLATION IN THE NETHERLANDS (eng.) lecture, Sydney, April 1998.A.W.OSKAM:
PLANNING AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN WESTERN EUROPE (eng.) lecture, Sydney, July 1998.
A.W.OSKAM:
RUIMTELIJKE ORDENING EN DE EMANCIPATIE VAN DE VROUW: SOCIALE VEILIGHEID (dutch) (About women and urban planning: public safety) 1985 (dRO litt. 73-281)A.W.OSKAM:
REDONNER LA RUE A LA FEMME (fr) (To give back the steet to women, about safety in public spaces) congress: La Securité dans nos Villes, HLM,Grenoble, 1986 (dRO litt. 73-250)A.W.OSKAM:
OPENBARE RUIMTEN, BELEID EN UITVOERING; EEN KERNTAAK OP AFSTAND (dutch) (public space, a public task) Symposium Erasmus Forum, Utrecht, march 1994.A.W.OSKAM:
CHAOTISCH, TIJDELIJK EN TOEVALLIG...(dutch) (Public space in Amsterdam, Chaotic, temporarily en incidental..) congress about Public Space, NAI(Dutch Institute for Architecture), Rotterdam, june 1994.A.W.OSKAM:
WISSELWERKING TUSSEN GEBOUWDE EN ONGEBOUWDE RUIMTE (dutch) (Interaction between the built and the unbuilt space) amsterdam, nov. 1997.A.W.OSKAM / H.POELSTRA:
HET JUISTE BEDRIJF OP DE JUISTE PLAATS (dutch) (Each business on the right spot) Symposium on mobility strategies prov. Noord Holland, Haarlem, july 1993.A.W.OSKAM:
EN NU OM DE ZUID...(dutch) Opening of the "railroad ringline" Amsterdam, Free University Amsterdam, may 1993.A.W.OSKAM,B.WESTERDUIN, A.W.G.THIJSSE:
TUSSEN DROOM EN DAAD....OVER LAST OP STRAAT? (dutch) Amsterdam and his metro. 1994 (dRO litt 68-244 A/B)A.W.OSKAM:
DE STAD EN DE TREIN, IMAGO EN FEITEN (dutch) (The city and the train, images and facts) Strategic meeting Dutch Railroad Company and the City of Amsterdam,Amsterdam, june 1995.A.W.OSKAM:
NIEUWE CONCEPTEN IN BEREIKBAARHEID (dutch) (New concepts in accessibility: the peoplemover) Opening exhibition peoplemover, Amsterdam, sept. 1996.A.W.OSKAM / C.BRANDSEMA:
HET KANALISEREN VAN DE STROOM (dutch) (About control over economic development) Congress: "Economie, Ruimtelijke Ordening en Milieuhygiëne" provincie Noord Holland, april 1988.A.W.OSKAM:
PHYSICAL PLANNING AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT (eng) Analysis of the relation between planning and economic development. 1986 (dRO litt. 00-54-341)A.W.OSKAM:
THE VITALITY OF INNER-CITY SHOPPING ZONES (dutch) The Institute for international research 1990 (dRO litt 00-57-022)A.W.OSKAM,P.JONKER,J.KRUL:
THE DEVELOPMENT OF GREATER AMSTERDAM (dutch) Free University Amsterdam, faculty of economic science and econometry. 1992 (dRO litt 63-635) .A.W.OSKAM:
SOUTH SYDNEY DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES, A MODEST OBSERVATION (eng.) paper to the South Sydney Development Corporation, Sydney, June 1998.
international collaboration
A.W.OSKAM:
AKTIVITEITEN VAN DE GEMEENTE AMSTERDAM OP HET GEBIED VAN DE WEDEROPBOUW VAN MANAGUA (dutch) (Activities of the city of Amsterdam concerning the reconstruction of Managua) Amsterdam, Royal Institute of the Tropics, sept 1986.A.W.OSKAM:
PLANNEN OM TE OVERLEVEN (dutch) (plans to survive) About the way the municipality of Amsterdam supports the city of Managua. Studiedag Federatie 'O': is een afdak een onderdak? 1986 (dRO litt. 00-54-342)A.W.OSKAM:
TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE, EXAMPLE MANAGUA-AMSTERDAM (eng) European Conference on City Linking with Nicaragua, Amsterdam, may 1988.A.W.OSKAM / C.v.RUYVEN:
PROYECTO DE RECONSTRUCCIÓN DEL CASCO URBANO CENTRAL DE LA CIUDAD DE MANAGUA, CAPITÀL DE NICARAGUA.(sp/eng) (Reconstruction plan for the inner city of Managua) Presentation to the Presidencía de Nicaragua,Managua, jan.1987.A.W.OSKAM:
PLANNING FOR MANAGUA (eng) Congress International Federation for Housing and Planning (IFHP), Lisboa, 1988.A.W.OSKAM:
BEIJING, EXPLODING DEVELOPMENT (dutch) (About the possibilities of an exchange with the Bejing Planning Buro) Amsterdam, jan. 1990.A.W.OSKAM / C.van RUYVEN:
AMSTERDAM-HAVANA; El manejo de visiones urbanísticas. Presentation to the III Seminario Internacional de Planeamiento y Gestión Urbana en La Habana, Cuba, nov. 1996.A.W.OSKAM:
PLANIFICACIÓN ESTRATÉGICA, UNA HISTÓRIA DE DOS CIUDADES (sp) Programa de Capacitación "Los Municipalidades en la Administación Publica, La Haya, sept. 1997.A.W.OSKAM:
EL ORDENAMIENTO TERRITORIAL MUNICIPAL (sp) Encuentro de Hermanamiento Holanda-Nicaragua, Esteli, Nicaragua, nov 1997.A.W.OSKAM:
PROYECTO DE CASCO URBANO EN MANAGUA (sp) Unión Europea: Seminario de Cooperación Decentralizada de Municipios Europeos, Barcelona, nov. 1997.A.W.OSKAM:
GEOINFORMATION SUPPORT FOR PHYSICAL PLANNING AT THE MUNICIPAL LEVEL (eng) ONIX project "Geo-Information Infrastructure". ONIX workshop Koper, Slovenia, dec. 1997
A.W.OSKAM:
A DECENTRALISATION OF LOCAL GOVERNMENT (eng) About the municipal policy of redistribution of formal governmental decision-making by means of decentralisation of tasks and powers from the central city to 16 separate neighbourhoods. 1983 (dRO litt. PU 73-948)A.W.OSKAM:
SOZIALDEMOKRATIE UND RAUMORDNUNG (ger) About the role of the planning discipline in social democracy in Amsterdam. The foundation of the dept. for urban development inside the public works sector; the genesis of the General Extension Plan in 1934-'35. The orientation of the planning discipline as a consequence of political choices. Berlin, IFHP working party 1984. (dRO litt. PU 73-953)A.W.Oskam:
C. VAN EESTEREN 1897-1988; EEN CHARMANTE NIEUWLICHTER. (dutch) About the life of van Cor van Eesteren. (NRC-Handelsblad) 1988 (dRO litt. PU48-103)A.W.Oskam:
IN MEMORIAM VAN EESTEREN. Stedebouw & Volkshuisvesting aprli 1988. 1988 (dRO litt TIJ 48-374)A.W.OSKAM:
PUBLIC HOUSING IN THE NETHERLANDS (eng.) lecture, Sydney, April 1998e-mail:
aboskam@geocities.comPostal address:
School of Urban Planning
McGill University
815 Sherbrooke ST. West
Montreal, Quebec H3A 2K6
Amsterdam site:............................... http://www.amsterdam.nl/amsterdam.html
dRO site:........................................... http://www.dro.amsterdam.nl
IJburg site:...............................................http://www.dds.nl/~ijburg/