Free time is becoming an ever more important factor in the shaping of our society, in the changing landscape, and in the physical and spatial arrangement of the Netherlands. Fun is ubiquitous and has a far-reaching effect on the development of the inner cities, the periphery and the countryside. My book Fun! Leisure and landscape examines, describes and analyses this phenomenon in text and photographs.
In the Netherlands, as in many other countries, urban and spatial planning often seem driven by good intentions, policy initiatives, and blueprints, and not by actual changes in the public’s way of life. When these kinds of ‘planning’ actually do come alive, when people find that something in their daily living environment has changed, they are not sure why. Seeking to shed some light on how spatial planning and daily life intersect, I worked with photographer Theo Baart and urban planner Tjerk Ruimschotel to create ‘ Atlas of Change’, a portrait of the perpetually changing Netherlands.
The book ‘Snelweg. Highways in the Netherlands’ proves what the American landscape chronicler J.B. Jackson already knew: Roads no longer merely lead to places; they are places. With my words and with the images of Theo Baart and Cary Markerink this books presents the highway as a technological invention, a social setting and a biotope.
Het boek ‘Snelweg. Highways in the Netherlands’ bewijst wat de Amerikaanse landschapschroniqueur J.B. Jackson al wist: Roads no longer merely lead to places; they are places. In tekst van mij en beeld van Theo Baart en Cary Markerink toont dit boek de snelweg als een technologische uitvinding, een sociale omgeving en een biotoop. Read the article…