Blood, Sweat and Tears (City of the Future, Part 2)
99% Invisible28 Feb 2018

Blood, Sweat and Tears (City of the Future, Part 2)

The Bijlmermeer (or Bijlmer, for short) was built just outside of Amsterdam in the 1960s. It was designed by modernist architects to be a "city of the future" with its functions separated into distinct zones. To Modernists, it represented a vision of the city as a well-oiled machine Upon completion, it was a massive expanse of 31 concrete towers. There were 13,000 apartments, many of them unoccupied. Just sitting there, totally empty.

Listen to Part 1 of this story here.

In Part 2, we look at how the migration of tens of thousands of Surinamese Dutch began to give the empty place life where it wasn’t before and how a tragic accident kickstarted a redesign that managed to do what the Modernists neglected to do: listen to the people who live there.

Blood, Sweat and Tears (City of the Future, Part 2)

Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ to listen to new episodes of 99% Invisible ad-free and a whole week early.

Start a free trial now on Apple Podcasts or by visiting siriusxm.com/podcastsplus.


Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Avsnitt(783)

The Divided Dial

The Divided Dial

If you’ve ever flipped through the radio dial — not satellite, not podcasts, but good old-fashioned AM and FM radio — you may have noticed something. Right wing radio talk is everywhere.But the airwav...

6 Dec 202246min

Cougar Town

Cougar Town

Wildlife and urban development don’t usually go well together. Roads in particular fracture the habitats of wide-ranging animals. It restricts their movements and makes it harder for them to find food...

29 Nov 202229min

Super Citizens

Super Citizens

Los Angeles' El Peatonito is part of a subset of real life superheroes who are more focused on things like picking up trash and taking on civic issues than catching criminals in alleys.These super cit...

22 Nov 202226min

Freedom House Ambulance Service: American Sirens

Freedom House Ambulance Service: American Sirens

When people ask me what my favorite episode of 99% Invisible is, I have a hard time answering. Not because they’re all my precious little babies or some such nonsense, but mostly it’s because I just c...

16 Nov 202245min

Train Set: Track Two

Train Set: Track Two

Funiculars are great, which is why the main image from our previous train episode featured one -- except we didn't actually talk about that one during the show. It's a cable car from Wellington, and a...

9 Nov 202232min

Articles of Interest: American Ivy

Articles of Interest: American Ivy

Articles of Interest is a show about what we wear. Host and producer Avery Trufelman investigates our collectively held beliefs about fashion and explores topics like the intellectual property law beh...

2 Nov 202237min

The Safety Bicycle

The Safety Bicycle

The basic mechanics of the bike are pretty simple --- it’s basically a triangle with wheels and a chain drive to propel it forward. No batteries or engines. It seems obvious in hindsight.... And that’...

25 Okt 202233min

Walk of Fame

Walk of Fame

Even if you haven't made the pilgrimage to Southern California, you can probably already picture what the Walk of Fame looks like. It's a 1.3 mile walkway lined with terrazzo and brass squares. Each s...

18 Okt 202247min

Populärt inom Business & ekonomi

framgangspodden
badfluence
varvet
rss-jossan-nina
rss-borsens-finest
rss-svart-marknad
uppgang-och-fall
rss-dagen-med-di
rss-inga-dumma-fragor-om-pengar
lastbilspodden
fill-or-kill
borsmorgon
avanzapodden
bilar-med-sladd
tabberaset
bathina-en-podcast
rss-veckans-trade
kvalitetsaktiepodden
rss-kort-lang-analyspodden-fran-di
svd-tech-brief