The Unknown City: Contesting Architecture and Social Space

Part II: Filtering Tactics
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16.3 | Spuistraat, Amsterdam, 1995.
scheduled to be recaptured by the authorities several days after my arrival,
but when I left the situation was unchanged, at least on the surface.
The view south, to my right, on Spuistraat presented an urban trajectory
dominated by much more traditional forms of gentrification. Some
splendid conversion, using fancy wooden shutters, modernized gables (no
hook here), and vaulted interior designs, was transforming an old structure
for its new inhabitants, who were much more likely to visit the boutiques
and gourmet restaurants in the vicinity than the shops up the road. The
transition quickened in a little restaurant row that ranged from what was reputed
to be the best seafood place in Amsterdam and one of the grandest traditional
centers of Dutch cuisine (called the Five Flies and fed daily by
busloads of mainly Japanese and German package-tourists), to a variety of
smaller cafés, Indonesian restaurants (considered part of Dutch cuisine), and
fast-food emporia selling tasty bags of frites.
By the time you reach the Spui on foot, the street scene is awash
again with activity and variety. A large bookstore shares one corner with an
international news center, spilling over onto the sidewalk with newspapers,
magazines, and academic journals from around the world as well as pamphlets,
flyers, and broadsheets announcing more local events. There are beer
pubs nearby, as well as an American-style cocktail bar and several represen-