When our family first moved to Amsterdam, we stayed in a hotel on this street. We noticed this little playground just a few doors down. It was really nice to have a playground right on the street, and it certainly seemed worth removing a handful of car parking spots to make room for it. We thought that this was pretty unique, but a few days later we came across this little place based just around the corner. As we explored more of the city, we came across more and more of these little street playgrounds. For example, this used to be part of the road. This used to be a parking spot. And this used to be a through street for cars. And when it comes to urbanism, there is nothing I love more than space for cars turned into space for kids. I don't know how common these street playgrounds are in other cities as they're hard to find unless you're really looking for them, but they are everywhere in Amsterdam. And the history of how this happened is interesting. It starts with an architect called Aldo Van Eyck. As far as I know, there is no relation to the famous painter Jan Van Eyck. Wait a minute. And hence 34 to 46. Give me a hard copy right there. In the 1940s, most playgrounds in Amsterdam were managed by playground associations where families had to pay to become members. So Van Eyck was asked to design some public playgrounds, the first being in this space, on Bertelman Pline. This first playground was such a huge success that Van Eyck went on to design over 700 playgrounds in Amsterdam, many of which made use of underused urban space. Here's an example where a vacant lot was converted into a place for local kids to play. And here's an example where an unnecessarily wide junction was converted to a playground. The typical Van Eyck has many signature elements designed to encourage creative play in children, a curved climbing frame often in the shape of an igloo, tumbling bars, a sand pit with circular shapes, and jumping stones. This website, 17 playgrounds, is trying to compile a list of all of those original designs that are still around today. Of course, most of Van Eyck's original play equipment is gone, but that idea of taking little bits of underused urban space and converting it into space for kids has become a core part of Amsterdam Street design. To the best of my knowledge, there is no comprehensive map of Amsterdam's playgrounds. They have to be discovered. About ten years ago, a mother tried to find all of them and created a now out of print book called Play Amsterdam, as well as this stunningly accurate recreation of a late 90s website. Of course, Amsterdam has parks as well, just like any other city, but these street playgrounds are always nearby. And because kids in the Netherlands have a lot of independence, they're usually allowed to play near their house without adult supervision. That makes these street playgrounds a social alternative to the private suburban backyard. Playgrounds are a small detail, and so they don't get talked about very often. But it's just one more nice thing that Amsterdam does to make it easier for families to live in an urban environment.