National Park City – Urban Nature Amsterdam map
In 2019 London became the world’s first National Park City, where nature and wildlife are protected to enhance the living landscape and improve the quality of life. The social enterprise Urban Good raised money through crowdfunding to create the London National Park City map.
This new kind of map, showing the green and blue space of a city – its parks, playing fields, woodland, rivers, canals and ponds – has proved extremely popular. Urban Good were subsequently invited to make a similar map of Amsterdam, in partnership with Nature Desks, an Amsterdam initiative redesigning man’s relationship with the city and connecting nature and work.
Charlie Peel, the founder of Urban Good, brought a film crew down to Dennis Maps to record the printing of the Urban Nature Amsterdam map by our giant sheet-fed litho press, the one that we also use to print all Ordnance Survey maps. You can see the video of the map in production on the National Park City Maps post.
Green and blue Amsterdam map
Like the London map, the Urban Nature Amsterdam map is a large-format, folded paper map printed in the same bright, Pantone colours, with walks and activities in easily-spotted orange. All information is provided in both Dutch and English.
Just as half of London is green and blue space, a chart on the back of the map illustrates that one quarter of Amsterdam is green open space, such as parks, playgrounds, allotments and sports pitches. A unique feature of this particular map are the polders, areas of reclaimed land separated from the sea by dikes. Another quarter of the city is blue space, much of it the famous canals.
A healthier lifestyle
The aim of the creators of the Urban Nature Amsterdam map is to get people thinking about the importance of nature in the city. And then starting to take action to live a healthier lifestyle by getting out and exploring green areas, city farms, canals and all the other open spaces.
On the reverse of the map they provide ideas on ways to make the best of these spaces, whether you are in the city for work, pleasure or study. Offices could turn a parking space into a terrace where employees could work or take breaks. Why not suggest a walking meeting to your colleagues and clients instead of sitting round a table?
Amsterdam has long been famous for its many bicycles, but you can also go paddleboarding, canoeing or camping, as well as pick your own apples, and buy food from allotments and kitchen gardens.
A colourful, detailed map shows the top five trees in the city (elm, linden, maple, ash and plane) and where they can be found, and another the travelling times to places in the surrounding countryside. Also provided are facts and figures about the city’s plants, wildlife and parks.
Greening the city
As well as suggestions for enjoying the natural environment of the city, whether you are visiting, working or studying there, the map poses a challenge to residents to improve their surroundings. It asks if you can create one square metre of new green space by greening your roof, balcony or garden, or by teaming up with your neighbours or children’s school.
The increased greening will not just benefit biodiversity, leisure opportunities and wellbeing, but also provide protection against flooding, improve air quality, and save energy.
Where to buy the Urban Nature Amsterdam map
The map is an intriguingly different way of looking at the city for residents and visitors alike. If you’re in the UK the map is available from the Urban Good website for £9.99, and postage is free.
For those in the Netherlands, visit the Nature Desks web shop to buy as a folded map, poster or screen print.
Note: For more detail please click on the images in the post.
