Virginie Mamadouh, Valentina Mazzucato

Today Amsterdam as any large city is a main recipient of immigrants. In 2002, 48% of the inhabitants of the municipality had a non-Dutch ethnic background, meaning either they or their parents were born abroad. Figures by nationality are considerably lower: 12% foreigners. Forecasts predict that the non-Dutch inhabitants of Amsterdam will increase to 62% of the population by 2030. The largest single group are the Surinamese (72,000) followed by the Moroccans (61,000), the Turks (37,000) Ghanaians (17,000) and 12,000 Antilleans.

Recently the public discourse has sharpened and criticised both migrants for not adapting to the host society and the multiculturalist policies for not forcing them to integrate. The negative publicity around Moroccan youth (delinquents, school drop outs, riots) was exacerbated after the beginning of the second intifada and 9-11. The rise of the politician Pim Fortuyn contributed to a negative attitude towards immigrants from non-industrialised countries.

More integrationist, though not assimilationist, policies have been adopted since, both at the national level (like the mandatory inburgeringscursus: literally settle-down course) and locally (like the abolition of the separate councils for the different ethnic minorities that were advising the municipality)

The fieldtrip multicultural Amsterdam is scheduled in two different neighbourhoods: in Amsterdam-West (an extension of the older city) where the attention will be drawn on Moroccan and Turkish immigration (guest workers and family reunification and family formation) and in Amsterdam-Zuidoost (a typical modernist extension in a territory incorporated in the 1960s to the municipality of Amsterdam) where the attention will be drawn on Surinamese and Ghanaian immigration (decolonisation and postcolonial migration in the first case, labour migrants with a large group of ãillegalsä in the second case). Local religious and socio-cultural organisations will be visited as well as a guided walk through the neighbourhoods to see the creative ways in which migrants make a living within the hostile political climate of the Netherlands today.

Vincent Kompier, Arie van Wijngaarden

This tour concentrates on the new expansion of Amsterdam to the eastern, south-eastern, and southern direction.

We start at IJburg, a new housing district east of the present city. The 18000 dwellings will be built on seven artificial islands in the IJsselmeer lake. There will be an explanation at the floating visitorsâ centre. Then: lunch at the IJburg beach pavilion.

The next stop is the South East Centre District. Here we find the new Ajax stadium, a concert hall, shopping malls, a multiplex cinema and the like. This new centre is adjacent to the infamous Bijlmer housing district, where 25% of the existing housing stock (flats) is being demolished to be replaced by single family housing.

We continue to the Zuidas area, a new central business district with a financial centre and international headquarters. Here the aim is to create a new district on top of the existing infrastructure: ring road, railway, subway.

We finish near the city centre on the roof of the Nemo building, for a nice view of the historical centre.

Luca Bertolini, Patrice Riemens

This tour offers two highlights and much biking in-between!

We shall begin at the GWL-terrein, in Amsterdam also known as Eco-wijk (ÎEco-neighbourhoodâ). This is a recently developed neighbourhood of about 600 apartments, several commercial spaces and a community centre. A car free zone with only 1 parking place for every 4 households. There is co-generation of power and heat, the use of several water saving devices and environmentally sound building materials. There was much involvement of the inhabitants in the planning. During the tour we will discuss the bright and less bright sides of the experience with inhabitants (including your guide!) and local government representatives.

We shall bike on along a nature trail to the "artist village" Ruigoord. The village has been squatted 30 years ago, when a group from the Amsterdam anarcho-artistic scene took over the freshly evacuated place poised for demolition for an harbour extension plan. They established themselves as a sort of large commune and undertook all kinds of initiatives like festivals, parties and exhibitions in a shrewd mix of New Age atmosphere. It earned them a solid status as alternative establishment and made them able to withstand repeated attempts by the Amsterdam Port Trust to have them evicted. Until a few years ago when the renewed plans to extend the harbour materialized. The harbour basin was dug (still idle two years after completion!), but the village itself preserved and turned into an "artistic greenhouse" ('broedplaats' - see elsewhere in the programme). Officially, nobody is allowed to reside in the village,

Weather and time permitting, we could bike through the Spaarnwoude nature and recreation area till Velsen and take the hydrofoil back to Amsterdam.