•With the geographical expansion of residential areas, some of the city’s next steps in developing green infrastructure. residents need to travel greater distances to reach their Structural Vision: Amsterdam 2040 lays out the city’s workplace or amenities, meaning that some transport objectives in terms of urban infrastructure, while the modes for shorter trips, such as trams or bikes, are Amsterdam Green Agenda describes the principal approach becoming less and less viable. and partnerships that are being established to promote initiatives such as developing ways to manage wet conditions Since 2013, Amsterdam has been one of the fastest-growing in parks and increasing the appeal of parks through opening metropolitan regions in Europe. In the two years before the new cafés in them. COVID-19 pandemic, the city was adding an average of over fifty thousand new jobs annually (Deloitte City Mobility Index 2020). 3.1 Green space The city has one of the most expensive public transport systems in Europe (Deloitte City Mobility Index 2020). So far, the Dutch 3.1.1 Parks government has committed up to 237 million euros to making Parks represent a critical aspect of cities. They contribute to Amsterdam Airport Schiphol a multimodal hub that handles over the local culture: everyone, from locals to tourists, from young 120,000 passengers per day by 2025, though that forecast was made people to the elderly, uses city parks. In Amsterdam, the main before the COVID-19 pandemic (Deloitte City Mobility Index, 2020). initiatives relating to parks aim to (Amsterdam Structural Vision, 2040): The city’s Carless Agenda consists of twenty-seven measures, • Ensure more visitors go to parks in the city that are used and it aims to remove cars from Amsterdam’s city center and less intensively. This could be realized by implementing a expand bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, at an estimated coffee place or recreational area in such parks; cost of between five hundred million and seven hundred million • Maintain parks to a high standard to provide high-quality euros by 2025 (Deloitte City Mobility Index, 2020). Two of the spaces. This includes improving parks’ planning for wet agenda’s measures are to: conditions, which cause intensive use of park spaces. •Remove up to ten thousand parking places; •Cap the speed limit for cars in the city at thirty kilometers 3.1.2 Amsterdam forest per hour. Amsterdam Forest, which is three times larger than Central Park in New York, is the heart of the city (City of Amsterdam Furthermore, by 2020, the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, in Website, 2020). It receives six million visitors per year and collaboration with the Dutch government, aimed to invest ten contributes to the city’s quality of life by, among other billion euros in improving accessibility throughout the region things, hosting outdoor activities and cultural events (City of through its Mobility Plan 2030, though the investment has been Amsterdam Website, 2020). Home to over two hundred thousand postponed owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. Key objectives of trees, the forest is contributing to reducing Amsterdam’s CO2 this program (Mobility Plan 2030) include: emissions (City of Amsterdam Website, 2020). Therefore, in •Ensuring that more journeys are made by public transport than line with its smart city development, the city is increasing by car, through reliable services with shorter travel times; its supply of sustainable energy and encouraging the use of •Ensuring monitoring during peak hours to improve rail traffic; wooden materials to create a wood-based supply chain and •Keeping cars, delivery vehicles, and public transport thus maintain the forest. separate and prioritizing public transport in the downtown area, where the streets tend to be old and narrow. Examples of initiatives taking place in Amsterdam Forest are (City of Amsterdam Website, 2020): 3. Activities • Installation of a power circuit to ensure that festivals no longer rely on diesel generators; Amsterdam is considered to be one of the greenest cities • Implementation of a quay project that can measure water in Europe. Changing lifestyles and climate change issues quality. have prompted the city to identify new initiatives to improve green spaces in the city (AGA 2016-2018). The city decided to 3.1.3 Climate proofing and biodiversity invest up to twenty million euros in green projects between It is anticipated that climate change will cause rainstorms to 2018 and 2020. We investigated two City of Amsterdamhappen more and more frequently in Amsterdam. Green spaces policy visions—the Amsterdam Green Agenda and Structural could play a key role in mitigating the effect of these rainstorms Vision: Amsterdam 2040—to obtain a better understanding by absorbing water and limiting runoff into the street. In 66 Quélin and Smadja | HEC PARIS | SMART CITIES | The sustainable program of six leading cities | 2021