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‘FUNSHOPPING’ AS A GEOGRAPHICAL NOTION, OR: THE ATTRACTION OF THE INNER CITY OF AMSTERDAM AS A SHOPPING AREA

1989; Wiley; Volume: 80; Issue: 3 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1111/j.1467-9663.1989.tb01734.x

1467-9663

A. C. M. JANSEN,

Financial Crisis of the 21st Century

In high summer, Amsterdam smells of frying oil, shag tobacco and unwashed beer glasses. In narrow streets, where the press of human traffic adds its own pungency, these vapors stand in the air like an aromatic heat mist. Along the Kalverstraat, the ancient and noisy alley that snakes south from the Dam, the swarm of tourists at four in the afternoon coagulates into a single viscid mass. But in Amsterdam, alleys attract; avenues repel. The Kalverstraat's din and cheerful vulgarity are the authentic Dutch answer to the alienating breadth of a boulevard, a piece of urban bombast that has never worked well in their towns. The same tourists who make for the Champs Elysées or Piccadilly, in Amsterdam instinctively shun the pompous space of the Rokin for the sweaty shove and jostle of the Kalverstraat' (S. Schama, The Embarrassment of Riches. An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age , 1987, p. 15).