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Nieuw-West is a neighborhood designed around the belief that greater access to green spaces makes for better communities and happier neighbors. Garden People is a storytelling project collecting testimonies of how people use the Garden Cities of Amsterdam Nieuw-West.


           

Garden Cities

The Garden Cities Intro Text. To learn more about Nieuw-West and it’s history with the Garden Cities, read the interview with Stan Lenssen.









Project Description
Nieuw-West was built on the urban design principle of “Garden Cities”, a utopian concept where communities are developed with access to green spaces at the center of the planning. The belief that a community with the benefits of rural and urban life leads to a better quality of life for all who live there. Present-day Nieuw-West lives at the intersection of this ideal and the trials of urban life. The neighborhood's “bad reputation” might lead outsiders to view those utopian ideals as failures, but for the residents of Nieuw-West, nothing is so black and white.


It is that central question that drives Garden People. Do the residents of today feel their quality of life in the Garden Cities of Nieuw-West even approach those idealistic goals? Garden People is a collection of testimonials on life in the Garden Cities as well as a set of resources to help other community members access nature (and its benefits) in Nieuw-West.


Each profile centers on a personal story, written by the resident, a portrait photograph, and a video. Their story speaks to their personal use of the green space of Nieuw-West and what impact it has on their quality of life. It is a personal story and it is their choice what to share and how to present it. They are then filmed sharing this story in the natural area where they feel connected.


Profiles come from the six Green Cities: Slotermeer, Geuzenveld, Bos-en-Lommer, Slotervaart, Overtoomse Veld, and Osdorp.


About the Artist

William Lounsbury Is a visual storyteller living in Bos-en-Lommer. His work combines photography and first-person testimonies to share people’s stories, authentically. As a photojournalist, his work has been published internationally in the Guardian, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Le Parisien and more. In Amsterdam, he created multiple photo/storytelling projects, exploring communities that are often ignored. Internationally, he works on photo/video projects to amplify the voices of marginalized communities (LGBTQI+ & refugees) through the non-profit, Witness Change. 
Partners This project has been made possible thanks to the generous financial support of Stadsdeel Nieuw-West.




Special thanks to all the community organizations of Nieuw-West who shared their initiatives with the artist and who helped make connections to find the storytellers featured. If you would like to become involved in green spaces or community initiatives in Nieuw-West, please contact one of the following organizations.