Summer in the city: Sun, Swimming - and Sleepless Nights?

Abstract

Over the last decade, summer recreation in urban green-blue open spaces has become increasingly popular in Amsterdam, but so has the amount of reported nuisance because of summer recreation. In this thesis, the nuisance that has been reported by citizens during the summer recreation season from 2020 has been analysed by coding the reports in Atlas.TI, and using a survey from the Muncipality of Amsterdam as a verification. There are two locations where large amounts of nuisance reports have been filed, the Bogortuin and Park Somerlust, and several smaller locations with quay walls in the Oostelijk Havengebied and on the Amstel river. The content on the individual nuisance experience in the reports has been separated in observations, providing the nuisance causes, and evaluations, providing the nuisance impact. Recreation in it self is not problematic per se, but the presence of large groups of youngsters and recreation during the evening hours and at night is. This impacts local residents because of noise nuisance, especially at night, and pollution of waste and public urination. The character of summer recreation nuisance can be classified as both physical and social nuisance that is experienced during the evening hours, on weekend days and when it’s dry and warm. Implemented interventions have been evaluated and together with proposed interventions been analysed with the prevention pyramid. The measures that deal with the physical nuisance, temporary public toilets and an increase of waste capacity are in general reviewed positively. One successful intervention on social nuisance is the anchoring ban with a buoy line in the water to prevent noise nuisance from boats. None of the measures has been designed in an integrated way, using all the levels of the pyramid.