The Transforming Dutch City seen through the Infrastructural Changes: Railways and the Case of Amsterdam

The relation between infrastructures and urban transformations is a complex matter. When we look at the Randstad, this part of the Netherlands is characterized by not only its urban development in the last 150 years, but also by the fact that the territory changed; herein geomorphology, waterways, and railroads play an important role. Since the Middle Ages, a well-developed system of canals is ordering landscape and cities, while roads had shallow relevance. Therefore, it is not a coincidence that the first Dutch railroads were positioned parallel to the canals. Land expropriation was easier there and the railway layout could be kept as straight as possible, saving resources.