Buiksloterham is the Living Lab for the circular city. The former industrial estate on the northern banks of the river IJ in Amsterdam covers approximately one hundred hectares, making it one of the largest transformation areas in the city: an ideal place for experiments. The initiators want to help bring about a radical change in course and transform the capital city into a smart, social and circular community. Within a period of ten years, highly diverse parties, ranging from self-builders and entrepreneurs to housing associations and public utilities, will create a new residential and business area here. Many of them have signed the Buiksloterham Circular Manifesto in confirmation of their objective of achieving end-to-end recycling at the highest possible level. A variety of concrete experimental projects are expected to identify the elements which will contribute most to the new district.

The committee commends the initiative shown by these passionate innovators who have joined forces to create a circular neighbourhood: a true bottom-up development. Furthermore, they have succeeded in attracting heavyweight support by bringing the Municipality of Amsterdam and Waternet on board. As a result, this effort to design an ecological district is one that can be taken seriously. The scale, which goes much further than building a sustainable home, is impressive. Because this is a long-term project and still evolving, the committee’s nomination focuses less on the actual achievements to date than on the system that has been created to encourage deeper thought about this type of architecture and the resulting vision on ecological residential forms.