As you approach the northern part of Amsterdam, you will see a large
white building, which some say looks like a frog. "The Eye" film
institute's new building, opened in 2012, cost around €38m. It received
€1.5m of EU funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
The ERDF has distributed more cash in 'Amsterdam Noord' - an area which because of its watery separation from the rest of Amsterdam was for a long time seen as not truly belonging to the city.
But several big industrial players departed the waterfront, leaving it open for new development. Housing cooperative Open Haard received €2.7m to modernise an area of mostly abandoned company buildings.
According to Bart Bozelie the project – which also received €10m in private investment – has helped put the northern district on the map. "The ERDF subsidy definitively contributed to that," he told EUobserver in an emailed statement. He said that the project would have gone ahead anyway without the ERDF subsidy, but then it would have had "a lower ambition level".
During the current funding period (ie 2014-2020), Amsterdam's Noord district is also benefiting from a €33m co-financing to develop economic activity in a city park.
The money will be used to renovate pavilions and two former gas stations. One former gas station, recently painted yellow, was already defaced with graffiti. The building is now used for neighbourhood activities like yoga, and as one passer-by told EUobserver, bicycle classes.
Biking is of course quintessentially Dutch, and you can also do it on EU-funded bike paths.
Read more: A tourist's guide to EU-funded Amsterdam
The ERDF has distributed more cash in 'Amsterdam Noord' - an area which because of its watery separation from the rest of Amsterdam was for a long time seen as not truly belonging to the city.
But several big industrial players departed the waterfront, leaving it open for new development. Housing cooperative Open Haard received €2.7m to modernise an area of mostly abandoned company buildings.
According to Bart Bozelie the project – which also received €10m in private investment – has helped put the northern district on the map. "The ERDF subsidy definitively contributed to that," he told EUobserver in an emailed statement. He said that the project would have gone ahead anyway without the ERDF subsidy, but then it would have had "a lower ambition level".
During the current funding period (ie 2014-2020), Amsterdam's Noord district is also benefiting from a €33m co-financing to develop economic activity in a city park.
The money will be used to renovate pavilions and two former gas stations. One former gas station, recently painted yellow, was already defaced with graffiti. The building is now used for neighbourhood activities like yoga, and as one passer-by told EUobserver, bicycle classes.
Biking is of course quintessentially Dutch, and you can also do it on EU-funded bike paths.
Read more: A tourist's guide to EU-funded Amsterdam
