HAARLEM
“Action! Let’s get to work for a social, green, and livable city.”
The title of the coalition agreement of the Municipality of Haarlem leaves no room for doubt. After years of developing strong visions and ambitions across various themes, the time has come to translate these into concrete projects. The focus now must be on implementation. Making real progress. Many of the challenges facing the Municipality of Haarlem are directly related to how we use public space. The coalition agreement explicitly mentions housing, energy, climate, and also social inequality. And all of these themes demand space in our streets.
As in many other cities and towns, there is a growing need to fundamentally rethink our streets. Where streets have long been designed primarily to facilitate traffic flow and private car parking, they must now once again serve as public spaces—supporting a much wider range of functions and needs.Even when we manage to see the street differently—or begin to think about it in new ways—any desired change quickly encounters resistance from the existing status quo. To shape the transition we aspire to, we must actively seek out new perspectives, learn to let go of entrenched practices, and experiment with alternative approaches. To support this effort, the municipal executive has asked The LAb of Thought to serve as Urban Advisor for the Mobility Transition, providing both requested and unsolicited advice.
That, in itself, is a bold move—acknowledging the scale of the challenge while also admitting that the path forward will be difficult. Rather than letting fear of change lead to inaction, Haarlem chooses to move forward—with courage and curiosity.
Due to ongoing progress on the project in Haarlem we’re happy to inform you through our regular channels. In the meantime feel free to read the Harlem Handles. the guideline to define potential experiments that meet policy goals.
