Background
Every weekend, the Rembrandt Square area welcomes many foreign tourists, Dutch visitors and residents in the evenings and at night. One of the biggest challenges the City faces with these visitors is the problem of public urination in and around the square. There are several urinals located on the square, nevertheless visitors often see the walls/doors of residential houses and alleys as the ideal place to empty their bladders. This not only smells bad, but costs a fortune to clean up.
The Mayor of Amsterdam has designated Rembrandt Square as a pilot zone. Over a period of three years (lasting until July 2018) the municipal government, police, bars and clubs of the square have been trying to minimise the misbehaviour of some visitors – public urination in particular. Not in the ‘traditional’ way, such as adding more police, but by changing the way the square and the area around it is experienced and/or designed.
Distinctions can be made between troublemakers: one section consists of one-off visitors that don’t have a personal connection to the square, the second are visitors from the surrounding villages and cities, and the third group is made up of Amsterdam locals (who go out to Rembrandt Square more frequently). The troublemakers are generally between 18 and 30 years old.
There is always room for more experimentation and innovation that will help achieve the main goal of the Rembrandt Square programme: less urination in the alleys.
Find an innovative way to diminish public urination of the visitors in and around the Rembrandt Square area.
Criteria
Background to the Rembrandt Square programme (subtitled):
https://vimeo.com/219647212/d8ce83e8b1
Issued by: Programma Rembrandtplein
