Netherlands Nice: How Thoughtful Dutch Design Makes Public Life a Pleasant Experience

I returned from a trip last week to Amsterdam after a forty-year absence from that city, which is too long to have been away. The visit renewed my faith in what is possible in public life. The city was still as clean and running as efficiently as I had left it, but this time around I photographed artifacts of streamlined public life, instead of churches and monuments, as I had in 1983. <img alt="" src="https://miro.medium.com/v2/resize:fit:700/0*bjbzGWGHUIiikesY" style="height:467px; width:700px" /> Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@jmelpri?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Javier M.</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/?utm_source=medium&utm_medium=referral" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">Unsplash</a> Striking is the baseline politeness of many Dutch persons. It must be built into their culture. Every time I stepped aside to allow for a pedestrian or biker to have more room to pass, the reply I heard from them was: <a href="https://medium.com/illumination/netherlands-nice-how-thoughtful-dutch-design-makes-public-life-a-pleasant-experience-6c5d9b726b31">Learn More</a>