Study Tour: Circular & Creative Amsterdam North
Amsterdam's most ambitious circular urban experiments live across the IJ, in the city's post-industrial north. On the Saturday after KFF26 closes, walk through the standouts with one of the people who has been documenting and convening the scene for over a decade.
Saturday, May 30: 9:30–12:00
Meeting point: Pier 14 on the north side of Amsterdam Central Station, next to the ferries to NDSM: https://maps.app.goo.gl/85PVRk8cTTKv7Z9G6
End point: De Ceuvel (Korte Papaverweg 4)
The tour involves ~2.5 km of walking — comfortable shoes recommended.
The route opens with a ferry transfer from Central Station to NDSM-werf, once Amsterdam's largest shipyard and now one of Europe's most influential creative and cultural hubs, a case study in what happens when you treat industrial heritage as raw material instead of nostalgia. From there the walk continues through Buiksloterham, the experimental district where Amsterdam is testing circular building codes and bottom-up urbanism at scale, including a stop at the Schoonschip floating neighbourhood, one of Europe's most-cited examples of regenerative residential design.
The tour finishes at De Ceuvel, the cleantech and sustainability living lab built on a former shipyard whose soil-cleaning planting strategy and circular café have inspired projects across the city and beyond. There's an optional lunch at De Ceuvel (own cost) for anyone who wants to keep the conversation going. From De Ceuvel it's a ~20-minute walk back to Central, or a short bus ride.
A perfect wind-down for anyone wanting to extend their KFF26 week, leaving Amsterdam with the city itself as the case study in regenerative urbanism.
YOUR EXPERIENCE INCLUDES (Free)
Guided ferry transfer and walking tour through Amsterdam North
Stops at NDSM-werf, Buiksloterham, and the Schoonschip floating neighbourhood
Site visit to De Ceuvel, including the back story of how the living-lab model came together
Conversation with Cornelia on the policy, financing, and community-organising side of how Amsterdam's circular ambitions actually get built
Optional lunch at De Ceuvel after the tour (own cost)
YOUR HOSTS
Cornelia Dinca, founder of Sustainable Amsterdam, a knowledge platform and study-tour practice that has been spotlighting the city's most progressive urban innovations to international audiences for over a decade.
A NOTE ON THIS EVENT
This is a community-organised side event on the KFF26 Luma calendar, hosted by Sustainable Amsterdam. It's not part of the official KFF26 programme; it's one of the gatherings the community is putting on around the festival to extend the conversation and the connections.
This side event is open to KFF26 ticket holders only. You'll be asked to confirm at RSVP.
Capacity is intimate (~25). Reserve early.