Bijlmer Oral History

2024 marks the 30th anniversary of the large-scale transformation of the ‘concrete’ Bijlmer district in Amsterdam. Much of the urban plan has been demolished or renovated. With the demolition, residents and former residents lost memories and their history was erased.

In the project Bijlmer Oral History, Liz Dautzenberg is researching, archiving and presenting this lost social history of the Amsterdam housing estate. The result is a collection of stories with personal memories of the rise and fall of the ‘original’ concrete Bijlmer (1968-1998), told through the eyes of its residents and former residents and presented in a digital environment.

This project is a first attempt to document the more recent and underexposed urban history of the Bijlmer from the inside and to present it in an accessible way. The aim is to promote and increase broader insights arising from the history.