There isn’t a patch of land in the Netherlands that hasn’t been, one way or another, touched, adapted or protected from other environments¹. The “wild”, in the Netherlands, disappeared centuries ago, confining the relation between men and animals to the formality of gardens, parks and zoos, or the functional landscapes of agriculture.

The project focuses on the relation between Amsterdam and the concept of Wildness. This attitude towards the environment is manifest in the initiatives taken by the city of Amsterdam: the precise mapping of the “natural” environments, the definition of threats to the different species, the thorough listing of animals and plants come to describe nature as a fragile guest in the city. The Wild City tries to recover an idea of “wildness” rather than “wilderness”², related not only to nature but also to freedom and absence of control.

¹ 89% of the Netherlands are currently urbanised. Statistics Netherlands at  http://www.populstat.info/Europe/netherlg.htm

² On wildness as “Untained, Spontaneous, Free” see Thoreau, H.D., 1851, Walking, CreateSpace, N Charleston SC, United States.