More than a thousand windmills sprung up in Zaanstreek – right next door to Amsterdam – during the 17th and 18th centuries. Making it into a hot innovation spot with many startup windmill business. They sawed wood, threshed corn, pressed grain and nuts to oil, milled coloured powder from chalk and ground snuff from tobacco leaves. All sorts of craftsmen moved into the area including tin founders, boat builders and sail makers.
Others may still perceive them as unique once in a lifetime experiences, vices even – we Amsterdammers have accepted those vices as virtues.
Can we sell a city the same way we sell a product with marketing and branding techniques known and available to us? Or are a product and a city profoundly different and do we need a different approach?
Amsterdam like many cities is constantly changing, morphing to adapt to new realities. Where the old is no longer used it opens new opportunities. Leaving the industrial era and entering into a service related economy, leaves behind vacant buildings, that are first only known to a few urban explorers.
As European cities like Barcelona, Amsterdam and Rome seem to burst out of their skin due to the massive and growing tourist stream each year, Paris seems to be losing ground on other popular European destinations.
Make your New York visit more interesting by adding these famous movie sets to your itinerary
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