There was an overlying theme on this past trip and that was to lay down. Not just anywhere mind you... but to lay down on grassy knolls. You don't realize how much you can miss the simple things from home, like lying in the grass. Whether we were on CEPT University, India Institute of Management, or Doshi's Office; if there was grass, we were laying on it. 
This is a place that seems to have the Landscape Architecture thing figured out. Despite all the people, you can still move with relative ease throughout the city. Everything seems to be maintained. I was pleasantly surprised to see so many city workings cleaning up the city and all the road construction. I know, it's crazy that I would miss ANYTHING so annoying like road construction, but for some strange reason... it reminds me of home.
Photo courtesy of Christina Forrest
I’ve been in India for one week and the one aspect of Landscape Architecture that I’m fascinated by is the street system. The streets here are used by all walks of life. It’s a place where modernism meets traditionalism; where the slow and the fast all share the road; and it works.
The philosophies of street design are very contrasting. Back in the United States, the focus is on how to minimize interaction between the pedestrian traffic and the vehicular traffic. Here, it seems that there is little concern whether or not the two groups are segregated or not. I think one reason this is of little concern here is that the driving philosophies are also different. In the United States people are defensive drivers and always assuming that everyone around them is an idiot. Whereas in India people assume that everyone else knows what they are doing.
At first this system seems chaotic and very dangerous, but once you understand the driving styles it makes a lot of sense. In a city with such a high density, why re-design a road system that has designated areas for different types of traffic; when that same space can be used to incorporate all types of traffic and move people through the city more efficiently? People move within a hands length of each other, be it a motorcycle, auto-rickshaw, bike, or pedestrians; they all move right alongside each other. Lines are painted on the road, but I have never seen them used. People will just as easily drive right down the middle of the line as they would drive in between the lines. 
Crossing the street is another aspect of the system to get used to. There are very few crosswalks and I have yet to see someone use them, and there are certainly no pedestrian lights at the intersections. The key to crossing the road: don’t hesitate, and trust the drivers. Which seems very contrary to what we’re taught but it must be remembered that the driving philosophy here is completely opposite of ours and what we’ve grown up with. It’s rare to see someone cross the entire street at once. Usually the street has to be crossed in increments, wait for one car and then move a few yards, stop and wait for another vehicle to pass and then move another few yards, and so on until you’ve crossed the streets. Even though I’ve found myself standing in the middle of the road facing a slew of oncoming traffic, I’m not bothered by it because I have to remember that I have to trust them just as they have to trust that I’m not going to move in front of them at the last minute.
Despite all of this, I feel just as safe walking along the road here, as I do walking along a sidewalk back in the states. I have seen cars, auto-rickshaws, traditional rickshaws, motorcycles, mopeds, bike, camels, carts, people, dogs, cows, and goats; all traveling along the roads.
There is no question that bikes are king of downtown Amsterdam. Never in my life have I seen such a high density of bikes. It truly is a sight to see, especially if you’re like me and grew up in the suburbs where cars are king of the road. There is no end to the bicycles that line the streets. With the road system as confusing as it is… I can see why biking is the preferred method of transportation. There is a lane specifically for bikes on nearly every road I’ve traversed since my arrival. Even the bike lanes are cleared off better than the pedestrian lanes. Some lanes are wide enough to have four bikes.
Since there are so many bikers, walking can be a treacherous task. Not only do you have to look both ways for cars, but bikes also. They do not stop for anybody or anything; most pedestrians seem to follow this ‘rule,’ even at crosswalks. There are three different sets of stoplights within the downtown area; lights for Cars, Bikes, and Pedestrians. Bikes and pedestrians are segregated at all intersections of main roads. At the Train Station in Downtown Amsterdam; there is a three story parking garage for bikes; only bikes, and from there they spill onto the sidewalks and streets. Bikes are everywhere; there is no end to the vast amount of bikes. Plazas are wide open with few obstacles to account for all the pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Even in the parks, the main path is for bicycle use only. The pedestrian walkways are on either side and seem to be a glorified cow path. Whether or not there is a hard surface underneath the packed snow is unknown. It doesn’t seem to matter what time of day it is, people are riding bikes and traveling all the time and the traffic never seems to die down.
