When arriving from the elevated metro line, which stops at the station Kraaiennest for reaching the K-buurt, the Kleiburg apartment building immediately catches the eye with its crispy contemporary look. The faƧade detailing that combines wooden handrails, grey metal window frames and concrete balconies almost shows from far away. It has a different image from the other flats, who are after several series of renovations still going through physical deterioration on the faƧade. At least, this is definitely the case for the Kikkenstien building, which will be discussed later.
The exit of the Kraaiennest metro station leads from the left side to a walking path towards the Kleiburg building. Getting closer to the building, the first thing that one may realize on the street level is the transparency of the buildingās plinth. At the first corner that the visitor encounters while walking towards the building would be the spacious indoor bike park. Moving the gaze towards the left, the terraces of the ground-floor apartment buildings can be seen. The walking path that connects the metro station to the building cleverly does not open towards that side; this creates a semi private zone, especially meant for the residents of those apartments.
Following the path, the backside of the building is reached, where there are the entrances of the ground floor apartments and 3 of the main entrances to the upper floors of the building. Here the building presents a very different experience; more that of an urban street, with a strong sense of place. This pedestrian semi-street is planned in a rather simple way, following the imprint of the building. There is an automobile street parallel to it, where the cars can park, which opens to two main parking spaces. The automobile street is completed by a green space, which surrounds the whole back side of the building.
Just like the other characteristic honey-comb flats of Bijlmermeer, Kleiburg has underpasses, 3 in total. What differs Kleiburgās underpasses than the other honey-comb buildings is that they are doubled in size; in width and height, working as simple passages from one side of the building to the other. Next to the underpasses are the circulation spaces for the building (5 in total), which are also spacious and transparent, circulated by double-height glasses. One can spot the post man arriving to these spaces, or the cleaner of the building who is working inside in the mornings.
According to the cleaning department of Amsterdam Zuidoost, Kleiburg is a small heaven; the residents ābehaveā in the correct way. They do not throw their trash out of their balconies or in front of the bike park spaces. Neither do they trash the walking paths or the streets at the back side. āWe almost never clean Kleiburg, because itās already clean by itselfā, would one of the team leaders proudly say. His impression of Kleiburg is also followed by demographic points; Kleiburg is āoccupied by the white and the rich, the apartments are bought instead of social housingā. There are also behavioural conclusions that are made; āHere the people donāt have the culture of the other flatsā.
Another interesting point that the cleaning department makes about the Kleiburg is about the complaints that are received from that area. The city of Amsterdam offers an application for filing complaints about the public space, which can be downloaded by the residents on their phones. Meldingen Openbare Ruimte Amsterdam (Public Space Complaints of Amsterdam), also called MORA, is a platform where these complaints are collected and sent to the cleaners in real time. The cleaning teams receive these complaints in their electronic tablet based on the area where they operate, and take care of this issue as soon as they can.
As it appears, the Kleiburg residents file more MORA complaints, although the area is much more clean in relation to the other districts of Amsterdam Zuidoost. Again here, the cleaning departmentās conclusion is made based on the economic level and culture, which is almost a common understanding within the department.
If we rewind this description back and focus on the area that is closer to the Kraaiennest metro station, which is less than 5 minutes walk away from the Kleiburg building, the experiences in related with trash can be very different. The visitor would first pass from the open space to which the Kraaiennest Medical Centre and Bonte Kraai neighbourhood centre are facing from the right. This section will appear quite clean to the visitor, with only few pieces of trash flying around. Looking at left, the visitor will see a childrenās park, not very busy in the morning but hosted by first by mothers with children, then with teenagers and then with fathers with children as the day goes by. The visitor will also notice the amount of trash that the children have to step on to play. Then, the visitor will pass through the tennis court, which also has some trash in the corners. And then, the green area will come to the view, as the Kleiburg building gets closer. Also lots of trash here, although not as much as the playground. Sometimes one will see even trash torn into little pieces by the grasscutter. Finally the visitor will arrive to the section of the green space which also happens to be the garden of the ground floor apartments. There are no clear separations in this space that defines the private and the public, however the feeling is completely there.Ā
Within those 5 minutes, the visitor is going through different rhythmic configurations, seeing at the same time different behaviours of trash in this urban fragment. In this sense, one can indeed suggest that arriving to Kleiburg feels like arriving to the clean zone. However before connecting this happening of cleanliness with the economic level and culture of the residents, there are many factors to be taken into account. One factor, according to this research, touches upon the rhythms of the urban environment. For example, the opening of the terraces towards the green space creates a different type of rhythm than the rest of the green areas. At the same time, how the green area is close to a busy walking path differs the rhythms of the green area than the other green areas. This study suggests that these rhythms influence the creation of trash in the urban environment. Of course, in many cases also the economic and cultural factors will have an effect. However, this study also suggests that looking and intervening at the level of urban rhythms may create a rather inclusive or egalitarian type of approach to this issue.