For all the excitement about travelling, there are times you yearn for the pleasures of home. Then again, in some places, there are times you yearn that these pleasures were your home.
In a visit to Maastricht last week, there was ample evidence – instruction, even – of how a city can build to honour its history, maintain to enliven its people and envision to encompass the future.
Before everyone tackles me to note the socialist democracy that is the Netherlands, particularly with its higher taxes, let me say that most of what impressed would fall into the category of things any city could encourage.
Naturally the country’s train system is a renowned marvel: punctual, co-ordinated with city buses (all electric, taken by most everyone) down to the minute. Once you’re into the city, that is where evident wisdom ensues.
Start with traffic. True, it’s a significantly smaller place, but Maastricht consciously thinks of the vehicle as something to most effectively move in the interest of a cleaner environment and a contented motorist. An investment in sensor technology and a restless review of traffic patterns move cars and trucks around with frictionless efficiency.
In Vancouver, it feels like our largest emerging pollutant is the idling vehicle. In Maastricht they let you decide on your transport mode on the basis of optimized choices.The multi-generational history of learned cyclists is helped there by a much flatter topography, so the rather silly comparisons of Vancouver to many European cities neglects the physical toll. But it is impressive to see how the presence of smartly designed lanes and bike lights – also tied to technology, helpfully in rain – produces a responsible cycling culture.
But what I noticed regularly was how the transport infrastructure in Maastricht isn’t about a zero-sum game. Bike-share territory isn’t swiping parking spots the way it is in Vancouver. Roads weren’t constricted retroactively for segregated lanes. And there is a perceptible serenity in the shared space in Maastricht, not a basic tension arising from poor planning and terrible municipal management of the cyclist-motorist relationship.
On a larger scale, the city’s challenges to attract and retain young people are no different from Vancouver’s. Maastricht is an old mining town that has set its sights on the knowledge economy by attracting through its university a sizable cohort of graduate students with money – yes, money. You are paid to study, you get twice-annual bonuses, your moving expenses are taken care of and you are provided long holidays. It induces you to stay and attract investment.
Businesses are treated wisely in the mix, again with incentives for smaller operations to move there to create a more intimate commerce. There is also a hopeful commitment to e-transactions: parking by card and smartphone, a shift away from cheques overall. Free Wi-Fi is more prevalent, home internet is cheaper and data plans are generous. Canada feels fumbling by comparison.
Real estate is not the madness there that it is Vancouver, so it is difficult to draw comparisons. But there is an interesting approach in the rental market that pays dividends in providing space for those with low incomes: places are tied to income and those with higher incomes cannot qualify for cheaper digs. It has meant that few fall off the cliff with shelter.
Mainly, though, what you instantly notice about the city is that it concerns itself with its appearance. The streets are fastidiously clean, crews manicure the weeds, potholes are not tolerated, graffiti and broken windows are pounced upon and even construction sites are kept tidy.
The larger design esthetic is something Vancouver long ago frittered away. Maastricht is hardly growing upward, but the congruence of the architecture is envious.
Is the place perfect? No. Child-care challenges are keeping women from full workforce participation, arts support seems to be susceptible to politics, and there are far too many choices on the beer menu.
But it has some lessons we would do well to take to heart. •
Kirk LaPointe is Business in Vancouver’s vice-president of audience and business development.
