Here's a before-and-after-and-after of the Catharijnesingel by @fietsprofessor@bird.makeup (from X, which I won't link to).
Now I understand! So the canal was covered up with a highway, water was just going beneath it (Edit: I read it appears to have been drained when the highway was constructed). Removing the highway just uncapped it again.
It must be great living in a sane country.
Cool comparison, but it's worth pointing out that the second picture is taken from the bridge that you can see in the first picture. So those big buildings you see on the left in the first picture didn't just disappear, they're just moved out of the shot.
I don't think the problem are the buildings but the car infrastructure.
That's why I said it's still a cool comparison. But cropping out the buildings and focusing more on the trees exaggerates the change a bit and makes it seem as if the entire area has been given back to the wilderness.
I can't believe someone would ctually do this, so awesome!
they just ctrl z
Found it on maps: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ivjnRK76Zgk9fnce7?g_st=ac
Adding to this.
Mapillary has a load of different perspective on the canal as well. The same bridge/canal but on OpenStreetMap.
Was in Bayreuth a couple of weeks ago - they had pictures of the city centre 40-50 years ago hanging there. Couldn't find the exact image on the internet but here is a postcard from around that time. This is how it looks today (you can see the fountain and the house with the steep roof on both images)
Did they really build a fucking street on top of the river? Why would you do this?
Pretty much, yes - the Stadsbuitengracht was a defensive moat originally, then they converted part of it into a motorway in the 70s.
no, they built a canal later
There was water first, then they built a road, then they restored the water.
I canal believe they did that
Not uncommon. Cities grew and the aqueducts just went director to their river, si they suck and paving them was a good excuse to get rid of the sanitation problems they had while expanding car infrastructure. Cities today know better and built aqueducts that didn't dump everything to the river.
That's literally unbelievable
The paradox that arises from the tension between the literal truth of something and the disbelief it inspires compels me to contemplate the consequences of having to wonder what yesterday's prediction about tomorrow will be.
Beautiful!
The last picture still looks quite shitty. Not even grass wants to live there and doesn’t look like a nice spot to chill.
Still, huge improvement in noise and stank.
The grass and vegetation is lush, it’s just unmowed, the second picture shows foot traffic wear (which I’d wager comes from people getting on/off a canal boat there)
The grass is left to do its thing along with the native flowers and plants so bees have a nice space to chill
It's actually really lush all through Utrecht until you get into the old city which is mostly cobblestone
It's in the middle of summer and 2022 was pretty dry.
Show me your water waste free summer grass.
