Skip to Content
Streetsblog Massachusetts home
Streetsblog Massachusetts home
Log In
Streetfilms

Streetfilms Visits A Dutch ‘Woonerf’

A family walks four abreast down a brick-paved street. A man wearing a blue shirt in the center walks a yellow bicycle

Neighbors enjoy a Dutch “woonerf,” or shared street, in Utrecht. Photo by Clarence Eckerson, Jr.

Narrow, shared streets, where pedestrians can wander across the entire width of the street and cars must creep along at a safe walking pace, have a long history in Massachusetts. They can be found in Colonial-era districts like Marshall Street in downtown Boston, Commercial Street in Provincetown, or Essex Street in Salem, and they also exist in some form on most college campuses across the state.

Where such places exist, they are extremely popular: they're striking examples of how much better streets can be with fewer cars and slower traffic.

And yet, in spite of their long history of success, they remain relatively rare here.

That's not the case in the Netherlands, where filmmaker Clarence Eckerson Jr. has wrapped a new mini-documentary about a residential "woonerf" (Dutch for "living street") in Utrecht:

In a blog post accompanying the new video, Eckerson writes:

When I posted I was headed to The Netherlands once again to visit (and for my first time to Utrecht), as usual I got a lot of recommendations on what to look at. One of the first people to contact me was Rebecca Albrecht, who moved there with her husband Paul from Boston about three years ago and couldn't be more delighted to live there...

When I arrived the street was full of neighbors and children and they wanted to talk to me about their lovely street. But this is not something exceptional as over 2 million Dutch people live on play/living streets. So take a gander but be warned: you will want the same thing for your block.

Stay in touch

Sign up for our free newsletter

More from Streetsblog Massachusetts

Roadblocked: Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Eliminates Most Federal Funding For Allston Highway Realignment

Without a formal project agreement in place, MassDOT will receive only $8 million out of a $335 million "reconnecting communities" grant that the Biden administration had pledged.

July 10, 2025

Another Bus Lane Bites the Dust: Wu Administration Forces Chelsea, Charlestown Transit Riders to Wait In More Traffic

The change comes just weeks before the MBTA rolls out a new bus lane enforcement system, which is expected to improve bus service considerably – at least on the dwindling number of streets where dedicated bus lanes still exist.

July 8, 2025

Balanced For Now – But Beacon Hill Is Putting the T Back On the Edge of Another Fiscal Cliff

The state's final budget gives the T about $80 million less than it had planned to spend in the coming fiscal year to cover its payroll and other transit operating costs.

July 7, 2025

Ambulance Data Reveals That Boston Drivers Are 4 Times More Likely to Run Over Pedestrians From Black Neighborhoods

"Overall, residents of predominantly Black and Latino neighborhoods are about four times more likely than residents of predominantly white neighborhoods to be struck as a pedestrian."

July 1, 2025
See all posts