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Regulating urban office provision : a study of the ebb and flow of regimes of
urbanisation in Amsterdam and Frankfurt am Main, 1945-2000
Ploeger, R.A.
Publication date
2004
Link to publication
Citation for published version (APA):
Ploeger, R. A. (2004). Regulating urban office provision : a study of the ebb and flow of
regimes of urbanisation in Amsterdam and Frankfurt am Main, 1945-2000.
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Acknowledgements s
Sixx years after I first embarked on my research for my P h D I now write what for myy friends and family will be the part of this thesis that will probably be read the most:: the acknowledgements.
Sixx years ago Willem Salet invited me to come to the A M E Research Institutee in the University of Amsterdam to write a dissertation. I would like to thankk him here and now, and through him the A M E , for the confidence that was putt in me then. I have felt that constant trust like a warm blanket. Together with Jacquess van de Ven (does anything ever happen in Amsterdam that he doesn't know about?)) Willem gave me the space to find my own way, space through which I have happilyy meandered all this time. Discussing all those different versions became enjoyablee rituals that I learnt to appreciate. Willem the intuitive challenger, Jacques, thee solid source of inspiration. A great team: Willem and Jacques, my thanks for six beautifull years.
Inn 1999, under Julie Lawson's inspiring leadership, the theme group "Institutiess en Planning" was set up in A M E . The theoretical basis of my thesis wouldd certainly have taken another shape without the sometimes critical, sometimess irksome, but always good-humoured comments of my fellow P h D researcherss and colleagues. I would like to thank Julie, Lianne van Duinen, David Evers,, Luis Arribas, Stan Majoor, Leonie Janssen-Jansen, and Enrico Gualini for all thosee thought-provoking discussions on structures and individuals — even though wee sometimes drove each other crazy.
Frankfurtt is a fascinating city; I got to know it inside out in a most privileged manner.. Professor Bodo Freund, armed with his camera, his infectious enthusiasm andd (not to be underestimated) his generously proportioned car, led me in his own uniquee manner along Frankfurt's office locations. It was a great experience, and I amm delighted that Professor Freund became a member of my Promotion Committee.. In addition, I would like to thank D r Christian Langhagen-Rohrbach. H ee provided careful, detailed comments on all my chapters on Frankfurt.
Embarkingg on writing a thesis is one thing; finishing it is quite another. In thee final phase I have been able to benefit from the flexibility afforded me by my neww employer, the Ontwikkelingsbedrijf Gemeente Amsterdam [Amsterdam Municipal Developmentt Corporation], for everything that had to done. My special thanks go
RegulatingRegulating Urban Office Provision
too the Beleid en Strategie [Policy and Strategy] department and to Keimpe Reitsma in particular. .
T h ee finishing of the book was a task that could not have been completed withoutt the help of many people. I would like to thank UvA Kaartenmakers for the splendidd figures which they produced at short notice. My thanks are also due to UvAA Vertalers and Anne Hawkins of Spels for their proficient translation and editing.. Julie Lawson deserves special thanks for all the hours she spent on the Amsterdamm chapters. Wim Bosboom also deserves special mention for his cover design.. The presentation is half the work, he once told me, and I was to call him w h e nn the thesis had been completed. I didn't forget, but neither did he.
Forr all the academic efforts, I am already quite sure that when I have grown oldd and grey and look back on my years as a research student, it will be the friendshipss that will first come to mind. I think of all my different roommates throughh the years. First there was Enrico, who could type like a repeater gun, and forr w h o m Tolkien held no secrets. Then there were Lianne and Jaap. I would like too thank both of them for our sparkling conversations, usually not about research. J a a p ,, thank you too for all those 'laarzen'; they were good times on the Nieuwmarkt.. Finally there were Cordula, w h o was so challengingly energetic, and Karinn and Frans, w h o shared my last death spasms at the university7. And I would alsoo like to mention Stefan, pacing round the table in circles as he talked, Els, w h o justt dropped in increasingly often, and Frank, the oil that made the wheels of the lunchh club turn smoothly. You were most welcome pseudo-roommates.
Bass and Sander are my closest Amsterdam friends. I just want to thank them forr their friendship. If they could bear to sit and watch so many bad Ajax matches, thenn at least they each deserve a mention in my foreword and a place at my side as
mymy paranimf. W h a t a pity that Sander will be somewhere on the Cote d'Azur when I
defendd my thesis. Some people have all the luck.
Finallyy I thank all those w h o are dearest to me: Marjon, Christa and Herman, Lexx and Mirjam, M u m and D a d . My dearest Marjon, who felt that "that b o o k " reallyy ought to be finished soon, gave me just the extra puff of energy that I needed.. That energy had to be found from deep down, because times are rough for alll of us. So let's stick together. I am happy that you are always there to give me thatt rock solid base that I can fall back on.
II dedicate this book to M u m and D a d . Thank you for everything.
