Amsterdam
Library Next: The Library for the Future
DURATION: Ongoing since 2023
POPULATION: Amsterdam: 1,189,000 (Growth rate 0.59%)
TOPICS: YOUTH, DEVELOPMENT, COMMUNITY, CREATIVITY, INFRASTRUCTURE, OPPORTUNITY
URA SCOPE: STRATEGY. Shared Vision
MAIN ACTORS:Public Library of Amsterdam, The Community Organisation "HartfortheKbuurt', The City of Amsterdam
In Amsterdam’s Southeast, the neighbourhood of Kraaiennest has long lived in the margins—overlooked, underestimated, and often misrepresented. But quietly, steadily, something new is taking root.
The youth of Kraaiennest are no longer waiting for change to come to them. They are building it themselves, shaping their surroundings into a Young Development Neighbourhood—a place where ambition is not the exception but the starting point.
In the centre of this shift is Library Next. This isn’t just a building filled with books. It’s a living, growing space designed with the future in mind—a place where young people and long-time residents alike can learn, imagine, and connect. It’s a library for the next generation, but open to everyone. A place that says: your voice matters, your skills are needed, and your dreams belong here.
Library Next is rooted in the belief that learning doesn’t stop when school ends. It offers a range of educational programs—like the TUMO model—that combine creativity and technology in ways that speak to today’s youth. From digital design to storytelling and coding, these programs open doors to skills that are relevant, empowering, and often life changing.
Workshops in digital literacy ensure that no one is left behind in a world that moves online, while cultural events invite neighbours to share and celebrate what makes them different—and what brings them together.
But this future-focused space is also grounded in responsibility. Built with sustainability in mind, the library uses eco-friendly materials and integrates green roofs, solar panels, and energy-efficient systems. It doesn’t just talk about the climate—it teaches about it and leads by example. Recycling initiatives and digital-first strategies reduce waste, while community-led sessions explore how to live in closer harmony with the environment.
Inside, the library offers more than silence and shelves. There are co-working spaces for freelancers and young professionals, labs for making and experimenting, and rooms where ideas can be shared, challenged, and built into real projects. These are places where people meet not just to read or study, but to work together on something bigger.
In Kraaiennest, change isn’t arriving from the outside. It’s being built from within. And Library Next is both a foundation and a launchpad—an invitation to imagine a different future, and the tools to begin creating it.
Challenge & Context
Amsterdam’s Southeast faces persistent structural challenges that impact the daily lives and prospects of its residents—particularly its young population. Long considered an underprivileged area, it struggles with socio-economic inequality, limited access to opportunity, and a lack of investment in long-term development infrastructure. Many young people in the neighbourhood grow up with fewer educational and professional pathways compared to other parts of the city, making it harder to imagine or build a fairer future.
There is a marked absence of accessible spaces where young people can explore their talents, develop skills, and connect with mentors or networks that could support their growth. Cultural, educational, and technological resources remain scarce or fragmented, and opportunities for informal learning or creative development are often out of reach.
Equally lacking are hubs for experimentation—places where new programmes, services, and partnerships can be tested and refined in response to the specific needs of the community. This makes it difficult to build sustainable models for youth development that are locally anchored and future oriented. The challenge is not only one of resources, but of infrastructure—of having the right places and structures in which a more equitable future can begin to take shape.
Solution Proposed
Library Next is a long-term initiative to create a new kind of public library in Amsterdam’s Southeast—an area being reshaped through youth-led development.
Initiated by the Public Library of Amsterdam, the City of Amsterdam, and the community platform Hart voor de Kbuurt, the project places young people at the centre of both the design and decision-making process. The core idea is to turn the library into a dynamic engine for learning, creativity, sustainability, and community collaboration.
The project works through a step-by-step approach. From 2024 to 2030, a temporary, sustainable Library Lab will serve as a platform for experimentation. Here, new programmes, services, and funding models will be tested and refined in close collaboration with young people and partner organisations.
Facilities such as a media lab for music and content production, and a Transition Hub focused on climate and sustainability education, are already operational and widely used.
A key component is TUMO Amsterdam, a free learning centre for design and technology, developed with public and private partners. Insights from these pilot initiatives will guide the design and function of the permanent 8,500 m² Library Next, set to open in 2030 as a model for future libraries.
Impact
Significant milestones have marked the development of Library Next and its associated initiatives, contributing to long-term educational, cultural, and environmental goals within the community.
A key achievement is the establishment of the temporary Library Lab, which has been fully designed, financed, and is scheduled for construction in September 2024.
This space will serve as a testing ground for new programming and community engagement strategies ahead of the permanent Library Next building.
The launch of TUMO Amsterdam in January 2024, through a partnership between the Public Library of Amsterdam, the City of Amsterdam, and private sector stakeholders such as TomTom, Adyen, Miro, and Just Eat Takeaway, represents a major investment in youth development.
The centre offers young people free access to training in design, technology, and creativity, fostering skills relevant for the future labour market.
Library Next, in collaboration with community platform Hart voor de Kbuurt, has also established a Media Lab that is now widely used by local youth for music and media production.
This space supports creative expression and provides informal learning opportunities in digital media.
In parallel, a Transition Hub focused on sustainability education has been set up as a temporary facility, promoting environmental awareness through co-produced programming.
Moreover, young residents have participated in designing their future library using Minecraft, as part of the global C40 Schools for Education Challenge, linking local engagement to international climate and innovation networks.
Finally, the design tender process for the permanent Library Next building has been initiated by the City of Amsterdam and the Public Library, underscoring the project’s institutional commitment and long-term vision.
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