Generating Amsterdam — 750 Years in Your Hands

Generating Amsterdam is an interactive 3D time machine of one place in the city: the Dam, looking north over the Damrak towards the IJ. A single time slider takes you from 1275 to 2026 through six eras: The Dam (1275), the Walled City (1500), the Golden Age (1650), the Age of Steam (1889), the war years (1940–1945) and Now (2026). Scrub freely or snap to an era, and the city rebuilds itself as you move; the town fires of 1421 and 1452 play out along the way.

Every building that still stands comes from real data: footprint, height and construction year from 3DBAG and the Dutch BAG register, with canals from OpenStreetMap. What has been lost, such as the wooden town, the city wall and the forest of ship masts, is generated for each era. A guided tour shows 750 years in three minutes. In 2026 the camera leaves the Dam and dives to Funenpark, where the AInnovate office lights up.

Generating Amsterdam was built by AInnovate, the AI development studio in Amsterdam, as a demonstration of its work.