On my first evening walking through Amsterdam, I stumbled upon something that stopped me in my tracks — and, no, it wasn’t a famous canal or an old church. It was a public urinal.

More specifically, it was the simplicity of the public urinal that stunned me.

Here in the middle of the city, along sidewalks and canals and tucked into corners, are round, open-air, metal urinals. No buildings, no roofs, no heavy doors, no complicated structures.  They are called Pee Curls.  The curl is made of a spiral-shaped steel sheet suspended a foot and a half above the ground by four cast iron legs, and painted dark green. The top half of the plate is perforated so that any passers-by can determine at eye-level whether it is vacant or in use. Just a straightforward, practical design that serves a basic human need with remarkable efficiency.

Men simply walk in, do their business, and walk out. Done. No fanfare. No big deal.

It’s such a sharp contrast to the way we handle public restrooms in the United States.

In American cities, the conversation around public toilets is often long, heated, expensive, and — ultimately — rare. We debate. We design. We overengineer. When we finally do build something, it’s often a massive, expensive public restroom that requires an army to maintain and an annual budget to keep clean and safe.

As a result, very few public facilities actually get built — and the ones that do are so costly and complicated that many cities simply decide it’s not worth it.

Meanwhile, here in Amsterdam, the Dutch have found a solution that’s simple, low-cost, accessible, and — frankly — effective.

In Amsterdam alone, there are more than 35 permanent public urinals in the city center, with dozens more added temporarily during major festivals.
Each of these simple structures costs just a few thousand euros to install — roughly €1,500–€3,000 — and requires minimal maintenance.

Compare that to cities like Portland, Oregon, where installing a Portland Loo costs around $100,000 per unit, with another $12,000 or more per year just to keep it clean.

San Francisco recently made headlines for proposing a single public restroom that would cost over $1.7 million to plan, build, and maintain — a number so shocking it sparked national ridicule and forced a rethinking of the project.

The broader picture is just as stark.  A 2021 report from the American Restroom Association found that the United States ranks among the lowest of developed nations when it comes to public restrooms per capita.

Where Americans see liability, maintenance headaches, and budget nightmares, the Dutch seem to see functionality, necessity, and common sense.

They don’t overthink it. They just get it done.

Now, it’s true that these particular structures are designed primarily for men, and there’s an important conversation to be had about gender equity in public facilities. (There are creative pilot programs underway for women’s solutions too — but that’s a blog for another day.)  Still, the heart of what struck me remains: the cultural difference in mindset.

Sometimes the best solutions aren’t the grandest or the most expensive — they’re the ones that work quietly, unobtrusively, and without making themselves the center of attention.

And sometimes, seeing the world through fresh eyes means recognizing that even a simple public urinal can tell you a lot about a place — and the people who live there.

(And no, for those wondering: I didn’t try one myself.
But I admired the Dutch practicality — from a respectful distance.)