Excursion
Excursion Watercities in transition
August 24 – 2010
During this excursion on August 24 (Tuesday) you will visit four areas of interest. The excursion takes the whole morning and afternoon.
Amsterdam – Watergraafsmeer
The Watergraafsmeer is a polder in The Netherlands. It was reclaimed in 1629. Since 1921, the Watergraafsmeer is part of the city of Amsterdam and its rural character has all but disappeared. Nowadays it is a borough of the City of Amsterdam where 25.000 people live. The polder is located five meters below sea level.
The excursion focus on climate adaptation and the way that is combined with urban renewal.
Amsterdam – IJburg
IJburg is a residential neighborhood currently under construction in the east of Amsterdam. It is situated in the IJ Lake and is being built on artificial islands which have been raised from the lake. At the moment there are 6 islands. The plans call for a total of ten islands to be constructed, but construction of these has been delayed by a Superior Administrative Court decision to annul the building permit of Phase 2 due to lack of consideration for the local environment. The main thoroughfare is IJburglaan (IJburg Avenue) which connects the islands. There is also a tram line connecting the islands to the city and Amsterdam Central Station (Route 26, Amsterdam’s most modern tram line, and the only one to allow non-folding bicycles on board).
IJburg has interesting examples of floating houses.
Almere – largest New town in the Dutch polder
Almere was built in a polder that is reclaimed from the sea. It is the largest new town in the Dutch polders. Almere is also one of the youngest cities in the Netherlands: the first house was finished in 1976. The municipality of Almere comprises the districts Almere Stad, Almere Haven, Almere Buiten, Almere Hout, Almere Poort (under construction) and Almere Pampus (design phase).
Urban pressure on the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area and Utrecht Region (both regions in the northern part of the Randstad) is increasing. Further development of the mainland (as opposed to the reclaimed land) puts pressure on valuable and vulnerable countryside. Nowadays Almere is a community with 190,000 inhabitants, with many parties involved in a similar decision: the expansion of Almere from a city designed for 250,000 to one that will accommodate 350,000 inhabitants.
The development assignment for Almere, to tackle and execute the development of the region in a sustainable manner, presents a national challenge. The Almere Principles have been drawn up to steer this assignment in the right direction. Since April 2008 this sustainability manifesto has formed a reference framework for taking a positive approach to topical environmental issues such as climate change and the management of energy, natural resources and waste, for linking ecology and economy, and for reinforcing social development. The challenge is to ensure that the various parties accept their own responsibility in this regard and come up with tailored solutions. Every initiator, entrepreneur, developer and civil servant is being explicitly challenged.
Heerhugowaard – City of the sun (“Stad van de zon”)
The goal was and is to build homes that always point to the sun and that a big part of the energy that those homes use solar power. The designers tried to close loops as much as possible. This way, the project is to become the first carbon neutral and in 2007 is was the largest photovoltaic neighborhood worldwide.
Architect Ashok Balohtra, the brains behind City of the Sun, first came up with the idea of a sustainable city almost 20 years ago. It is an island in the middle of a 60 hectare lake – roughly the same size as a medieval city – which Mr Balohtra says has helped create a strong community bond. Houses feature solar panels and extra insulation and have water butts outside to make use of rainfall. One of Mr Balohtra’s main aims was to make it easy for people to move to the City of the Sun, at the same time as inspiring them to make other small changes to their lifestyles which can help save energy.
Please click here to open the word document with all information about the excursion
