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28-05-2010
Almere is the newest city in the Netherlands. It was only 35 years ago that the first inhabitants took up residence in the new polder town (on land reclaimed from the sea).
While many towns are hundreds of years old, many of us are older than the city of Almere. We may not always be aware of it, but Almere is an adolescent city, a city that is still undergoing considerable development. 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 municipality of Almere comprises the districts Almere Stad, Almere Haven, Almere Buiten, Almere Hout, Almere Poort (under construction) and Almere Pampus (design phase). It is the largest municipality in Flevoland and the 7th largest in the Netherlands.
The original plans for the IJsselmeerpolders saw the land being used for agriculture. However, after World War II housing was needed for the rapidly growing population of Amsterdam and two towns were planned in the polders Oostelijk Flevoland and Zuidelijk Flevoland. The town in Oostelijk Flevoland became Lelystad. The town in Zuidelijk Flevoland was still called Zuidweststad (English: South West City) on the first sketches, but in the 1970s it became called Almere, named after the early medieval name of the Zuiderzee. The first house in Almere was finished in 1976. At that time the town was still controlled by the Openbaar Lichaam Zuidelijke IJsselmeerpolders (Z.IJ.P.), with a Landdrost. In 1984 Almere became an official municipality. The housing plan in Almere in the 1970s was basic functionality and a levelling of social status. However, starting in the 1990s more exclusive homes with striking designs were built.
With research being done in 2002 into what was ‘the best municipality to live in’, Almere came in first place. According to the response Almere offered the best of two world: space and green environments of a small town, and infrastructure of a bigger city. The people of Almere appear to be proud of their city. The best way they think Almere to describe itself is as a ‘green, innovative shopping town with a lot of space’. The green aspect is considered to be important by everyone; Almere has more parks than any other Dutch city.
