This document provides an introduction and overview of chapters in a dissertation analyzing the urban morphology of Almere New City in the Netherlands. It discusses how Almere was planned and built on reclaimed land in the Ijsselmeer polders. Chapter 1 will analyze Almere's town plan through examining its location, site, planning processes and agents, and use of polycentric concepts. Chapters 2 and 3 will analyze Almere's spatial form and evolution over 27 years in the context of Dutch Green Urbanism. Chapter 4 will discuss how Almere has developed as both a built structure and community.

1. PART IV: ALMERE NEW CITY. AN ANALYSIS OF URBAN MORPHOLOGY
Introduction
Part IV of this dissertation focuses on a case study of Almere New City, a
comprehensively planned and built conglomeration of five new nuclei/ towns, located on
the newly reclaimed land of the Ijsselmeer polders, about 25 kilometers from the heart of
Amsterdam. It analyzes Almere‘s physical and spatial form in the context of an approach
to planning that is discussed here as Dutch Green Urbanism, and examines the extent to
which it was possible for Almere‘s planners to implement a ―green planning‖ ideal in the
face of regional growth and development pressure. It also discusses how this new city
has performed both as a community and as a physical structure. Chapter 8 is devoted to
understanding the planned genesis and evolution of Almere based on a town plan analysis
including the analysis of city location (site and situation), processes and agents involved
in shaping the town plan, and the polynuclear planning concepts that were used during its
construction. Chapter 9 goes beyond the plan and the planning processes and focuses on
an analysis of the spatial form and temporal evolution in the 27-year old city in the
context of the Dutch Green Urbanism. It examines the nuclear morphology at different
scales of resolution in each of the towns shaped in different stages of spatial
development, as well as the internuclear morphology. This chapter aims to further this
study‘s hypothesis by presenting morphological evidence from Almere to illustrate the
efforts of shaping a livable, greener way of urban life, under the proposed Dutch Green
Urbanism paradigm. Chapter 10 is devoted to understanding how this new city has
performed both as a built structure and as an economic and cultural community within the
spatial and morphological matrix examined in the previous chapters. It discusses and
1

2. analyzes Almere‘s built and human infrastructure, by examining the morphological
characteristics of the built form, and the evolution of its human infrastructure and
activities. The first part of this chapter is devoted to an analysis of Almere‘s types of
land uses and their functions, transportation pattern, and housing (types and density of
housing, housing stock and ownership structure, design and architecture). The second
part centers on the analysis of Almere‘s population (population growth, distribution and
structure), as well as on its economic activities and cultural development.
It is argued in this study that Dutch Green Urbanism had a fundamental influence
on the new development at the northern edge of the metropolitan area, and that it is
epitomized in the development of Almere New City. Thus, while the centuries-old,
largely unplanned Dutch cities have always developed along some spatial and
environmental premises, the most recently shaped Almere New City has followed a
different spatial and morphological pattern of development, marking a shift from the old
urban structures.
While Part III of this dissertation developed the theoretical foundations of Dutch
Green Urbanism by examining the manner and context in which it emerged, Part IV aims
to underpin the role played by the Dutch Green Urbanism planning paradigm and
processes in shaping Almere New City, and more specifically its influence on the new
city‘s spatial and physical form. Hence, this section of the dissertation sets out to further
determine the validity of hypothesis on the existence of a Dutch Green Urbanism
paradigm by examination of the morphological evidence from Almere, and by using a
more detailed case study.
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3. CHAPTER 1
ALMERE NEW CITY: TOWN PLAN ANALYSIS
Introduction
This chapter is devoted to understanding the planned genesis and evolution of
Almere, and is based on the town plan analysis, including the analyzes city location (site
and situation), town plan and processes, agents involved in shaping the town plan, and
the polynuclear planning concepts.
Size and Location
Like many other urban morphological working in the fashion of Michael Conzen
(1960), James Vance (1990), Jeremy Whitehand (1981, 1987, 1999, 2001), and Anne
Moudon (1994, 1997), this research grounds its research in Almere New City in the belief
that the city can be ‗read‘ and analyzed via the medium of its physical form at different
levels of spatial and temporal resolution, and that the analyzed urban form can provide
the link between the city‘s genesis and evolution, on one hand, and the Dutch Green
Urbanism planning paradigm, on the other hand. It also agrees with Michael P. Conzen‘s
view that ―geographical analysis is particularly sensitive to variations of phenomena at
both local and regional scales that is the variable distribution of form types and form
complexes across the space of the city‖ (Conzen, 2001: 3). Almere‘s urban form was
studied for both descriptive and explanatory purposes for how it was built, where it was
and why it was, with the aim of contributing to the further development of theories on the
built structures of cities.
One entry point into urban morphological analysis is to answer the geographical
question of ―why‖ the city was located where it was. The notion of ―location‖ plays an
3

4. important role in understanding the city‘s genesis and evolution, and can be conceived as
―a dichotomy of site and situation‖ (Ullman, 1954:13-14, 1962:193, and Vance, 1990:
17). Site, as one of the essential components of the classic dichotomy of city location,
refers to ―the physical nature of the ground on which the city was built‖ (Vance,
1990:17), and why that location was better than any other possible site. In the case of
Almere New City, site does, indeed, constitute an intrinsic and essential part of its
morphology and development. Situation refers to the horizontal relationships and wider
connections of the city with its hinterland and the world.1. The analysis of Almere New
City will begin with an essential investigation of both its site and situation.
The Site of Almere
Before analyzing Almere‘s town plan and its site, it is important to understand
Almere New City‘s total land size, since size seems to be perceived differently form one
country to another. Almere‘s total area amounts to 58 square miles (37,000 acres), which
represents slightly more than double the size of for instance Amherst, Massachusetts
(with a total area of 27.75 square miles), or Pelham (total area 26.50 square miles), and
only slightly bigger than Belchertown, Massachusetts (with a total land area of 52.74
square miles). The comparison between Almere‘s total area and the land area of small
New England towns from Massachusetts is one very good indicator of how land size,
land control, and land planning are perceived differently in the United States and the
Netherlands. What is a large-size city (spatially speaking) in the tiny Netherlands, is
small or very small in the much larger country of the United States. By the same token,
the Netherlands‘s total land area makes it less than the double the size of the state of
1
These terms were developed and discussed by Edward Ullman in the 1950s and 1960s
(Ullman, 1954: 13-14, 1962: 193).
4

5. Massachusetts. These land size comparisons can provide at least an entry point to
understanding the different perceptions and management of land (including urban land)
in the Netherlands and the United States. With land perceived as a very scarce, and
highly valued commodity, it is easier to understand why for at least two centuries the
Dutch population has entrusted the national government to take land development
decisions, and to strictly regulate and manage it through planning in the past century.
By Dutch spatial scale standards, Almere is a relatively large city, while by
American standards Almere would probably be qualified as a ―small‖ New England
town. Throughout the next three chapters it is important to keep in mind this difference.
One of Almere‘s most striking geographical and morphological features is its site,
which is located three meters below sea level, on the young soils of clay and sand that
have been exposed to the surface only since 1968, when the most recently acquired piece
of Dutch land was drained and dried. Almere was sited on the youngest Ijsselmeer
polder, respectively on the Southern Flevoland polder that was reclaimed between 1959-
1968. The creation of this polder constitutes the culmination of centuries-old Dutch
tradition of reclaiming land from the threatening sea surrounding or penetrating into the
Netherlands. The choice for Almere‘s location was a function of a series of previous
physical, spatial and urban planning decisions that emanated from both the specific 1960s
metropolitan Green Heart and green urbanism policies, and from older, inherited Dutch
traditions of defense against the sea through land reclamation and new town building.
Physical Metamorphosis of Almere‘s Site
Almere did not have an old, pre-existent physical spatial foundation on which to
be built. Rather, it took advantage of the newly shaped polder land, reclaimed from the
5

6. waters of the Ijsselmeer Lake. As a result, Almere‘s site carries along the characteristics
of the young polder land, a site literally created in the aquatic landscape of the Ijsselmeer
Lake, on the northern fringe of the Dutch metropolis. Consequently, before planning and
building Almere New City, the Dutch government and planners had to create the site for
Almere from scratch, to literally shape its physical foundation.
The past one hundred years of human-induced physical transformations of the
Ijsselmeer Lake are, indeed, stunning by any measure. This aquatic landscape has
undergone an interesting planned physical-spatial metamorphosis that developed through
three stages:
1. From a marine aquatic stage of the Zuider Zee, prior to the 1920s;
2. To the lacustrian aquatic stage of the Ijsselmeer Lake from the 1930s on; and
3. To the terrestrial landscape of the Ijsselmeer polders—stage which culminated with
the reclamation of the last and most recent land of the Southern Flevoland polder.
Southern Flevoland Polder (1959-1967)
The Southern Flevoland Polder was reclaimed between 1959 and 1967 and it is
the fourth2 and most recently reclaimed Ijsselmeer Polder, and hence the youngest piece
of land in the Netherlands. It amounts to a total surface area of 43,000 hectares (Shetter,
1987: 34). Interestingly, this 1960s polder represents the culmination of centuries-old
land reclamation processes, on one hand, and marks the shift from defense and
agricultural uses, to urban and recreational uses, on the other hand.
The reclamation of the Southern Flevoland polder was spurred by at least two
main factors, including the 1958 national report on the development of the western part
2
As discussed and illustrated in chapter five, in the twentieth century four main polders
have been reclaimed from the Ijsselmeer Lake, in a clockwise fashion, with Southern
Flevoland Polder as the most recent one (while a fifth one still awaits approval).
6

7. of the Netherlands, and the decision regarding the chronological order of land
reclamation. The former suggested the necessity of building more new towns in the
polders in order to alleviate the great housing shortage in the Randstad, while the latter
was based on the Zuiderzee Project Department‘ reevaluation regarding the order of
reclamation of land—with Southern Flevoland given priority over the Markewaard
(which has yet to be reclaimed).
The governmental decision to reclaim the Southern Flevoland polder rather than
Markerwaard was made in the 1960 First National Report and stemmed from a number of
financial, spatial, regional and infra-structural considerations, including:
1. the opportunity of smaller investments due to its smaller size;
2. its geographical proximity to the highly agglomerated northern wing of Randstad
Holland, which would help with the outwardly planned urban expansion of the
metropolitan region towards north-east;
3. the desire to connect Randstad and the Eastern Flevoland polder3 (already reclaimed
between 1950 and 1957), where the polder town of Lelystad had already been
planned and built; and the fact that the infrastructural benefits from Randstad to the
north and east.
As discussed in Chapter 7, the 1960 First National Report ‗s proposal to plan
around the Randstad concept constituted an extremely important step for urban planning
in the Netherlands. Ever since, it has had a tremendous impact on urban planning and
development, including the new urbanization taking place in the Ijsselmeer polders, and
the reclamation of the Southern Flevoland Polder4.
3
See the order of the Ijsselmeer polder reclamation in chapter five of this study.
4
In 1919, the newly created Zuiderzee Project Department (ZPD) started making plans
for reclamation of land, having as its main task the creation of a first polder in the
northwest corner of Zuiderzee as well as the closing of the Zuiderzee and its conversion
into a freshwater lake: the Ijsselmeer with a surface of 120.000 hectares. The plan has
continued until nowadays and, because of continuous reclamation of land, four polders
7

8. The national government and provincial authorities played a strong role in
shaping both the Southern Flevoland polder, and Almere New City. While the 1960s
First National Structure Report determined the site for Almere, by choosing the
reclamation of the Southern Flevoland polder versus the Markerwaard, the 1966 Second
National Structure Plan further influenced the planning and building of Almere by
launching the national policy of ―concentrated deconcentration‖ (gebundeld
deconcentratie) that promoted both metropolitan decentralization. In addition, the
decision to pursue the reclamation of this land for regional urban expansion and
recreational purposes rather than for agricultural and rural purposes that were pursued on
the previous polders, reflects the high level of coordination and integration between the
national urban priorities and authorities, and the regional Ijsselmeer land reclamation
project and authorities. In other words, the 1960s national planning priorities for
alleviating the pressures exerted in the metropolitan region impacted the course of both
future land reclamation processes and urban development in the Ijsselmeer polders. As
Coen Van der Waal observes, ―at that point the Ijsselmeer Polders were tied to Randstad
and become part of the national urban problem‖ (Van der Waal, 1997: 194). It is in this
context that Almere‘s site was shaped in the 1960s (1959-1967), and was later planned
(early 1970s) and built (1975 to present).
Once the reclamation of the Southern Flevoland polder was completed, and the
land became dry, the polder authorities designed a simple plan based on an orthogonal
pattern that divided the area into two main areas of urban land and non-urban land:
have been created, with a fifth one in project. All of the Ijsselmeer polders have been
reclaimed in the twentieth century, since 1927, as it follows Wieringermeer (1927-1930),
Northeast Polder (1937-1942), Eastern Flevoland (1950-1957), Southern Flevoland
(1959-1968), Markerwaard (project).
8

9.  The first area was designated for urban land, a non-parceled area marked as ―urban
area‖ (stedelijk gebied) of about 7,500 hectares in the west—which later became the
site for Almere, and about 450 hectares in the east—which later became the site for
Zeewolde, a much smaller town,;
 The second area of non-urban land was divided into three parts including land for
industrial development in the north, agricultural land in the middle section, and
recreational, nature and wood land in the south (Van der Waal, 1997: 193).
In discussing Almere‘s site, it is important to mention the essential features and
changes brought by the reclamation of Southern Flevoland. The 1960s marked a shift
from the traditional reclamation of land for rural, agricultural and animal husbandry uses,
to the necessity to reclaim land for spatial, urban and recreational purposes ―for the
huddled masses on the old land‖ (Van der Waal, 1997: 194). This shift was triggered by
the conflict between the so-called agrarian interests5, on one hand, and the increasing
urban, recreational and natural preservations demands, on the other—as the urban,
ecological, and environmental preferences changed in the postwar era (as discussed in
Chapter 5).
Situation: Regional Context
The term situation refers to the horizontal relationship of the location of the city,
which in this case is Almere, with the region, the nation and beyond. It provides a
regional context as well as its interconnections with the surrounding regions. Almere is
geographically located within the close range of the Dutch polycentric metropolis, at the
northern edge of the metropolitan region that goes by the name of ―Randstad Holland‖ or
―Green Heart Metropolis‖ and only 25 kilometers from Amsterdam. In addition, Almere
5
The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries was afraid of losing land for agriculture,
hence insisted on the allotment for agriculture (Van der Waal, 1997: 193).
9

10. is located on the most recently reclaimed land of the Ijsselmeer polders, in the
southwestern corner of the Southern Flevoland polder.
The location for Almere in the western corner of the Southern Flevoland polder,
was initially proposed by the Zuider Zee Project Department (ZPD), the authority in
charge of the reclamation of polders and the development of infrastructure. The task of
the adjustment of the polder plans regarding new towns locations and polder landscape
was carried on later by the Ijsselmeer Development Authority (IJDA) 6, which was a
department of the Ministry of Transportation and Water Management that was founded in
1963. The proposal for Almere‘s location was officially approved in 1968 by the
Minister of Transportation and Water Management, and endorsed by the Second
Chamber (House of Representatives). Since then the IJDA then had the ministerial
mandate to develop Almere. The relatively speedy decision to develop Almere in the
immediate proximity of the old land north-east of the congested metropolitan region
illustrates at least two things: (1) that from the very beginning Almere had the attention
of both ―the national and surrounding regional authorities, as well as the planning and
building trade press‖ (Van der Waal, 1997: 194), and (2) that Almere had the necessary
governmental and institutional legal, administrative, and financial support for its
development.
Almere‘s situation has been one of the driving factors behind the city‘s planning
and physical development. Planned and built in the past 30 years, Almere is the last of
the twenty-one new towns recently built on the Ijsselmeer polders and represents a
6
Otto and Van Duin were the directors that led the Ijsselmeer Development Authority
‖with strong vision and confidence in the future‖ ever since their organization received
the ministerial mandate to develop Almere (Van der Waal, 1997:194). They were both
strong proponents of the polynuclear planning concept for Almere.
10

11. quintessential expression of Dutch planning for both the newly created living
environments and for the new dwellers. Furthermore, it holds an important place and
function in Flevoland, the newest Dutch province7 of, as well as in the regional and
national context.
Its location was a function of both precise planning decisions and random
circumstances. Planned and built rather as ―a friendly neighbor who could not only help
solve some inner-city crowding problems‖ of Amsterdam, but also regionally strengthen
Amsterdam‘s hub function for social and economic mutual benefit, Almere has
developed extremely rapidly and gained its distinct position in the Amsterdam region‖
(Van der Waal, 1997). This new city has lived up to its role in the regional context since
it represents the fastest-growing municipality in the Netherlands, with 7,000 new
residents coming each year.
History of the Polynuclear Planning Concept for Almere
Almere New City has developed on the basis of the polynuclear hierarchical
concept designed in the early 1970s, which shaped the entire comprehensive (structure)
plan and the later developments. In addition, Almere‘s plan also took advantage of its
location along the water, and its envisioned relationship with national, regional, and local
public transport lines (Van der Waal, 1997: 205).
The most striking spatial feature for Almere is its polynuclear character, based on
an agglomeration or hierarchical pattern of six distinct urban nuclei/towns of different
sizes built in different temporal stages, separated by internuclear areas represented by
green or aquatic elements. Because Almere New City has developed and expanded on
7
Flevoland has officially become the twelfth Dutch province in 1986.
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12. the spatial consequences of the polynuclear concept, it is important to allocate the
following section to a discussion of its origin, evolution and role for Almere.
The goals for Almere, combined with ―the fact that time was pressing‖ led to the
conclusion that a ―polynuclear concept was the best for Almere, and that the first
township should be located at the Gooimeer (Van der Waal, 1997: 197).
Other City Form Concepts Proposed for Almere
Prior to the final decision to adopt and implement the polynuclear city concept
proposed by Van Duin and his collaborators, the 1971 Verkenningen first exploratory
report considered five different planning proposals for the future form for Almere. These
proposals ranged from complete low-density spread via one compact urban form, to a
number of separate townships that included polynuclear ideas (Van der Waal, 1997: 197).
The five different city form concepts included (1) complete diffusion; (2) one
nucleus; (3) one nucleus and some diffusion; (4) several nuclei; and (5) several nuclei and
some diffusion (combining 1 and 4).
These five different city form concepts were evaluated based on ten parameters
including (1) types of living environment; (2) accessibility for daily shopping, outdoor
recreation, and community-indoor recreation; (3) proximity to shops and services; (4)
flexibility; (5) relation to open areas; (6) identity of urban parts; (7) ―forum‖ qualities
(meeting others); (8) business climate; (9) possibilities regarding existing environment;
and (10) cost-benefit ratio.
Although the method of evaluation was criticized, the idea of the polynuclear
concept was hardly criticized (Ter Haar quoted in Van der Waal, 1997: 197).
Furthermore, the meetings with regional and national planning authorities on the
12

13. polynuclear concept produced reactions that were ―quite favorable‖ to it. While most
planners concluded that the polynuclear concept was ―the best one for Almere,‖ the
debate was centered on site and nuclear size issues (Van der Waal, 1997: 197).
Planning Goals for Almere New City
The plan for Almere was influenced by a number of reports that envisioned
Almere‘s function in both the regional and national context. According to Coen Van der
Waal, the 1973 comprehensive planning report entitled ―Almere 1985‖ (published in
1974) in Rijksdienst, Almere, stated six basic goals for the new city of Almere (Van der
Waal, 1997:201):
1. Almere must contribute to solving the regional problems in the context of
Amsterdam‘s urban renewal, the Gooi region‘s overpopulation, the rapidly increasing
suburbanization and increasing traffic congestion – particularly in the existing urban
concentrations;
2. Almere must have a long-term, flexible plan that would allow the incorporation of
future social and technological changes, new transport modes, new forms of energy
and urban spatial use;
3. Almere must provide a balanced place for everyone, regardless of their age, income,
life style, and profession, where minorities have their rightful place;
4. Almere must stimulate a good urban life for its dwellers, foster differentiation within
residential, recreational, work and educational areas, and provide optimal public
transport lines;
5. Almere must contribute to the creation and preservation of a healthy natural
environment, and foster ecological diversity and consistency regarding the
development of natural elements; and
6. Almere must contribute to the preservation and further development of an urban
culture - creating an environment for a diverse population, interactions between
people, functions, work and other activities.
An analysis of these ambitious goals (set for the then soon to be planned and built
Almere), pointed to the necessity for the planners to find a long-term, integrative
13

14. planning approach and a major planning concept that incorporate all social, cultural,
spatial, environmental, ecological, technological and economic dimensions into the fabric
of Almere. These goals also echoed many of the post 1960s concerns and changing
attitudes regarding the quality of urban life, and the necessity to create a new type of
urban environment that would both alleviate the western metropolitan pressures and
create a better urban place, and a better urban life on the recently made available polder
land.
Almere‘s planners were confronted with a challenging question, of how to plan
for a spatially, socially and environmentally balanced new city that would have to
accommodate all their goals, and more. While the challenge to create a new city was a
difficult one, the opportunity to plan for a new town on a new land—not subjected to all
the constricting zoning rules and regulations instituted on the old land was an exciting
prospect. Hence, from the very onset, the planning for Almere was perceived as both a
challenge and an opportunity. The most important element was to find an appropriate
planning concept with which guide the plans and development.
The search for a planning concept that would have to cater to the physical, social
and environmental goals was not an easy process and many employees from various
disciplines were involved during the early 1970s with the design of Almere.
The first institution to become involved in the search for a plan was the Ijsselmeer
Development Authority (IJDA), which had both the governmental and ministerial
mandate to plan and develop Almere, and the necessary urban planning expertise. Thus,
by 1971, led by the two directors Otto and Van Duin, a first team of four people started to
research ―the parameters of an urban settlement in the southern part of Southern
14

15. Flevoland,‖ including (1) the minimum and maximum population and employment
expected by 2000; (2) a plan form that could provide maximum flexibility to the various
external influences and changes, and allow the creation of a well-functioning city; (3) the
site for the first development, considering that overspill population would arrive mainly
from the Amsterdam agglomeration and the Gooi area; and (4) a concept that would
allow the creation of a functional, attractive and competitive city in the region (Van der
Waal, 1997: 195).
The initial planning schemes were finished in the spring of 1970 and published in
1971 as a report entitled ―Explorations about developing the new town of Almere in
Flevoland‖ (Verkenningen omtrent de ontwikkelingen van de nieuwe stad Almere in
Flevoland). The results of this exploratory report, combined with the already favored (by
Otto and Van Duin) polynuclear concept and the idea of building a first nucleus located
at the Gooimeer, created the premises for adopting the polynuclear concept for Almere‘s
plan—which has had an extremely important role in its development ever since.
The Comprehensive Town Plan for Almere
As discussed in Part III of this dissertation, the postwar growth of the Dutch
polycentric metropolitan region as a whole has had a considerable impact on the course
and efficiency of planning in the Netherlands, and has influenced the planned
urbanization on the new land located its northern fringe. In many ways, the town plan for
Almere remains consistent with the post-1960s visions and national and metropolitan
efforts to plan for creating better, greener, more livable urban places by preserving and
creating open space, green areas and waterways, while accommodating the changing
15

16. needs of the population. The city of Almere may well be the most consistently planned
city in the Netherlands.
Almere New City was comprehensively planned and built as a conglomeration of
six new nuclei/ towns, separated by green and aquatic internuclear areas. The analysis of
the current town plan demonstrates a high degree of both vision and pragmatism, along
with planning innovation, extreme attention to details and an integrative thinking and
planning. The town plan (as shown in Figure 1-1) reveals several interesting aspects
including:
1. Almere has a unique hierarchical polynuclear spatial structure, with six compact
urban nuclei/towns of different sizes. Each of these six towns has different functions
suggested by their names. All were built in different stages with the four main
nuclei/towns currently built: Almere Haven (Almere Port), Almere Stad (Almere
City), Almere Buiten (Almere Country), and Almere Hout (Almere Wood). Two
more nuclei Almere Pampus (Almere Out) and Almere Poort (Almere Port) will be
built in the near future by 2025.
2. Almere has an unusual green pattern of urban development for the whole city, with at
least two main types of ―green infrastructure‖ incorporated into its spatial fabric.
These are:
a. an extensive green infrastructure represented by green belts made of parks,
gardens, woods, nature preserves, and an extensive network of bike paths and
bikeways, all interspersed both between the main urban nuclei/towns and
within each of them; and
16

17. b. an aquatic infrastructure represented by blue belts consisting of water canals
that drain the polder, and lakes artificially created maintained for recreational
and aesthetic purposes.
3. The entire city has an unusual degree of integration of land uses and functions
including residential, commercial, transport, industrial, agricultural, ecological and
recreational.
4. There is an extensive integrated public transit system, along with one major highway
(A6) and one railway that traverse the city and the main nuclei from southwest
(coming from the main land) to northeast (toward Lelystad). The entire area has an
interesting road system with roads collecting traffic while at the same time not
disturbing most of the residential districts and neighborhoods;
5. The spatial pattern of the area is polynuclear and contained within spatial limits, with
no signs of sprawl.
6. Each urban nucleus/town has a well-defined, spatially contained downtown center.
17

18. Figure 1-1: The Polynuclear Planning Concept for Almere
(source: Municipality of Almere, 1994)
18

19. Clearly, the town plan has taken advantage of the land made available through land
reclamation, and it has integrated a large number of spatial, physical, environmental,
ecological, social, cultural and economic considerations. These are reflected not only in
the actual plan, but also are reflected in the current urban landscape and morphology of
Almere (which is analyzed in detail in Chapters 9 and 10).
As discussed in Chapter 6, municipalities in the Netherlands are charged with
making the local plans, which must conform to the national and provincial plans. In the
case of Almere, the municipality did not exist when the comprehensive plan was laid out
in the early 1970s. Thus, the comprehensive plan, which the Dutch call the ―structure
plan‖ (struktuurplan), was laid out by the planners from the Ijsselmeer Development
Authority (IJDA). It had a strategic character and it expressed the planners‘ general
intentions for Almere, as well as the location of large structural elements. At a later date
Almere also had a zoning ordinance and map, which the Dutch call the ―detailed plan‖
(bestemmingsplan).8 This was the most important planning instrument and needed
approval from the provincial authorities. Both the comprehensive plan and the detailed
plan were designed to conform to the guidelines provided by the national plan and the
―Green Heart‖ national planning policies.
From an urban planning standpoint, Almere‘s structure or comprehensive plan9 is
striking both in terms of its spatial and physical design. It has a uniquely planned
polynuclear concept for the entire city. It promotes and incorporates a new type of urban
space and living that includes a very generous (75 percent) amount of green buffered
8
Both types of municipal plans were explained in detail in Chapter 6 of this dissertation.
9
The US counterpart for the local ―structure plan‖ (struktuur plan) is the ―comprehensive
plan‖ (Levy, 2002: 310).
19

20. spaces (parks, bikeways, open space, agricultural land) and aquatic developments (canals,
lakes) tightly woven into its spatial fabric (Figure 8-1). These spatial features are visible
on the landscape today, as Almere continues to implement parts of the plan that was
designed in the early 1970s.
Dutch planners and architects consider Almere New City‘s plan unique.
Designed by Van Duin and Otto at the beginning of the 1970s, the comprehensive plan
emphasized an improved and ―greener‖ character for its six distinct urban nuclei/towns.
Housing was a key element in their plan which included a low-density housing of 38
houses per hectare (Municipality of Almere, 2000) within walking or cycling distance of
business, educational, transport nodes and recreational facilities, and with predominantly
(80 percent) low-rise row housing, single and multiple-family detached houses, twin
attached houses (duplexes), as well as apartment buildings of various heights (Van der
Waal, 1997).
An unusual degree of attention was given to provide a generous amount of open
landscape in the plan, in conjunction with green wedges penetrating into and between
residential areas, the incorporation of green ecological elements into and outside the
neighborhoods, and the separation of the urban residential neighborhoods, districts, as
well as of the main urban nuclei, by planned buffered zones with clear recreational and
transportation functions that are represented by green belts and blue belts.
Also, another interesting feature of the town plan lies in its growth limitations on
spatial and population development. The Verkenningen II (Explorations II) planning
report published at the end of 1972, stipulated that Almere would develop with limits to
both its spatial and population growth, with spatial development taking place on an
20

21. assigned area of 37,000 acres and with a population that should not exceed 250,000
inhabitants. The report already accepted the idea of a hierarchical polynuclear pattern of
population sizes (Van der Waal, 1997: 200). Following in the footsteps of Lelystad—the
new polder town located on the Eastern Flevoland polder and built just before Almere—
the planners had to take into account ―uncertainty as to [population] growth rate,‖ and
therefore attempted to achieve ―balanced growth of the several nuclei‖(Van der Waal,
1997: 207). From the early planning stages it was envisioned that Almere would have to
reach an upper limit total population of 250,000 inhabitants by 2025.
This specific population number echoes Ebenezer Howard‘s garden city or new
town polynuclear plan, which included both the idea of a limit to growth to about
250,000 inhabitants and the idea of locating towns in a par-like setting (as discussed in
Chapter 3). Also similar to Howard‘s garden cities that were envisioned to help
decentralize the congested London metropolitan region, Almere New City was seen as
one of the solutions to metropolitan congestion and overcrowding in the Netherlands.
Actual planning for Almere was largely influenced by the 1972 planning report
for Almere, which itself was impacted by the 1972 book The Limits to Growth10, as well
as by the increasing environmental awareness brought about by the 1973 global oil crisis
(Van der Waal, 1997: 2000). Both the general awareness that there must be a limit to
population and spatial growth and that the sources of energy are limited, were
incorporated into many of the decisions made for the Netherlands at that time. Van der
Waal mentions some of the impacts of this rising environmental awareness on the actual
10
In 1972, The Limits to Growth book has sold more copies in the Netherlands than in
any other country, including the USA. According to the Het Spectrum BV publisher,
between 250,000 and 300,000 copies were sold over the years in the Netherlands (Van
der Waal, 1997: 215).
21

22. Dutch physical environment, including ―the (temporary) scrapping of planned
motorways, to the banning of automobiles in neighborhood streets‖ (Van der Waal, 1997:
215). The same environmental concerns were incorporated in Almere‘s plan. This is
illustrated in the transportation system adopted for Almere, when the planners aimed to
minimize the effects of car traffic, by maximizing traffic safety‖ and made a ―clear
choice for public transport, by proposing to install an extensive public transport system
ahead of the actual demand, to create a favorable competition in relation to the private
automobile‖ (Van der Waal, 1997: 200).
The town planners for Almere addressed a number of the pressing issues
previously discussed in Chapter 5 emulating from national, regional and metropolitan
levels. Clearly they desired to create an attractive, functional and economically
competitive new city, mainly with low-rise row houses, with a high differentiation of
land use and urban functions. They wanted to foster a balanced society in age, income,
profession and lifestyle.
Agents Involved in Shaping the Town Plan
In order to understand the processes of city making that shape urban form, it is
important to examine the planning agents that designed the town plan for Almere. There
were two main institutions—the Ijsselmeer Development Authority (IJDA) and the
Almere Project Bureau (APB), along with secondary agencies.
Almere‘s town plan was designed by an interdisciplinary team, which worked
under the umbrella of the Ijsselmeer Project Development authority. It was led by its two
directors Otto and Van Duin (Coen van der Waal, 1997: 194). The team was made up of
a wide range of professionals, including physical, social and urban planners, architects,
22

23. sociologists, as well as civil, traffic and agricultural engineers. Many of the ideas for
Almere‘s plan drew on the work previously done by several significant authorities
responsible for the reclamation of the Ijsselmeer Polders. These authorities were under
the umbrella of three major governmental agencies: the Ministry of Transport and Water
Management, the Ministry of Finance, and the Ministry of Interior.
The urban development for Almere has been driven from the very beginning by
plan-led urban processes approved by national governmental bodies. With the approval
of the Ministry of Transport and Water Management and endorsement of the House of
Representatives, the planning preparations started in 1968 immediately after the polder
was dry enough to proceed and following a number of published reports on the potential
plan for Almere. Based on the Verkenningen report for Almere (Explorations about
Developing the New Town of Almere in Flevoland), the Ministry of Transport and Water
Management, and the Minister of Housing and Planning approved the planning for
Almere. This was followed by the approval from the surrounding provinces, and finally
by approval by Council of Ministers on April 28, 1971. The building stage started in
1975 and continues to this day.
Immediately after receiving ministerial approval to plan for Almere, the
Ijsselmeer Development Authority (IJDA) started the actual planning processes by setting
up the Almere Project Bureau (Projektburo Almere), directly coordinated by IJDA (Van
der Waal, 1997:199). The Almere Project Bureau (APB), founded in 1972 and headed by
D. Frieling11(Van der Waal, 1997:199), consisted of a multi-disciplinary team, which
11
D. Frieling, a physical planner and planologist, was a 1965 graduate of the Department
of Architecture (Urban Planning) of the Delft Technical University, who prior to arriving
to the IJDA was the adjunct director of the Department of Housing (Dienst
23

24. included urban planners, architects, general planners, sociologists, civil engineers,
agricultural engineers, landscape architects, traffic engineers and economists. According
to Coen Van der Waal, physical planners such as Van Willigen and T. Koolhas designed
the actual plan12 (Van de Waal, 1997:199). In 1973, the Almere Project Bureau drew
clear demarcation lines between the tasks to be achieved and divided into two distinct
project groups: The Almere Haven Project Group, and the Central Project Group (as
shown in Figure 8-2). Later, two other groups were formed: the Almere Stad Project
Group and the Almere Buiten Project Group.
As the planning project approached the construction stage of the first urban
nucleus of Almere Haven, other IJDA departments, aside from the APB, were involved in
the planning processes, ―based on their expertise and availability‖ (Van der Waal,
1997:200). These included the Department of Town Planning and Public Works
(Directie Stedebouwen Openbare Werken or DSOW), which in 1979 incorporated the
Almere Haven Project Group, and in 1980 incorporated the Almere Stad Project Group.
By 1981 the former Almere Project Bureau (APB) was dissolved, while work continued
under different departments (Van der Waal, 1997: 200).
Van der Waal (1997) provides a concise history of the planning institutions for
Almere, which is shown in Figure 1-2. According to him, most planners for Almere
moved to the subdepartment of Town Planning (Stadsontwikkeling) under the Department
of Town Planning and Public Works (DSOW), where they were joined by many of the
Volkhuisvesting) in Amsterdam. Since 1990, Frieling became professor of physical
planning in Delft (Van der Waal, 1997:199).
12
For more details regarding the history of Almere Project Bureau‘s planning activities,
consult Coen Van der Waal‘s book ―In Praise of Common Sense‖ (1997), and Nawijn‘s
book ―Almere, hoe het begon‖ (1987).
24

25. planners that previously worked for Lelystad – the new polder town located on the
Eastern Flevoland polder for which work was already finished. The landscape planners
became part of the Department of Land Development (Directie Landinrichting) or DLI,
while the planologists were transferred from the Department of Town Planning to the
Research Section (Afdeling Onderzoek)—a subdepartment of the Social Economic
Department (Directie Sociaal-Economische Ontwikkeking) or DSEO. On January 1984,
the Public Authority for Almere was founded, as large numbers of former PBA
employees transferred to Almere to form the core of the new planning and design
department (Van der Waal, 1997: 200).
Van Duin‘s 1971 Proposal of a Polynuclear Concept
The polynuclear concept was proposed by Van Duin in 1971, and supported by
both Otto and Van Duin prior to the 1971 report. Van Duin proposed the idea of urban
nuclei of 15,000 to 20,000 inhabitants, which would make possible to arrange low-
density housing within walking and/or cycling distance around businesses, educational,
and recreational facilities (Van der Waal, 1997: 195). This ―common-sense‖ solution, as
Van der Waal (1997) calls it, influenced the shape and function of Almere, the spatial
pattern of structures, the distribution and design of neighborhoods, the social life
revolving around these proposed nuclei, the general lifestyle and the specificity of
Almere.
25

26. ZUIDER ZEE DEPARTMENT
IJSSELMEER DEVELOPMENT
AUTHORITY
(since 1969)
ALMERE PROJECT BUREAU
(1972-1981)
Almere Haven Central Project
Project Group Group Almere Stad Almere Buiten
(1973-1979) (1973-..) Project Group Project Group
SOCIAL DEPARTMENT DEPARTMENT OF TOWN
ECONOMIC OF LAND PLANNING AND PUBLIC
DEPARTMENT DEVELOPMENT WORKS
Almere Haven Almere Stad
Project Group Project Group
(1979-) (1980-)
PUBLIC AUTHORITY FOR ALMERE
(since 1984)
Figure 1-2: Authorities and Planning Departments that Shaped Almere‘s Town Plan
26

27. Nuclear Size, Location and Hierarchy Parameters for Almere
The planning reports following Van Duin‘s proposal, included his polynuclear
concept idea and based on it as well as other considerations, concluded that the total area
should encompass 11,400 hectares, or more than 25 percent of Southern Flevoland (Van
der Waal, 1997: 199). Van der Waal explains how the planners calculated the minimum
nuclear size, on the basis of the availability of various demographic, educational,
commercial, transport, cultural, and economic amenities, including the (1) necessity to
have between 30,000 and 40,000 inhabitants, in order to have a complete secondary
education system; (2) necessity to have 15,000 to 20,000 inhabitants for a modest
shopping/business center; (3) 18,000 to 27,000 inhabitants for a community center with a
theater; (4) 15,000 to 20,000 inhabitants for maximum walking distances between 500
and 800 meters (depending on the density) (Van der Waal, 1997: 199).
While Van Duin originally thought of nuclei of more or less equal size (Nawijn,
1989: 18), the planners following him pushed in the direction of nuclei of different sizes,
and thus voted for a clear nuclear hierarchy (Van der Waal, 1997: 199).
On deciding the size of the different sized nuclei, the planners also considered
other parameters regarding the type of residential dwellings, potential employment and
commuting patterns, transportation demands, and future social and cultural infrastructure
needs. Van der Waal points that the initial calculations for the size of the nuclei
incorporated the proposal to plan for 90 percent of all dwellings to be single-family
homes (rows of houses). Fortunately, they also calculated the capacity for roads and
public transport at the time it appeared that a four-lane highway and a railway was
sufficient for Almere (Van der Waal, 1997: 199).
27

28. According to Van der Waal (1997: 197), the initial polynuclear concept and later
the polynuclear plan for Almere ―fitted well with the renewed interest in Howard‘s
garden city idea in the 1970s,‖ particularly in the latter stages of development. K. Nawijn
(Nawijn, 1989 quoted in Van der Waal, 1997: 197) noted the parallel between the
Garden-City Diagram and Almere, particularly in the number of nuclei around a larger
central nucleus, their interrelationships, and even the total population. Van der Waal
observes that although the parallel might be to some extent true, Nawijn‘s comparison
―had a high degree of superficiality, since it was largely based on form and size‖, while
Howard‘s social organizational content was absent (Van der Waal, 1997: 197).
The 1971 Verkenningen report (Explorations about developing the new town of
Almere in Flevoland) played a significant role not only in the decision for the polynuclear
concept proposed by Van Duin, but it also influenced the decision for the size of the
nuclei. This report paid maximum attention to the polynuclear concept, specifically to
the form and location of the nuclei. Almere‘s planners indicated that in order to create an
attractive, diverse living environment, catering to every possible taste, with a range of
residential densities Almere needed a hierarchical pattern of nuclei (Van der Waal, 1997:
203).
This was ―a reflection of the hierarchy established in the Second Report of
available urban and suburban living environments in the form of A, B, C, and D towns‖.
The Second Report recognized four distinct so-called ―spatial units‖ or nuclei, within an
urban region, including (A) units of about 5,000 inhabitants; (B) units of 15,000
inhabitants; (C) units of 60,000 inhabitants; and (D) units of 250,000 inhabitants (Van der
Waal, 1997: 203). Based on this typology, the Verkenningen exploratory report
28

29. suggested that ―Almere‘s character could be described as a coherent complex of A, B,
and C nuclei at not too great of distance from the D nuclei of Amsterdam and Utrecht‖
(Rijksdienst voor de Ijsselmeerpolders, Verkenningen I, 1970: 170). The report made
size specifications for the nuclei, by indicating a number of about 20,000 inhabitants for
the small nuclei, and eventually about 30,000 to 40,000 inhabitants for the larger-sized
nuclei. Also, it indicated the possibility of future population growth to 125,000, 200,000
and 250, 000 inhabitants (Van der Waal, 1997: 203).
Other important specifications regarding the location and distribution of the
nuclei/towns were made by the 1974 comprehensive report entitled Almere 1985, which
expanded on the 1971 Verkenningen report and made additional suggestions for the new
town development until 1985. The report emphasized that the plan should take advantage
of the location along the water, as well as of the national and regional attention paid to
Almere. Several key decisions were made regarding the location and the size of the
nuclei including (1) the main nucleus [Almere Stad] was to be located centrally in the
area, with its central position underlined by its railway station between Amsterdam and
Gronningen— the railway station would serve as the local public transport hub; (2) the
nucleus along the Gooimeer [Almere Haven] would always be secondary in size; (3) the
other nuclei should be oriented toward the main nucleus [Almere Stad], rather than
become separate appendices; and (4) the east-west highway A6 would form a
considerable barrier (Van der Waal, 1997: 205).
Polynuclear Concept as an ―Anti-Urban‖ Approach
Van der Waal (1997) argues that Van Duin‘s polynuclear concept was in fact ―a
continuation of the anti-urban approach that had marked town planning throughout the
29

30. Zuider Zee polders,‖ a device through which the polder towns ―would somehow
counteract the bad effects of the city.‖ Interestingly, with the ―farmer‘s sense‖ or
―common sense‖ acquired during their education at the Agricultural University of
Wageningen, both Otto and Van Duin influenced the greening of the planning processes
for Almere. They proposed low-rise and low density housing in the main urban nuclei,
which included ―low density neighborhoods with lots of greenery‖, and opposed the high
rise apartments and ―the hard edge appearance of an urban ambiance‖ (Van der Waal,
1997: 195). Apparently, the polynuclear concept was considered a necessary and
significant planning device for shaping a large city (for Dutch urban standards) that
would reflect the invoked ―anti-urban‖ and ―anti-high-rise buildings‖ sentiments, and
provide a combined ―country and town‖ urban landscape.
Hence, while Almere was planned as a city, the synthesis of ―town‖ and
―country‖ proposed at the beginning of the twentieth century by Ebenezer Howard, or
between the built areas and the green open spaces present in each of its nuclei/towns
makes it hard to believe that Almere is a city in the sense conceptualized by most
urbanists. This situation shows that for instance, Le Corbusier‘s ideas of a vertical city
dominated by high-rise buildings were never too popular in the Netherlands, where the
majority of the population preferred the low-rise buildings to the high-rise ones. This is
clearly illustrated by the results of a 1963 national survey done by the Netherlands
Institute for Public Opinion (NIPO), who indicated that Dutch people, if given the choice,
expressed an overwhelming 80 to 90 percent preference for low-rise, single family
houses (rows of houses) (Van der Cammen, quoted in Van der Waal, 1997: 197).
30

31. While most Western European countries embraced and implemented the idea of
high-rise buildings and vertical landscapes, especially since the postwar era, and even
more so from the 1960s and 1970s on, the Netherlands did not do so. Overall, the general
Dutch urban landscape includes the four large cities, which with a few exceptions are
dominated by low and mid-rise buildings, with a few exceptions. The biggest exception
from this general rule seems to be the case of Rotterdam, a city destroyed during World
War II, which had to be totally rebuilt, and where the Dutch did break the pattern by
building high-rise office spaces and apartment buildings. Through discussions with
different segments of urban residents in Rotterdam and elsewhere in the Netherlands, it
became clear that the idea of high-rise buildings is neither fully welcomed, nor entirely
accepted by the majority of the Dutch. The recently designed and otherwise very
aesthetic high-rise office towers in the heart Den Hague, have stimulated a lot of mixed
discussions and reactions around the role of high-rise buildings in Dutch cities.
Whether the Dutch predilection for low-rise buildings is anchored in old social
and cultural features of a Dutch society that has had to live on a rather flat and fragile
landscape for centuries (as discussed in Chapter 5), or in the postwar changing individual
and collective preferences, as suggested by Van der Waal (1997), the fact is that for a
combination of reasons Almere‘s planners also rejected the idea of high-rise buildings.
At present, Almere New City displays a dominant low-rise urban landscape, with only a
few recently built high-rise apartment buildings and office spaces (still in construction),
primarily located in Almere Stad. An interesting addition to this discussion is provided
by Van der Waal‘s remarks, who stated
―from the early 1960s onwards, society had been going through a change from the
collective era to the individual, from an era of collective rebuilding of a war-
31

32. damaged environment to a period of self-assertive enjoyment‖ and the
Netherlands has undergone a transition from a vertical era to a more horizontal
one with ―the vertical image of happy masses working in cheerfully smoking
factories and living in airy, sunny apartments‖ dissipating into the ―horizontality
of individual row-housing‖ (Van der Waal, 1997: 195).
Advantages Offered by the Polynuclear Planning Concept
The spatial development for Almere and the need to accommodate 250,000
people in approximately five decades, has been accomplished through the polynuclear
planning concept, which offered a number of compelling advantages13 highlighted by
Teun Koolhaas and Jan de Hartog and summarized as follows:
1) Successive and juxtaposed implementation of different aspects of the plan
simultaneously, which allowed for distinct stages of urban development to take place,
with construction starting initially for one nucleus, and then a new stage for a
different nucleus would start, while construction in the previous stage would continue
at the same time;
2) Flexibility in the stages of urban development for each nucleus, in the sense that
while following the initial plan in terms of what, when and how much should be built,
it also allowed the incorporation of specific planning, architectural and design ideas
that arose at the time;
13
Advantages of the polynuclear planning concept have been presented in an internal
paper entitled Almere, the Netherlands: Twenty Years of Experience with the
Polynuclear New Town Concept, written by Teun Koolhaas (a private consultant), and
Jan de Hartog (head city planner for Almere). Jan de Hartog gave an interview in
Almere, at the City Hall in November, 2000. I want to express gratitude to him for his
time and insights.
32

33. 3) Provision of a spatial pattern that would accommodate the maximum planned
population number of 250,000 people over the estimated 50 years of urban
development, within different types of settlements to meet different types of
requirements;
4) Possibility of keeping the rate of growth for each urban nucleus and its districts and
neighborhoods within the limits of what was technically, financially and socially
desirable at the time when construction started;
5) Spatial proximity to the surrounding open green and blue spaces, bus stops, as well as
center of mixed-use centers in each urban nucleus;
6) Maintaining a balanced structure between the built and natural areas;
7) Having a variety of design and architectural styles for the main housing types;
8) Possibility to start and finish building new housing units in a short time, thus allowing
the new dwellers to move rapidly into the finished neighborhoods;
9) Urbanization taking place in a mosaic of different types of residential neighborhoods
that were designed and built and at various stages of urban development;
33

34. 10) Provide the inhabitants with a wider range of residential choices and to start moving
within and between their initial neighborhoods and districts, catering to their new
demands, financial status and social preference; and
11) Shaping a new urban settlement at the northern edge of the polycentric Dutch
metropolis, which would on one hand gradually achieve a degree of self-sufficiency
within its own boundaries, and, on the other hand would support a balanced regional
and metropolitan development. (Koolhaas and Hartog, 2001)
In addition to these advantages, the polynuclear concept offered other advantages,
including the fact that the division into more and smaller townships versus one large city
offers several administrative, financial and technical advantages for management. As a
result of the implementation of the polynuclear hierarchical concept, Almere in 2002
consists today have four main urban nuclei/towns separated by green and blue belts
buffered zones (see Figure 1-3). The following Chapter 9 goes beyond the plan and
analyzes the implementation of the polynuclear concept for Almere. It examines the
temporal-spatial evolution and morphology of in each of Almere‘s towns, as well as in
the internuclear areas.
34

35. Figure 1-3: The Built Almere New City, the Netherlands.
This aerial photograph illustrates Almere‘s compact polynuclear spatial structure.
Notice the built urban fabric separated and surrounded by green and blue belts (with
different functions) (source: Municipality of Almere (1999)
35

36. 36