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One Pioneer, Many Legacies. The Province of and the Randstad Metropolitan Area, the

Original One Pioneer, Many Legacies. The Province of Flevoland and the Randstad Metropolitan Area, the Netherlands / PAONE, FABRIZIO. - STAMPA. - (2015), pp. 274-283.

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24 September 2021 urban agendaled toinvestments andasuccessful outcome.Thecurrent crisislifts thelid influence ofthe urbandimensionofRandstad anditspriorityinthe Dutch and European in a discontinuous polycentric manner. It was reborn in the nineteen-nineties, when the city. Although appearstohave followed inLelystad’s footsteps,itlaterdeveloped incapable ofeliminatingthesense ofabandonmentandstagnationcommunicatedby the because itinvolves designsthat,although theyaddaestheticallybeautifulobjects,are new urbanity andsocialcohesion.However, theprocess appearsdoomedtoirreversible failure “niche” product. Lelystadposesquestionsthatremain urgent—e.g., how tocreate new a age, inshort that has not influenced the real settlement dynamics of ourcontemporary travail leadingtoitscreation. It issimilartoChandigarh:“authentic” delimitedmodernity aura,Nageleits exemplary isclearlyoccupiedby inhabitantswhoignore theintellectual land, sparking a real this oneiric projection. estate supply determined to support With nonunivocal. Thepioneers appear reborn inthe inhabitantswho settleinthis new, maiden become more complicated;infact, their legaciesseemtomultiply, shatter, andbecome the genealogyoftheseurbanformations—especiallyNagele, ,andAlmere—has conditions. developed basedonthesameinstitutional and infrastructural We believe that Globalization appears to be separating the destinies of cities and territories that have and compressed. Nevertheless, whatwe seetodayisnotmoving towards homologation. reclaimed from thesea.Aspecialplacewhere timeisencapsulatedinmodernity, accelerated known as The territory Flevoland afterlandwas wascreated inthetwentieth century Fabrizio Paone Many Legacies One Pioneer, 285 1 1980, non è stato realizzato ed è riportato nellaconfigurazione degliannisettanta 1980, non èstatorealizzato edèriportato pioneers and heirs IJsselmeer, dalMedio Evo. terrebonificateapartire cuièassociatoilperiodo 1963- L’interramento delMarkerwaard, named Wieringermeer Directorate), oftheMinisterie bothpart van Verkeer en Waterstraat voor deIJsselmeerpolders (IJDA, IJsselmeerpolders Development Authority, initially Dienst derZuiderzeewerken (ZZW, Project ZPD),theRijksdienst Department, provide butalsotoestablishthemunicipality. civicandsocialservices, Theseinclude:the Socioprofessional circuits andtechnicalinstitutionaleliteswere created tonotonly The engineerCornelisLely Technicalization oftheMyth trends ofbasisonwhichtoelaboratemore andlaterbecameasort anddifferent scenarios. crisis that began in 2007 initially appears to have acted as a simple multiplier of ongoing works,immeasurable, andrandomlyenhancedby trends, certain andauthorialfigures. The seriesofcrisesthatcannotbesolved becausetheyareuninterrupted diverse, allstructurally on earlierinterrelated conditions.Seen from Flevoland, lookslikean thetwentieth century 2 and collectivizationprefigure theworksites. due totheemotionalimpactof1916floodandendwar. National rhetoric the river Ijssel.” In 1918,Lelywasgrantedfundsduringhisthird ministerialtermofoffice 1997): theZuiderzee hadtobetransformedintoIjsselmeer— literally“lakeattheendof , 2015© archivio? 1 studiedthereclamation oftheeighteen-eighties(seeBosma 2 287 pioneers and heirs The settlementsinthecities Noordoostpolder were designed by Pieter Verhagen approach towards thepracticeratherthanahegemonicrole. Koolhaas (OMA),Ben van Berkel (UNStudio), andMVRDV adoptedamore dialectic Eesteren, De 8enOupbow, Gerrit Rietveld, Mart Stam, Aldovan Eyck, andlaterRem planning. Compared todominantprofessional culture, protagonists suchasCornelisvan the moreenriched andarticulated current anddiffuseideasabout Dutch modern urban Flevoland was also considered dry. of urban centers, which Then came the construction meters. In 1957, the Oostelijk Flevoland in 1968, the Zuidelijk was considered to be dry; creatingand continuedthroughout theforties, an average subsidence ofroughly three in 1932.Thiscreated three bigpolders. In 1937, reclamation beganon the Noordoostpolder completed in1924;the30-kilometerstretch between Wieringen andFriesland wasfinished The first2.5-kilometerstretch oftheAfsluitsdijk from Nord Hollandto Wieringenwas and theOpenbaar Lichaam(Public Authority). BoardIJsselmeerpolders (Advisory fortheDevelopment ofSouthern IJsselmeer Polders), del Rijkswaterstaat(General Directorate), laternamedAdviescommissie Zuidelijke of (Ministry Transport and Water Management); aswell astheDirectie IJsselmeergebied also organized inorder toachieve theaforementioned ofthe goal:designandconstruction initial onewere reiterated by theinhabitants, pioneers.Several technical initiatives were cities.” Thefirstlegacyconsistsinapersuasive stimulus:numerous statementsidentical tothe Two events tookplaceafter theannouncement,“Let’s cultivatelandsandestablish new The initialactionisdeclarative: media-oriented, you couldsay, withdeliberateanachronism. coupled withgreater economic andoccupationalopportunities. abandonment; andAlmere with200,000 inhabitants,where demographicdynamismwas an average-sized citywith75,000inhabitants,communicatingafeelingofemptinessand villagedesignedasacollective by, arural the[x]membersofDutch modernism;Lelystad, following three urbanformations:Nagele with1,000inhabitantsintheNoordoostpolder lands became the basis of a reformed,new ideal urban dimension with, in particular, the than 2,400square kilometers,and is currently inhabitedby 400,000inhabitants.The of The agriculturalterritory Noordoostpolder and Flevoland becameaprovince ofmore andCities:Nagele,Lelystad,Almere Villages City anditsmainprotagonist Marinus Jan Granpré Molière. following thedictatesofDelft SchoolandtheDutch interpretation oftheGarden Amsterdam andtheurbanregion ofRandstadsince1959. in Zuidelijkthe beginning of urban Flevoland,construction which had been connected to satellite villageswasinaugurated.In 1976,thefirsthouses were builtinAlmere marking authors, architects, anddesigners.In 1962,theworksite forthecityofDronten anditstwo was initiallydesignedby Cornelisvan Eesteren andthenby manyindividualandcollective eponymous pioneer city—was the first settlement to be built in the Oostelijk Flevoland; it 5 4 In 1966,Lelystad—the 3 influenced primarily by legislative, financialandmanagementtools. program wasadoptedattheregional andmunicipal levels, whilenationwidetheplanwas and Water Management decidedthatthe ZPDandtheIJDAhadtocooperate; itsetupa Eesteren, whohadbeentheconsultant since1949.In of 1956,theMinistry Transport had tobeusefulagriculture. Thisapproach pittedthe IJDAagainsttheZPDand van responsible foragriculturalissuesvis-à-vistheplan,itmaintained thattheinfrastructures the factitwasimpossibletofind commonground. Since thestatueofIJDAmadeit impasse canbedescribedasa conflictbetween projects, sharing,andcompetences, systematically increase thedataon whichurbandesignisbased. The characteristictraitsofplanology declined whiletheplanwasbeingdrafted. dictating theagendaofurbanconstruction national andinternationaleconomicsituation.However, inprescriptive trust planning including therelationship between itstown planningdesign,politicaldecisions,and the network. Manyand infrastructural aspectsofitsurbanization have beenquestioned, citymighthelpitplayanambitious nationalroleposition ofthenew inthefuture territorial that whenreclamation oftheMarkerwaard—abandoned in thenineties—iscompleted, ifLelystadbecomesattractive forindustry.fourfold TheZPDand van Eesteren believe activities, itwasdesignedtoaccommodate25,000inhabitants,butthisfigure couldincrease unstable. As theregionalLelystad isbigger and was,from thestart, centerofagricultural Bodon andElling. Kamerlingactedasthemaindesigner, : Van Eesteren, Stam, Rietveld, van Eyck andBakema worked withMerkelbach, Kamerling, ended inearly1954anditinvolved thecollective front ofthe modern,“De 8enOpbouw” looks likeafinished,completelybuiltdesign.Thegenesisoftheplanbeganin1947and else arts andcrafts fields. The area appearsalittle biggerthanoriginallyplanned; everything trees that seem to protect these groups of houses from the endless visual dimension of the between inhabitants and motorists; these clusters are softened and surrounded by rows of however, is taller than the trees. Residential clusters create quiet forms of cohabitation allotments. All ofthese architectures elements—none ofwhich, are few vertical offset by very town hall,thethree schools,thearchives, andlow buildingssituatedineachofthedetached around theperimeterofthiscentralarea, onecanseethemuseum,three churches, the in thetown centerisfullofplantsandsilencereigns supreme. From all theroad running environment isdifferent from previous orlatersettlements.Thebig rectangular green area Nagele isavillagesetbackfrom itspleasant themainroad passingthrough theterritory; odds); arrival oftheinhabitants;practicalandadministrative independence. consultants andthenseveral agenciesthatsometimescollaboratedandwere at ofsettlements(initiallyby theIJDAwithexternal the ZPD);designandconstruction (responsibility ofinfrastructures (responsibility oftheIJDA);designandconstruction of dams andhydraulic works (responsibility oftheZPD);reclamation oflandsandallotment buildings, adoptingaredundant andrecursive ideationprocess. all theotherswhorepeated designedthemain thepatternadinfinitumandonlyafterwards 10 begintoemerge;thesetraitssatisfytheneed 8 butwiththefullcooperationof 9 11 A multidisciplinary Amultidisciplinary 12 In Leylstad,the 6 7 3 289 pioneers and heirs Nagele, gli spazi aperti centrali elascuolacristianaprotestante diVanNagele, glispazi aperti Eycke Van Ginkel©FabrizioPaoone completed urbanity?Andhow bigdoes asettlementhave tobeachieve it?How can Nevertheless, topicsandproblematic issuesseemedunsolvable. certain What exactlyis Structure Schemewasready. on the first house began in late 1965. be inaugurated and construction In 1970, the new Structure Plan draftedprimarilyby van Embden. At thatpoint,thefirstworksites could outright animosity. IJDAdirector ofthe Thenew obtainedthesupport Minister foranew intermediate stages.TheIJDAshiftedfrom acriticalbutcollaborative waitinggameto 1964, more the concernedaboutthefar-sightednessofurbanconcept,thanperfecting Nor were nationallawspassed. Van Eesteren presented hissolutionsbetween 1960and survey, aprocess thathadbeeninforce inThe Netherlands sincethenineteen-twenties. and experienceappearstohave madepeopleforgetthere wasnoclearprogram orprior future inhabitantsandtheirdecisiontomove toLelystad. Van Eesteren’s authoritativeness about theconfigurationsofcitybefore itwascompleted,becausethiswouldinfluence The planningphaselasted over ten years: duringthattime,theIJDAwasconcerned contention involved theschedulingofstages,finalsize ofthecity, anditsfunctions. Planological Commissionandappointedvan Eesteren asheadplanner. Themainbonesof 4 meant toattractinhabitantswithdiverse aesthetictastes. urban structure; hugeswathesoflandwhere diversification ofthe residential supplywas between institutionalactors.It wasbacktothedrawingboard todesignadiscontinuous i.e., what should not be done, the risks involved, the logic to be avoided, and the conflict development site. Its legacy seems to be more focused on the negative than the positive— of areference planduringeitherfastorslow growth; univocal identificationofthefirst to 2,000);residential homesmore attractive thanthoseinneighboringareas; thedrafting based onfourmainpoints:theenvisagedminimum/maximumnumberofresidents (up of thecityin Verkavelingsplan designerswas (1968),theIJDAmandatefornew Lelystad. In manyways,Almere appearstohave learnedfrom thestalematesandmistakesmadein Nagele wasadistantmemory be builtallsimultaneously? variations? sharedwith arbitrary What are elementsandhow thecontemporary cantheyall districts—embellish andimprove thecity, whentheycompromise itscoherence andunity andforemostthe detailedandindependentdevelopment oftheparts—first the residential Almeerdestrand, nuove residenzeHomerus,©Fabrizio Paoone 13 After the Ministry of AftertheMinistry Transport and Water Management approved thelocation 291 pioneers and heirs Almere 2.0”;theplanincludesyet anotherresidential settlement:Almere IJland. the municipality jointly drafted the strategic document entitled “Draft Structural Vision (Almere Pampus) iscurrently onthe drawing board. In 2009,theMVRDV studioand Two districtsare new now beingbuilt(Almere Hout andAlmere Poort) andanother in 1990;105,0001995;143,0002000;175,0002005;and190,0002010. municipality becameindependent.The40,000inhabitantsin1985grew to71,000 Almere ofthefirsthousebeganin1976,and1984 developed. Construction the factthattheyare allinfluentialissues. issues thatcouldn’t beclassifiedinthesescientificdatatendedtoignored, notwithstanding of thoseinvolved usedscientificdataintheir research, whilesocial,political,anddesign engineers, agricultural engineers, landscape engineers, trafficandeconomists. All teamsworkinginterdisciplinary inthePBAincludedarchitects, planners,sociologists,civil Almere Haven—which finally became the Ontwerp AlmereStruucturplaan in 1977. The 1981. The project envisaged three main settlements—Almere Stad, Almere Buiten, and the direction of Friedeling, its work it inlate started 1972 and remained active until the districts. The IJDA set up Projectburo Almere (PBA, Almere Project Bureau); under Areas withplantsandtrees were ofthecitytoseparateandlink envisagedinvarious parts neighboring urban formationsthat—although locatedclosetooneanother—have different differentiated in2007appears tohave further The crisisthat started thedestinyof increasingly by mobileandiswell mobility systems. served area and itsreal estatedynamicsisconsidered advantageous, whileproduction hasbecame Flevoland thaninanyotherDutch province.15 Spatial proximity tothemetropolitan in Flevoland (2015);furthermore, inthe lasttenyears employment hasgrown more in Agency (OMFL),roughly 32,000businesses—including400multinationals—are active Rotterdam, Hilversum, Haarlem, andSchipol.According totheFlevoland Development housing units,thereby allowing peopletotravel smoothlybetween Amsterdam, Utrecht, as regards education,employment, recreational activities,events, history, anddiverse (Schipol). No othermediumorsmall-sized citycouldprovide thesameopportunities with amajorEuropean (Rotterdam), port hubsin andoneofthefirstfourairport Europe cities around the Groene (green Hart one of the first five heart), European metropolitan areas In thesecondhalfoftwentieth century, Dutch town planningfocusedontheringof growth elementsinAlmere. to Amsterdam andinclusioninthemetropolitan area ofRandstadwere the maindynamic would have worked outsidethecity:aserious underestimation. In thenineties,proximity The economistsatPBAinitiallyestimatedthat10–13percent ofinhabitants inAlmere Destiny ofNeighboringUrbanFormations The CrisisasaWay toSeparatethe 14 built presences andthegapsthatgive meaning tothosepresences. center inRandstad, withoutacitybutnot urbanization,generating memoriesof monuments relegated tothesidelinesandbereft oftheirsurroundings. Or the“empty” continues toamaze: itsarchitectural objectsexhibited astotemfurniture onacarpet, stratificationinurbandesign. and vertical it’sNevertheless, Nagele’s “empty” centerthat densification strategiesandthe OMAproject triggersa ofthe review role ofsuperimposition small-scale solutions (present in many areas in Almere), centrality created the new by be authoritatively imposed.Based onthelogicofmatchingresidential situationsthatuse However, we alsohave topointoutthatsharingspacesforalongperiodoftimecannot had becomeasociallyneutrallinguisticsystem. the humancondition;anauthorialaestheticcommitmentwithin modernsettlementsthat architecturally andspatiallydefiningthecore, it triedtointroduce emotions as testimonyto until 1959andtheOtterlo congress inThe Netherlands whenitdisbanded. In thehopeof planning program up adoptedby theCIAMinsecondhalfoftwentieth century “Core” isthebuzzword usedduringrevision ofthearchitectural ideasandmoderntown offices onthe ground floor and homesontheupperfloors. each districtduringrenovation; thiscentralityisbasedonasystemofdualaccess;shopsand a stableconfiguration. Notwithstanding themaincentral area, centrality isintroduced into of theCentralBusiness Districtchangesthatdidnotprovide (CBD)inLelystadunderwent solutions developed by van Eesteren and those that came later, the location and orientation identities.Betweenunambiguously characterizes closed communitiesandcomforting the and thetraditionallanguageofvillages in theNoordoostpolder, where justonecenter term. The conceptof “center”—and especiallyof “core”—is perhapsstillthemostproblematic The legacieshave multiplied:someare successful,someenigmatic,andothersnegative. publicspaces(seeProvoost ofthenew the construction etal.1999). with private investors who,by buildingbigcommercial projects, are considered toanticipate willingness ofpublicinstitutionstorenew investments inAlmere andestablishsynergies between 1998and2007following acompetitionlaunchedin1994.Theproject marks the the Almere city center, commissioned by the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA) a boostforconsiderableurbantransformation.One oftheseprojects wastheredesign of subject attracted by alostpast,low-priced by landwellinfrastructures isacting as served set upactivities,includinglargewindfarms. While foodself-sufficiencyappearstobea the presence oflargeunbuiltspaceshave madeFlevoland aprivilegedsiteinwhichto rational infrastructures, low housingdensity(165inhabitantspersquare kilometer),and production inFlevoland economicallyirrelevant. Nevertheless, itsregular allotments, negative evolution. Theinternationalizationofthefoodmarket hasmadetheagricultural relationships withmetropolitan dynamics,thereby accentuatingtheiralready positive or 16 There’s ashifttomore complexprojects from theprevious search forsmallness 16 15 http://english.almere.nl/business-in-almere/economy-facts-and-figures/. 14 http://english.almere.nl/fileadmin/files/almere/subsites/english/Draft_strategic_vision_Almere_2.0.pdf 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Notes 293

Refererences pioneers and heirs The most important The mostimportant reference isintheproceedings oftheeighthCIAM(Tyrwhitt etal.1952). For theprinciplesandobjectives ofAlmere seeNawijn (1979). An inEnglish excellent seriesofarticles onthisandotherissuesregarding Dutchtown planningispublishedinNeedham (1992,revised 1996). (1985). (Zutphen: Walburg Pers, 1985).For more aboutthespecificsof Dutch contributionvis-à-visthe information European context,seeDuttandCosta An assessmentofhow thedisciplinewasappliedisillustrated inthecollective book Stedebouw inNederland. 50jaarBondvan Nederlandse Stedebouwkundigen Faludi andvan der Valk (1994). wasintroduced by The neologismplanology Joël Meijer De Casseres debateinThe andwasusedasaconceptualizationinthedisciplinary Netherlands. See The drawings andthedesignoperations are describedin Hemel and Rossem (1984). was exhibitedagainattheCIAMinHoddesdon (UK)in1951. The planwasexhibitedasacollective experimentattheCIAMin Bergamo in1949.Duetounforeseen circumstances, Kamerling wasunabletoattend. It The teamincluded De Opbouw, theDutchfunctionalistgroups foundedin1920 Rotterdam andin Amsterdam in1927. Events have beenaccurately retraced invan der Wal (1997). For aboutthefeatures briefinformation andprocesses oftheplan,see Tilman (1997). International IFHTPConference in1924Amsterdam. Ebenezer Howard Unwin andRaymond bothattendedtheconference. Marinus Jan Granpré Molière oftheStedebouwkundige waschairman Board) (Planning Raad Advisory in1921;hemadethekeynotespeechat on several group, plansby asmentionedinthispaper. theDutchmodernist Rotterdam wasbombedduringtheSecond World War. The plans were redesigned later by thedraftsmen working fortheDirectorate. Nagele wasbuiltbased Some ofthedrawings probably datetobefore However, theforties. philologicalverification isdifficultbecausetheoriginalmaterialwasdestroyed when kibbutz inIsrael, seeOr (2010).More general isprovided information inSpiegel (1967). For more abouttherhetoric discoursesaround information nationalization,collectivization,andhousingexperimentationregarding ofthe theconstruction different governments between 1891and1918. Lely(1857–1929)was Dykes, The engineerCornelis Roads, Minister for Maintenance ofBridgesand Navigability of Canals, Trade and inthreeIndustry 010 Publishers, 1997. Van der Wal, C.In Praise ofCommonSense. Planning theOrdinary. APhysical Planning oftheNew History Towns intheIJsselmeerpolders.Rotterdam: Tyrwhitt, J.,J.L.Sert, andE.Nathan Rogers, eds.The ofthe City:Heart Toward the Humanization of Urban Life. London: Lund Humphries, 1952. H. Hellinga, 76–85.Rotterdam /The Hague: NAI Publishers/EFL Publications, 1997. Tilman, Harm. “TheDutch Metropolitan Randstad.”Region. The In Masteringthe City. European City Planning1900–2000 VolI,edited by KoosB.and Spiegel, Erika. New Towns inIsrael: Urban andRegional Planning andDevelopment. New York: Frederick A.Praeger, 1967. 1999. Provoost, Michelle, Bernard Colenbrander, andFloris Alkemade. Dutchtown: ACity Centre Design by OMA/Rem Koolhaas. Rotterdam: Nai Publishers, Or, G.Bar ed.Kibbutz:Architecture Without Precedents. Tel Aviv: Top-Print, 2010. 1979. Nawijn, K.E.Almere New Town: TheDutch Polder Experience: City for People by People. Flevobericht no. 152.Lelystad:Rijkdienst voor deIjsselmeerpolders, Librarians, 1992.Revised editionby B.Needham andP. Ekkers. Nijmegen: KatholiekeUniversiteit, Nijmeegse Planologische Cahiers no. 49,1996. Needham, B. Physical Planning and Environmental Policy in the Netherlands. A Guide to English-language Publications. Chicago: Council of Planning Hemel, Z.and V. Van Rossem. Nageleen collective ontwerp 1947–1957.Amsterdam: Nederlands voor Documentatiecentrum deBouwkunst,1984. Publisher, 1994. Faludi, A. and A. J. van der Valk. Rule and Order: Dutch Planning Doctrine in the Twentieth Century. Dordrecht/Boston/London: Kluwer Academic Press, 1985. K.andFrankDutt, Ashok J.Costa.Public Planning intheNetherlands. Perspectives andChangesincetheSecond World War. New York: Oxford University 140–147. Rotterdam /The Hague: Nai Publishers/EFL Publications, 1997. Bosma, K.“Zuider Zee Project 1892.The Arrangement oftheIjsselmeer Polders.” In Mastering the City Vol II,edited by K.Boosmaand Helma Hellinga,