The Tradition of Making Polder CitiesFRANSJE HOOIMEIJER Proefschrift ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Technische Universiteit Delft, op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. ir. K.C.A.M. Luyben, voorzitter van het College voor Promoties, in het openbaar te verdedigen op dinsdag 18 oktober 2011 om 12.30 uur door Fernande Lucretia HOOIMEIJER doctorandus in kunst- en cultuurwetenschappen geboren te Capelle aan den IJssel Dit proefschrift is goedgekeurd door de promotor: Prof. dr. ir. V.J. Meyer Copromotor: dr. ir. F.H.M. van de Ven Samenstelling promotiecommissie: Rector Magnificus, voorzitter Prof. dr. ir. V.J. Meyer, Technische Universiteit Delft, promotor dr. ir. F.H.M. van de Ven, Technische Universiteit Delft, copromotor Prof. ir. D.F. Sijmons, Technische Universiteit Delft Prof. ir. H.C. Bekkering, Technische Universiteit Delft Prof. dr. P.J.E.M. van Dam, Vrije Universiteit van Amsterdam Prof. dr. ir.-arch. P. Uyttenhove, Universiteit Gent, België Prof. dr. P. Viganò, Università IUAV di Venezia, Italië dr. ir. G.D. Geldof, Danish University of Technology, Denemarken For Juri, August*, Otis & Grietje-Nel 1 Inner City - Chapter 2 2 Waterstad - Chapter 3 3 Waterproject - Chapter 4 4 Blijdorp - Chapter 5a 5 Lage Land - Chapter 5b 6 Ommoord - Chapter 5b 7 Zevenkamp - Chapter 5c 8 Prinsenland - Chapter 5c 9 Nesselande - Chapter 6 10 Zestienhoven - Chapter 6 Content Chapter 1: Polder Cities 5 Introduction 5 Problem Statement, Hypothesis and Method 9 Technological Development as Natural Order 10 Building-Site Preparation 16 Rotterdam 17 Project Position 19 Chapter 2 Natural Power (-1500) 23 The Dutch Territory and Settlements 23 The Dam and the Rotte 29 Loss of the Inner City 33 Rotterdam Dam City in 2011 35 The Fine Dutch Tradition: Episode One 36 Chapter 3: The Power of Unity (1500-1800) 38 Land of cities and shipping 38 Urban Engineering 41 The Military Engineer 43 The Making of Dutch Towns 46 ‘Dry Core’ 46 Strict Control 46 City Water versus Polder Water 48 Dutch Renaissance 49 Peat Polder Towns 51 Rotterdam Waterstad 57 Rotterdam Waterstad in 2011 61 The Fine Dutch Tradition: Episode Two 63 Chapter 4: New Power (1800-1890) 66 Urbanization and industrialization 66 Van der Woud (1987) Het lege land 69 Military and Civil Engineers 72 Surveyors and Cartography 74 Urban Engineering 76 Building-Site Preparation 80 I Engine Power 81 II General Water Management 84 III Soil Mechanics 85 Building-Site Preparation 86 Rotterdam Waterproject 87 Waterproject 1841 and 1854 90 Water System 91 Urban Design 96 Defining Urban Tissue 100 Urban Engineering 101 Sewer 103 Developments after Rose 106 The Waterproject in 2011 108 The Fine Dutch Tradition: Episode Three 113 1 Chapter 5: Accelerating Powers (1890-1990) 115 Man can make everything possible 115 Civil Engineering versus Urban Design 117 Public Health Engineer 119 Division 119 Independent Development 121 The Chair of Urban Design 123 Post-War Urbanism 127 Introducing Landscaping in the 1970s 128 Building-Site Preparation 132 I Engine Power 133 II General Water Management 135 III Soil Mechanics 136 IV Soil Improvement 140 V Hydrogeology 142 VI Pile Foundations 144 VII Drainage Systems 148 From Seven Fields of Knowledge to Three Urban Typologies 152 Chapter 5a: Accelerating Machine Power (1890-1945) 155 Booming industrialization and urbanization 155 Garden Cities 157 Plan South Amsterdam 160 Plan South 1917 161 Building-Site Preparation before the Second World War 163 Rotterdam Blijdorp 169 Plan De Jongh 171 Plan Verhagen 172 Plan Kromhout 180 Plan Witteveen and Kromhout 182 Watery Construction 183 Urban Tissue 187 Blijdorp in 2011 188 The Fine Dutch Tradition: Episode Four 190 Chapter 5b: Accelerating Manpower (1945-1970) 192 Advanced Technology, Welfare State and Disintegration 192 Neighbourhood City 193 New Relation to Physical Geography 195 Building-Site Preparation after the Second World War 197 Rotterdam Prins Alexanderpolder 199 Land and Water, Water and Land 199 Urbanization Dynamics 201 Rotterdam Lage land 206 Lowering the Groundwater 206 Urban Plan 208 Lage Land in 2011 210 Rotterdam Ommoord 213 Characteristic Environment 214 Building-Site Preparation 215 Ommoord in 2011 217 The Fine Dutch Tradition: Episode Five 218 Chapter 5c: Accelerating Flower Power (1970-1990) 221 Booming Awareness 221 ‘Cauliflower’ Neighbourhoods 223 Building-Site Preparation after 1970 227 Rotterdam Zevenkamp 230 2 Urban Plan 232 Zevenkamp in 2011 236 Rotterdam Prinsenland 238 Building-Site Preparation as Urban Design 240 Urban Construction 243 Prinsenland in 2011 244 The Fine Dutch Tradition: Episode Six 245 Chapter 6: Adaptive Power (1990 to Today) 246 Towards a New Balance 246 The State of the Disciplines 249 Designers and Water Board People 251 Urban Developments 253 Design with Water 257 Water Awareness 259 Building-Site Preparation 260 Operating Bottom-Up Technically 261 Operating Bottom-Up Spatially 263 Rotterdam Nesselande 265 Nesselande in 2011 268 Rotterdam Polder Zestienhoven 270 MER 271 Water Directives 275 Urban Engineering 276 Two Historic Plans 278 Polder Zestienhoven in 2011 281 Rotterdam’s Future 283 Waterstad 2035 284 The Fine Dutch Tradition: Episode Seven 286 Chapter 7: The Power of a Tradition 288 Historical overview and its analyses 288 Systematic Analysis 289 Contextual 293 Disciplines 298 Spatial Interventions 299 Conclusions 304 Urban Archetypes 304 Definition of the Urban Fine Dutch Tradition 308 Building-Site Preparation 311 Civil Engineering and Urbanism 313 Is the Fine Dutch Tradition Sustainable and/or Climate proof? 314 Terminology 316 References 319 Archives 333 De traditie van het maken: poldersteden - samenvatting 335 The tradition of making: polder cities - summary 345 Curriculum vitae 356 Acknowledgements 363 3 4 Chapter 1: Polder Cities Cities are given shape by all sorts of people. They are shaped, for example, by military engineers – ships’ gunners laid out the early British port cities of India – and by administrators and state officials – the oikists, leaders of the colonizing expeditions which gave us the Greek towns of Sicily. The mediaeval lords of England and France and Spain established hundreds of new towns or bastides in their territories. More recently the shape of cities has been greatly influenced by modern planning commissioners such as Robert Moses of New York and Edmund Bacon of Philadelphia. A survey of this extraordinary group, their writings and the tools of their trade, will make a first-rate story.1 Introduction This is the story of how Dutch polder cities have developed as hydrological constructions made by both civil engineers and urban designers, and how the relationships between these disciplines have changed. When it comes to hydrological engineering and spatial construction, the Dutch have a rich and internationally renowned tradition. Their expertise and knowledge of hydrological laws and ingenious technology have helped them to successfully make land out of water: polders. Polders are a special type of drained agricultural land typically found in low-lying coastal areas, river plains, shallow lakes, lagoons and upland depressions. Before impoldering, polder areas were either waterlogged or temporarily or permanently under water. An area becomes a polder when it is separated from the surrounding hydrological regime in such a way that its water level can be controlled independently of its surrounding regime. This condition is accomplished by various combinations of drainage canals and dikes.2 This also the story of the ‘Fine Dutch Tradition’, a term used by Steenbergen and Reh, that reflects on the old, unique and typical Dutch landscape architecture that – with a minimum of means – makes the landscape in which water is a crucial aspect useful and beautiful in a restrained and clear 3 form. 1 Kostov 1991, 11-12 2 Luijendijk et al. 1988, 195-228 3 The term ‘Fine Dutch Tradition’, is introduced by Henk Engel at the end of the 1970s in a booklet he made for an excursion to Het oude Hof te Bergen where he argued that the architecture was produced by that which is within the landscape. The statement reflects on the Dutch garden culture that played an important role in the wide spectrum of the Dutch culture around 1700. The garden architecture showed the mastering of the wet territory and difficult geography. The situation and size of the Dutch gardens demonstrated capabilities in water management, drainage technology and sluices. The appliance of drainage canals to geometrically divide and encircle the garden shows that Dutch gardeners were masters in combining horticulture, technology, water management and architectural design. See Steenbergen and Reh 2005, 7 5 However, can the term simply be hijacked for urbanism and can it be argued that the Dutch urban design is produced by that which is within the landscape? The ‘Fine Dutch Tradition’ is still a rather mystical term used to represent something not carefully studied in the urban context; a Systematic Analysis of urban development in relation to water management of the polder is lacking. It is ridiculous to believe polder cities developed randomly when land has been reclaimed, raised, drained and protected with so much effort.4 Research on how this physical geography has changed and developed is lacking - particularly in terms of understanding how urban development evolved. Knowledge and inspiration from this typical Dutch craft is required to resolve future urban challenges. The effects of urbanization on the hydrological cycle are now clear, especially since the climate appears to be impacting the larger hydrological cycle. The international climate panel (IPPC) has provided a scientific framework by claiming that climate change is due to human intervention in the natural systems.5 In the Netherlands the Delta Commission has identified stormwater drainage as a major concern: the low-lying urbanized areas with impermeable surfaces and very little surface water are extremely vulnerable during heavy rain storms that occur more frequently.6 The Delta program now has a department that focuses solely on establishing policy for stormwater in new urban developments and restructured urban areas.