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Yburg, The New "Green" Extension Of The City Of Amsterdam |
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| Ab W. Oskam | |||
| Session: Monday, April 16, 4.15 p.m. | Author Info | ||
Timothy Beatly's new book is an unbelievable encyclopaedia of everything that has happened in the last decade or so. A great many experiments of all kinds have been performed, meant to test the use of all sorts of measures which were in themselves not very revolutionary but had never been tested in our every day life. Most of the projects he describes are at a neighborhood scale, twenty, thirty, sometimes a few hundred houses or a well-defined commercial or industrial locality.These years of experimenting have given us enough information to be confident about making the jump to a consistent approach for an urban development at a much bigger scale, an urban extension for tens of thousands of inhabitantsTim Beatly describes a general feeling for the need of sustainable behavior that is common in most countries in Europe. The most prosperous of them, like Scandinavia, the Benelux, Germany, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy express that feeling in specific planning policies and a willingness to experiment in projects and in instruments such as taxation, subsidies, and legislation. The book is an unbelievable encyclopaedia of everything that has happened in the last decade or so. A great many experiments of all kinds have been performed, meant to test the use of all sorts of measures which were in themselves not very revolutionary but had never been tested in our every day life. Most of the projects he describes are at a neighborhood scale, twenty, thirty, sometimes a few hundred houses or a well-defined commercial or industrial locality.
These years of experimenting have given us enough information to be confident about making the jump to a consistent approach for an urban development at a much bigger scale, an urban extension for tens of thousands of inhabitants.
I would like to present to you our experiences so far in developing the newest extension of the city of Amsterdam, the IJburg district, an area meant to provide accommodation for 45.000 to 50.000 inhabitants. Beatly describes IJburg in his book very briefly as it was, when he visited us, much too early to assess the final outcome of the planning process in its early stage. He probably was deliberately reserved in his description to enable me to tell you all about it today.
Towards a More Sustainable Future
In 1994 the Dutch Parliament approved three vital policy documents, on traffic and transportation, on the environment, and on spatial development. These three policies were closely knit and covered the period from 1995 until 2005. The emphasis was on accommodating future developments with:
As little unnecessary mobility as possible, while safeguarding accessibility of the country's main economic functions andThe main objectives and their instruments are described In Timothy Beatly's book.2 Apart from that, for each region future growth is estimated and accommodated on the so-called VINEX sites. Development outside these sites is not allowed. Guidelines in designating the sites are:Improvement of environmental circumstances as well as biodiversity.1
For the Amsterdam Region population growth was estimated to require
100.000 new residential units to be built between 1995 and 2005, 40.000
to be built by the city of Amsterdam itself. Of these forty thousand, 26.000
could be accommodated in different urban renewal and urban reconstruction
areas, another 3000 in a relatively small extension in the southwestern
edge, and so for the remaining 12.000 a site had to be found.
Yburg
The City of Amsterdam is jammed in between environmental zoning of the airport and industries in the West, an important natural reserve in the North and the so-called "Green Hart" in the South. Consequently the only direction open for growth would be to the East.
But in the East is only water, the shallow waters of the IJ-meer, the Y-lake, part of the former Zuiderzee. It is of great nostalgic value to many Amsterdammers, a beautiful area and most of all an important feeding and rest area for many species of migrating water birds.
On the other hand, its location is almost ideal from a "compact city" point of view. It is adjacent to the newly created residential area of the "Eastern Docklands", not more than 7 km from the hart of the city and if can easily be connected to the city's metro and tram network.
So, on a regional scale it would be a very desirable option, especially from an environmental point of view. On a local scale however it would undoubtedly harm certain environmental values. That's why the City Council, in his brief to the planning department, stated explicitly that "The plan has to meet all standards of state-of-the-art environmental policies" The credo was: "Since we have to do this, let's make it an example of the best possible environmental planning".
There were other disadvantages. The Diemerzeedijk and an artificial peninsula, where a power plant was constructed, form the Southern border of the area. The Diemerzeedijk was used in the sixties as an illegal dumpsite for chemical waste. It became the most contaminated spot in the Netherlands.
Access for people has been prohibited for the last twenty years and as a result it has developed into a most interesting natural reserve! The construction of IJburg would only be feasible if the chemical hazards were to be eliminated and so the National government agreed to provide the $US 100million to do so. So, because of IJburg the Diemerzeedijk could be remediated and the area could be used as a park.
The powerplant operates on natural gas but it caused much discussion as it wanted to use the water of the IJmeer for cooling. This would raise the overall temperature of the lake by an average of 2 degrees Centigrade, which would cause predictable ecological changes.
With the new residential district at its doorsteps the waste-heat could be used for district heating.
The actual planning process for the new district started with a comprehensive
study of the whole IJ-meer area and its conclusions were:
The Planning Brief.
As for the residential it stated:
Sustainability is most of all dependent on the relation that the
community has with its physical environment. Thus this new town for 45.000
people should first and foremost be a great town to live in. Its plan and
its elaboration should stir the creativity and imagination of its inhabitants.
But it should also provide identity, be recognizable and be flexible and
adjustable. In other words: it had to be a very well planned and designed
district! And the plan had to take into account or had to meet ample requirements
for excellent environmental management.
Of course, during the planning process we had to provide several Environmental Impact Assessments and the discussions we had with the Supervisory Board were, of course, most difficult but also very innovative, enabling us to break new grounds. They opened our eyes to the fact that the existing ecology was valuable but also rather one-sided. Our emphasis should be on the creation of conditions to enhance biodiversity. In creating islands with exposed and soft coasts, with rough and calm waters, windy and secluded areas, we could do so.
In the mean time it was agreed upon - as many of the assumptions were
not backed up by sufficient knowledge yet - to adopt a evaluating planning
procedure whereby each phase would be monitored to provide knowledge for
the next phase. The overall aim was:
The Environmental Performance System (EPS)
The general plan was ready in 1997. As for the environmental elaboration it covered a great many aspects, from traffic to water management, from energy to building materials. An Environmental Performance System or EPS was formulated and added to the legally binding Local Land Use Plan.
This system sums up a great many measures, some compulsory, some to be elected. The compulsory measures provide a degree of environmental care that was achieved in earlier, experimental Dutch projects such as "Het Groene Dak", "Morrapark", "Ecolonia", "GWL" and others.3 The additional measures can under certain circumstances be exchanged and provide bonuses for the developer. It is interesting that a market research showed that people are willing to pay up to an extra $US 2500 on top of the price of their house for "extra" environmental measures. "Green subsidies" can also be used to promote the extra measures.4
The main requirements in the different EPS chapters are:
For Traffic:
For Water:
For Building, Resources and Waste:
For Energy:
For Nature:
The Masterplan.
As said before, the masterplan was ready in 1997. It consists of an archipelago of 7 islands. The size and shape of these islands is carefully determined to create transparency and vistas. The motto is "the city is guest, the water is the landlord". The islands create a diversity of rude and calm waters, hard and soft coasts.
They also accommodate recreational facilities that can serve the whole city of Amsterdam such as: marinas, a beach (to be reached by tram) and a large park.
The average density is 60 units per hectare (or a bit over 25 units per acre) but in diversity ranging from 25 to 100 (or 10 to 40 units per acre). There will be full-scale commercial and non-commercial facilities, a main towncentre and two sub-centers.
A Referendum.
The masterplan was unanimously approved by Amsterdam's City Council, and in this approval the Green party played a determining role.
Although a referendum still does not formally exist in our legislation
the City Council decided to organize such a referendum for this project.
The Amsterdammers approved the plan but they also stipulated explicitly
that:
and
The present situation, the first elaboration.
The detailed plan for the first phase of 3600 houses has just been published. It is the proof of the pudding of all ambitions. In this detailed plan not only the urban design can be fully assessed but also the technical and financial feasibility of all environmental desires. And it shows that the potentials of the masterplan were not overrated. On the contrary!
The basis is a grid with blocks of 170meters long and 90, 80 or 70meters wide. A set of design rules applies. Each block has to be elaborated by a co-ordinating architect. The program of each block demands more volume than building around the perimeter while the height is restricted to a maximum of 5 floors. So each block demands inventive solutions from its coordinator. In order to obtain architectural diversity each architect can make not more than 80 units. Each plan has to be approved by a Supervisory Board of planners and architects.
Car circulation is concentrated on the roads on the edges of the island; the inner area is mainly for pedestrians and cyclists. Cars are allowed but at a maximum speed of 30 kms/h only. The interior areas of the blocks are car-free.
Busses will provide public transportation until the tram will be in exploitation (when the first 1000 houses are delivered). To make the new inhabitants less car dependent they will get a free season ticket for bus and tram and a free subscription to a car sharing facility.
The houses will be provided with piping for drinking water and separate piping for cleaned grey water. The rainwater catchment system is fully elaborated, enough space for wadi's, reed along the banks of the canals, open pavement etc. The district heating is under construction.
As for sustainability, an interesting remark can be made about the organization. With 70 percent of the houses to be built in the free market sector the private sector had to be involved in the planning. The city of Amsterdam chose to do business with three different consortia of investors and developers. Since under new legislation the Housing Corporations are no longer restricted to social housing but are also free to explore the free market the city demanded that these local Corporations have a leading role in the consortia. The reason for this is that these corporations own a great deal of the housing stock in the city. It is of utmost importance for the city that this housing stock is kept in a good shape and therefore it is in the interest of sustainability to support the economic vitality of the local Corporations.
1. See: www.minvrom.nl and www.minvenw.nl, the home pages of the Dutch ministries for Spatial Development, Housing and the Environment (VROM) and for Traffic and Transportation (V&W).
2. Timothy Beatly, Green Urbanism, Learning from European Cities, Island Press, Washington, pp 32/33 and pp 307/308/309.
3. ibid. see Index.
4. ibid. pp 252-253.
Copyright 2000 By Author
Ab W. Oskam, former Chief Planner of the Ciy of Amsterdam, has been Managing Director of the Physical Planning Department (dRO) of the City of Amsterdam from 1981 to 1998. He has been lecturing since at the University of New South Wales in Sydney and McGill University in Montreal.
E-mail: aboskam@geocities.com