A city is more than just housing
Earlier this month, our urban planner/partner Daan Zandbelt spoke to AT5 Bouw Woon Leef about the plans for expansion in Almere and its connection to Amsterdam. Since 2007, there have been ambitions to substantially increase the population of Almere to 350.000. Among other things, this could accommodate Amsterdam’s growth.
However, Daan points out that more ingredients are needed to make a good city. “What is a city with only housing? Where then is the university, cultural facilities, Ikea or Bijenkorf? It does take more to make a city than just building houses. And so there is also the idea that maybe 100.000 jobs should be added, because there was actually that much shortage.”
In doing so, he stresses that 6 out of 10 Almeerders work elsewhere and thus travel long distances to work. This requires the construction of expensive nationally funded infrastructure.
Listen to Daan’s full comments on AT5’s website