Central Innovation District

Den Haag, NL

Can the centre of The Hague be doubled?

The Hague

Central Innovation District (CID)

The Hague’s economic engine is the Central Innovation District (CID) – the area between and around the Central, HS and Laan van NOI stations. The city wants increased economic growth and innovation here, which requires a huge densification project.

The CID must become just as urban as the city centre. It must become a place where quality of stay is more important than accessibility, where everyone becomes a pedestrian or cyclist and where the car is a guest. Just as we now find it inconceivable that the Binnenhof was once a car park, so in the future we will look back with amazement at the current layout of the CID.

Buzz Zone: highest density, most people on the street, active plinth, small grain

Hush Zone: broader range of housing concepts, space for climate adaptation and recreation

Fizz Zone: space for hanging out; room for work and ‘making’, and a high tolerance level with regard to nuisance

Hush

Fizz

Buzz

The structural vision makes the CID an attractive area for working, living and recreation – a central environment that doubles the scope of the current centre. In order to ensure that quiet living environments and dynamic living-work environments can co-exist, streets and building blocks are given a profile: ‘Buzz’, ‘Hush’ and ‘Fizz’, or a combination of them.

Major interventions are planned at strategic locations to increase the quality of stay. The focus is on the connecting axes between the stations and the historic centre.

Urban living, working and recreation

Meeting, connecting and plinths

Walking and cycling city

Energy transition

Climate adaptation

The character of the different neighbourhoods is reinforced and not changed everywhere

Space on the ground floor

Hush: Weteringkade now and in the future

Buzz: Prins Bernhard viaduct now and in the future

Fizz: the Trekvlietplein now and in the future

Central Innovation District

The Central Innovation District (CID) is the area in The Hague between and around the three stations: Central, HS and Laan van NOI. The CID is the economic heart of The Hague and the region and has enormous development opportunities. De Zwarte Hond drew up the structural vision for the area, which was subsequently translated by Witteveen + Bos into the legal planning framework.

Some 20,000 homes and 25,000 jobs will be added in the area. This requires an intensive and multiple use of space and a public space that invites encounters and exchanges. The structural vision provides for the design of a colourful mix of housing, work and facilities. This not only produces a lively and attractive street scene, but also ensures that different functions can benefit from each other, that cross-fertilisation takes place and a high level of facilities is created.

Qualitative zoning gives direction to initiatives. Streets and building blocks are given a profile: ‘hush’, ‘buzz’, ‘fizz’ or a combination of them. This guarantees a healthy balance, in which quiet living environments and dynamic live-work environments can coexist.