Almere is a city and municipality in the Dutch province of
Flevoland, in the polder Zuidelijk Flevoland. The municipality
welcomed the 200,000th resident in October 2016 and had 214,457
inhabitants on December 1, 2020.
Almere borders on the
landward side to the municipalities of Lelystad and Zeewolde. Almere
lies on its waterfront on the Gooimeer, IJmeer and Markermeer. The
city is, except for the dikes, completely below sea level (2 to 5
meters).
Almere was established in the second half of the
twentieth century as the second largest city in the province of
Flevoland. The first homes were completed in 1976. In the meantime,
it has far surpassed Lelystad, the capital of Flevoland with over
79,000 inhabitants (2020). After 25 years, in 2001, Almere already
had 150,000 inhabitants. In 2020, it is the eighth municipality in
the country in terms of inhabitants. In the coming period, the city
will be able to grow to a number of 350,000 inhabitants.
Almere has a rich archaeological soil archive. After the last ice
age, the territory of the municipality was also dry and people have
lived in the vicinity of the river Eem for thousands of years. Many
sites from the Mesolithic in particular have been preserved in situ,
fitted into the city and set up as a meeting place. In addition, many
shipwrecks from the Zuiderzee era have been preserved in the former
seabed.
Buildings and architecture
Almere is known for the
special buildings and architecture in the city. Modern architecture can
be found particularly in the city center. The municipality also invests
in a number of cultural experiments such as De Fantasie, De Reality and
De Simplicity. In these districts, the residents have designed their own
homes.
Well-known or remarkable buildings in Almere:
Citadel - Winner Architecture Prize Almere 2006.
La Defense -
Multicolored office complex.
The new library - Winner Architecture
Prize Almere 2010.
Landgoed Hagevoort - Industrial monument in a
green setting.
Fashion Center Almere - 'UFO' along highway A6.
Schouwburg Almere - Floating theater on the water.
The Wave -
Building with undulating facade on Weerwater.
Almere Haven
Waving Land - High residential tower with small residential towers
behind it.
Almere Castle - An unfinished castle along the A6 highway.
Sheepfold Early Bird Forest - Sheepfold with international architecture
prize.
Panoramique - High residential tower in the Eilandenbuurt.
Rooie
Donders - Residential towers in the Rainbow neighbourhood.
Towerhouses - Yellow round-shaped houses in the Rainbow neighbourhood.
Film, theater and music
Almere has a Kinepolis cinema and film
house 'Het Nieuwe Filmhuis' in 'The new library'.
There are four
theatres. Kunstlinie in the city center, Corrosia Theater, Expo & Film
is located in the Corrosia building in Almere Haven, Theater company Vis
à Vis is located in Almere Poort on the Almouder beach and De Glasbak in
the Almere Stad district, which programs experimental theater in
addition to amateur productions .
Almere has had a pop stage
since 2007: the Master.
Almere Stories
In 2009, the idea arose
in Almere to have well-known writers write a story about the city. It is
included in the Culture Memorandum: Almere, city with imagination. The
authors came to live in Almere with a free assignment to write there
about their new place of residence.
Stephan Sanders: Little Over
a Season (2013)
Renate Dorrestein: Weerwater (novel) (2015)
Redmond O'Hanlon: The Green City (2018)
Several large-scale events are organized within the boundaries of the
municipality of Almere.
Liberation Festival Flevoland
Challenge
Almere-Amsterdam
Almere City Run
Free Festival
Summer Park
Festival
Beach festival ZAND
Challenge Almere-Amsterdam
Light
art festival Alluminous
Flevo Beer Festival
Applications for
Floriade 2022 were opened in September 2011, after which seven
candidates applied: the Rivierengebied region, the Noord-Holland-Noord
region, the municipality of Almere, the municipality of Amsterdam, the
Boskoop region, the municipality of Groningen and the Flevoland 2022
Cooperative from Lelystad. After a first selection round, the Dutch
Horticultural Council decided to ask four candidates to make a bid book
in which the plans are further elaborated. The four candidates for the
Floriade 2022 were the municipality of Almere, the municipality of
Amsterdam, the Boskoop region and the municipality of Groningen. In
September 2012, the Horticultural Council announced that the Floriade
2022 will be held in Almere.
Almere's candidacy for the Floriade
2022 originated from the citizens' initiative "Almere Today" and gives
substance to the motto "People make the city", which is referred to in
the "Almere Principles".
The loan that the municipality made
available for the event had already risen from 30 to 54 million euros in
April 2022. In February 2022, it turned out that the organization needed
an extra 7.1 million euros and the letter that the Board wrote to the
council states that on 14 July 2022, the Floriade received an extra loan
of 5.2 million euros from the reserve fund. But on June 23, 2022, it
turned out to cost at least an additional 33.8 million euros to remain
open until the planned date in October 2022.
The city of Almere is named after the water called Almere. In the
Middle Ages this was a lake or inland sea, roughly where the IJsselmeer
is now. According to some, 'Almere' is a Germanic name for 'big lake',
with the word part 'mere' being a Middle Dutch form of the modern
'meer'. The Germanic 'ala' is very closely related to our word 'al',
which means 'whole' (compare: 'one and all', 'whole and all'), and in
compound words 'great' or 'very'.
The 'Aelmere' is first
mentioned in a life of the saints about the Anglo-Saxon bishop Boniface.
There it is mentioned that in 753 this Irish bishop sailed from the
Rhine over a water called 'Aelmere' towards the current Friesland.
Around 1100, the island of Urk is referred to in a chronicle as 'Urk in
the lake Almere'.
The Rijksdienst voor de IJsselmeerpolders
(RIJP) initially used the working name 'Zuidweststad' for the new city.
In 1970 the name Almere was chosen, with alternative names
('IJmeerstad', 'IJdrecht', 'New Amsterdam', 'Eemmeerstad' and
'Flevostad') dropped. The new name was first used in 1971.
Originally, the IJsselmeer polders were mainly, or even exclusively,
intended as agricultural land. After the Second World War, however,
it was realized that the rapidly growing population of Amsterdam in
particular should be partly housed elsewhere. For example, two
cities were designed in the Eastern and Southern Flevoland polders.
The city in Eastern Flevoland became Lelystad. The city in southern
Flevoland was still called Southwest City on the first sketches, but
was given the name Almere in the 1970s, after the early medieval
name of the Zuiderzee.
The first impetus for the construction
of Almere was given on September 30, 1975 and the first homes in
Almere were completed in November 1976. At that time, the city was
still directly managed by the Public Body Zuidelijke
IJsselmeerpolders (Z.IJ.P.), with a landdrost at the head. The
nationally prescribed building program for the new city consisted of
70 to 80 percent social housing. The Almere Residential Building
Foundation was established in 1975 as the client and preparer of
housing in Almere, part of the National Office for the
IJsselmeerpolders.
At the end of 1979, the general Almere
Housing Association was founded on the initiative of landdrost Han
Lammers. The idea was that this association would take over the
ownership and management of the social rental homes from the SWA and
would from now on take care of the remaining construction task for
social rental homes in Almere. Completely against the spirit of the
times, the Christian housing association Goedestede was set up
almost simultaneously, by believers from Almere who hoped to promote
more growth in Almere for the new local Protestant church community.
As of 1984, what was left of the OL ZIJP (except the Markermeer)
was divided by law into the municipalities of Almere and Zeewolde.
The municipality of Almere regards itself as the legal successor of
the Public Entity and also carries the same weapon. Until 1986, when
the province of Flevoland was established, the Ministry of the
Interior took over provincial tasks.
Originally Almere was
set up as a city with several centers. This policy has been
partially abandoned. Almere Buiten and Almere Stad have grown
together through the Tussen de Vaarten district. A changed housing
policy is clearly visible between the oldest and the newest
residential areas; in the seventies this was aimed at uniformity and
functionality, in the nineties it became the trend to build more
exclusive and striking homes, for example in the Regenboogbuurt and
Eilandbuurt.
The center of Almere Stad, the largest district,
expanded considerably after this. In 2006, the first part of the
newly built city center Citymall Almere was completed. Its main
building is the Citadel, designed by Pritzker Prize winner Christian
de Portzamparc. At the beginning of 2007, the new Theater Almere was
put into use. The striking building, located on the Weerwater, was
officially opened on 8 June 2007 by Queen Beatrix.
On October
3, 2016, the city had exactly 200,000 inhabitants.
The following major national and provincial roads
are located in the vicinity of Almere:
A6 Muiderberg - Almere
- A27 - Emmeloord - Joure
A27 Sint-Annabosch - Gorinchem -
Everdingen - Lunetten - Rijnsweerd - Eemnes - Almere
N305 Almere
- A27 - Zeewolde - Biddinghuizen - Dronten
N702 A6 Almere
Stad-West - Hogering - N702 - A6 Almere Buiten
The
infrastructure within Almere is characterized by separate
infrastructure for bicycles, cars and buses (completely separate
bicycle paths and bus track network).
In 1987,
Almere was connected to the national railway network via the Weesp -
Lelystad (the Flevolijn) railway, which was completed in 1988, and
which has been running to Zwolle (the Hanze line) since 2012. Almere
has six stations: Almere Poort, Almere Muziekwijk, Almere Centrum,
Almere Parkwijk, Almere Buiten and Almere Oostvaarders. Almere
Strand station still existed until the opening of Almere Poort
station in 2012. This station was only used for events on the
Almeerderstrand.
From Almere Centrum station, intercity
trains and sprinters travel in the directions Amsterdam, Utrecht,
Schiphol, The Hague, Lelystad, Zwolle, Groningen and Leeuwarden.
City and regional transport in
and around the city is provided by transport company Keolis
Nederland and consists of transport with city and regional buses.
The city bus network, branded allGo, has seven bus lines and
three night bus lines (nightGo). Five regional lines run under the
R-network, one of which is the rush-hour line. There is also a
network for high-quality public transport, two other regional lines,
a line to and from De Vaart industrial estate with stops where the
bus comes on request (flexiGo, line 22), a line to the new Duin
district (duinGo, line 24). and two lines to the new Nobelhorst
district (nobelGo, rush-hour line 25 and neighborhood bus line 525).
Almere has a relatively young population. Of the inhabitants, 28
percent are younger than 20 years and 8 percent are 65 years or older,
compared to 24 and 15 percent respectively in the Netherlands as a
whole. In recent years, however, the number of young people has
decreased and the number of older people has increased.
About 19
percent of the Almeerders were born in Almere, 29 percent were born in
the Amsterdam region and 20 percent were born abroad. The largest ethnic
minority group is formed by the Surinamese: they are represented in the
city with 22,027 people. Other major ethnic groups are Moroccans (7,309
inhabitants), Antilleans (4,842) and Turks (3,390). Almere is home to a
total of 160 nationalities and 187 ethnic groups.
Development of
the population
The original plan for Almere was a city between
125,000 and 250,000 inhabitants. On 29 October 2007, alderman Adri
Duivesteijn and minister Jacqueline Cramer signed a contract that forms
the basis of the jump in scale to a city of 350,000 inhabitants in 2030.
In the period between 2010 and 2030, 60,000 homes will be built. This
makes Almere, after Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht,
possibly the fifth largest city in the Netherlands in terms of
population size. Almere has won the line because the state has promised
to tackle the roads around Almere and Amsterdam. The A1, A6, A9 and
A10-East will be expanded. It is also the intention to expand the Flevo
railway to four tracks.
Almere was originally built as an overflow city for both Amsterdam
and Het Gooi. Many people who were born in Amsterdam and in Het Gooi
still live there. Many of the inhabitants have a relationship with these
regions (work, recreation, social contacts, etc.). The result is that
there is a large traffic flow (car, train) between Amsterdam and Het
Gooi. Both the motorway and the railway via the Hollandse Brug near
Muiderberg and Stichtse Brug near Huizen are at the limits of their
capacity. That is why new connections have long been considered, in
addition to expanding the existing road and rail capacity.
In
2009 there were advanced plans for a widening of the A6 and a
corresponding adjustment of the A1/A9/A10. Due to the scale leap in
Almere, further expansion of the road network is being studied.
A
strong increase in the capacity of public transport is also being
pursued. Doubling the number of tracks on the Flevo line is insufficient
in this regard. To be less dependent on only the Hollandse Brug and the
adjacent railway bridge, plans are being made for a bridge or tunnel
that may run over the IJmeer, the IJmeer connection. The area between
Amsterdam-East/IJburg and Almere, around the IJmeer, was given the
commercial working name Amsterdam Bay Area in June 2022. Almere is also
part of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.
The city center of Almere Stad has the largest shopping area in Almere and is one of the largest shopping centers in the Netherlands. Almere Haven and Almere Buiten also have substantial shopping areas. Since 2006, shops throughout Almere may be open on Sundays. Although not all shops use this, many supermarkets, hardware stores and garden centers are open every Sunday, as well as a growing number of smaller shops in the new city center. Every last Sunday of the month, Almere has an 'official' shopping Sunday, on which almost all shops are open. The center of Almere Stad has been voted the best city center in the Netherlands.
Almere's sports fields are spread over seven sports parks. There are
eight tennis facilities, three indoor swimming pools, six sports halls
and eleven sports halls. Various sporting events take place in Almere,
such as the Holland Triathlon. Sports competitions at the highest level
are regularly held in the Topsportcentrum Almere.
Top sports are
also practiced in Almere. For example, the first team of the Almeerse
Hockey Club plays in the big league. From 2005, the football club Almere
City FC played in the Eerste Divisie, after which it was promoted to the
Eredivisie for the first time in 2023 via the play-offs. In addition,
the Almere soft and baseball club BSC Almere, the Almere badminton
association and Squash Almere participate at the highest level in the
Netherlands. The Almere amateur football clubs that play at the highest
level are ASC Waterwijk and FC Almere. Volleyball club VC Allvo used to
play at the highest amateur level, but is now active at the second
level. Basketball club Almere Pioneers also played at the highest
amateur level for a number of seasons, but now plays lower.