Lelystad is the capital of the Dutch province of Flevoland. The first residents arrived on September 28, 1967 and Lelystad became a municipality on January 1, 1980. The municipality has 79,284 inhabitants (August 1, 2020, source: Statistics Netherlands). Until the establishment of the province of Flevoland on January 9, 1986, Lelystad was not divided provincially.
Lelystad is named after Cornelis Lely, the spiritual
father of the Zuiderzee Works. However, the name was not fixed from
the beginning. When after the Second World War it became clear that
the polders to be drained would receive a population and care
center, it was suggested in the media that this place would be
called Flevostad. Not everyone liked this. At the end of 1950 an
article appeared in which Kornelis Jansma and Sjoerd Groenman,
chairman resp. secretary of the Society 'Flevo' (a research fund and
think tank around the Zuiderzee Works) rejected this name on
historical grounds and proposed giving Lely credit. They naturally
called it 'that should be called after him the most significant
place in the new area, which is mainly added to the Netherlands
through his actions' and their conclusion was that 'Lelystad' would
be the correct name. A Senate Committee pleaded for this name
with Minister Wemmers. He responded favorably, but indicated that
for a definitive determination, the Zuiderzee Council's judgment
would be requested in due course.
The name issue continued.
Professor of Human Geography Alida Vlam was asked for advice by the
Dienst der Zuiderzee Works, she put forward the name 'Flevo'.
Furthermore, the Royal Netherlands Geographical Society was
consulted. Even then, at the beginning of 1952, the name Lelystad
came back into the picture, but the Zuiderzee Council was internally
divided, as was apparent from a letter from the Council of 23 June
1952 to the Minister of Transport, Public Works and Water
Management. Half of the members thought that the main center 'could
very well be named after Lely, (...) as it is, as it were, the
pinnacle of Lely's work'. Others thought that Lely had hardly dealt
with 'the questions of habitation and the like', but the same letter
also mentioned the counter-arguments. The response came in a letter
dated 11 November 1952 from the new minister, Jacob Algera. He
thought that in addition to the Lely pumping station, an important
object should be connected to the former statesman, namely the
'C-core' projected at the time. "I would like to give this C-core
the name Lelystad." The official publication of the decree was in
the Government Gazette of December 30, 1952.
A resident of
Lelystad is called Lelystedel, Lelystatter or (for women)
Lelystadse. In Lelystad, the municipality also generally refers to
Lelysteding.
Lelystad is one of the youngest
places to live in the Netherlands. As a result, its history is a
short, but well-documented one. Lelystad is located in Eastern
Flevoland, the third polder of the Lely plan. The Wieringermeer is
the first, the Noordoostpolder is the second and Southern Flevoland
the fourth. Originally, Lely's Zuiderzee project was to be completed
with the Markerwaard, but the fifth polder was never built.
Eastern Flevoland has four residential areas: two villages
(Swifterbant and Biddinghuizen), a small urban community (Dronten)
and a city (Lelystad). While many villages had been built in the
Noordoostpolder, this was no longer considered necessary in Eastern
Flevoland due to an increase in scale in agriculture and the
increase in car ownership.
In the summer of 1950 a start was
made on the construction of the ring dike of Eastern Flevoland. In
the middle of the IJsselmeer, the Perceel P dike section was
constructed, which had a length of seven kilometers. Work on the
rest of the ring dike could be carried out on both sides from Plot
P. One kilometer of dike section was widened to 50 to 100 meters. A
working harbor was constructed on this widened stretch. A
construction pit was also dug for the Wortman pumping station, one
of the three pumping stations that were used to drain Eastern
Flevoland. A camp was also built where dyke workers and other
personnel were housed.
In October 1954 the dyke route between
Parcel P and Harderwijk was completed. Plot P was no longer an
island. Nevertheless, the widened dike section was renamed
Werkeiland Lelystad-Haven. The ring dyke of Eastern Flevoland was
closed in September 1956, and in June 1957 the polder became dry.
However, the development of Lelystad did not get started; for a long
time the city consisted only of the Werkeiland Lelystad-Haven, which
corresponds to the current district of the same name. The first
inhabitants of the 'actual' Lelystad arrived in September 1967. It
then took a long time before Lelystad was seen as a real city.
According to the 'outside world' people lived in the jungle in
Lelystad. The municipality of Lelystad was established by law on
January 1, 1980, with Hans Gruijters as the first mayor.
In the 1980s, Lelystad was faced with an exodus due to
construction in the southwest of the Flevopolder Almere. Due to its
more favorable location in relation to Amsterdam and the Gooi, this
city was more attractive to commuters and other new residents than
Lelystad. A period of vacancy and impoverishment followed. In the
mid-1990s things changed course. Urban planning insights changed and
neighborhoods were restructured. In the Schouw district, entire
streets were even razed to the ground to make way for the Hanzepark
district. In the meantime, people are living again and building was
in full swing until the end of 2009. Lelystad focused on residential
environments, and so neighborhoods such as the Golfresort, a
neighborhood built in the middle of a golf course, and Parkhaven
were created.
Rather than being just a residential city for
commuters, Lelystad wants to profile itself as an attractive
residential city with attractions, nature and employment. They also
want to look for more connections with the Randstad and Amsterdam in
particular, because about half of the working population works in
and around Amsterdam. This development was prompted by the
discussion about the expansion of Lelystad airport. The city center,
which dates back to the 1980s, has been completely restructured.
Appealing names from the architectural world are contracted to give
Lelystad its own identity and self-confidence. Examples are the
Agora Theater and the Zilverparkkade.
For the first time in
its history, the long coastline is also part of the city. Because of
the construction of the Markerwaard for a long time, the city has
turned away from the water. Because these plans are definitively off
the table, the water is more involved in the city and Bataviahaven
becomes a real harbor basin. Batavia Stad expands towards the water.
The municipality is also participating in Marker Wadden, a project
by Natuurmonumenten to create new (nature) islands in the Markermeer
just off the coastline of Lelystad.
Lelystad Airport is being
expanded to accommodate part of Schiphol's growth. The enlarged
airport may be taken into use after 2020. The new district of
Warande is expected to increase the population to 80,000.
The
Hanze line, a new railway line between Lelystad and Zwolle, was
completed in 2012. Since the end of that year, a train journey
between the two cities takes only twenty-five minutes. The north and
north-east of the Netherlands have thus come closer to the Randstad
in travel time by train. Stations were opened in Dronten and Kampen
and Lelystad station was expanded.
Geography
Together with
the municipality of Dronten and a small part of the municipality of
Zeewolde, Lelystad forms the polder Oostelijk Flevoland. This polder
is part of the Zuiderzee Works, fell dry on June 29, 1957 and is 4.8
meters below sea level. With a total surface area of 765.39 km²,
Lelystad is the third largest municipality in the Netherlands. Only
234.13 km² of this is land, the rest is water (IJsselmeer and
Markermeer).
Lelystad is bordered on the eastern side by the
A6. The second thoroughfare that runs through the city is the N307,
which runs from Hoorn to Kampen. Besides the largest municipality,
Lelystad is a city on the water. Lelystad has many ports for
pleasure craft and houses with private jetties.
Street
indication
Special numbering has been applied in various
districts of Lelystad. There are 24 "districts" with individually
numbered streets, followed by the house number, eg Kogge 10-20,
Tjalk 15-01, Gondel 17-37 etc. This numbering mainly occurs in the
alderman districts (Tjalk, Kempenaar, Gondel, etc.) , in the forest
district (Kamp, Zoom, Griend, Horst, Wold, etc.) and in a few
streets of the city center (De Veste, De Schans and De Stelling).
These neighborhoods were mainly built in the second half of the 70s
to the second half of the 80s of the 20th century. This system does
not exist in the neighborhoods that were built before (Zuiderzeewijk
and Atolwijk) and afterwards (Waterwijk, Lelystad-Haven,
Landzinnwijk, Golfpark, Hollandse Hout, Landerijen, etc.). This
system of street numbering is quite unique in the Netherlands. It
previously occurred in Wijchen (de Blauwe Hof), Zevenaar (Zonegge)
and Nijmegen (in the boroughs Lindenholt and Dukenburg) and Zeist
(Nijenheim, Crosesteijn, Brugakker).