About Almere City

Almere

Almere is a city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, the Netherlands, bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde. The municipality of Almere comprises the districts Almere Stad, Almere Haven, Almere Buiten, Almere Hout, Almere Poort (under construction) and Almere Pampus (design phase). Almere is one of the youngest cities in the Netherlands: the first house was finished in 1976, and Almere became a municipality in 1984. It is the largest municipality in Flevoland with 184,405 citizens (7 July 2008), and the 8th largest in the Netherlands. In October 2007, the city council of Almere made agreements with the government to expand the city to 350,000 inhabitants by 2030.

History

The original plans for the IJsselmeerpolders saw the land being used for agriculture. However, after World War II housing was needed for the rapidly growing population of Amsterdam and two towns were planned in the polders Oostelijk Flevoland and Zuidelijk Flevoland. The town in Oostelijk Flevoland became Lelystad. The town in Zuidelijk Flevoland was still called Zuidweststad (English: South West City) on the first sketches, but in the 1970s it became called Almere, named after the early medieval name of the Zuiderzee. The first house in Almere was finished in 1976. At that time the town was still controlled by the Openbaar Lichaam Zuidelijke IJsselmeerpolders (Z.IJ.P.), with a Landdrost. In 1984 Almere became an official municipality. Originally, Almere was envisioned as a town with multiple centres. This idea was later abandoned in favor of allowing neighbourhoods like Tussen de Vaarten to be built. There is also a difference between the way houses are built in the oldest and the newest parts of the city. The housing plan in Almere in the 1970s was basic functionality and a levelling of social status. However, starting in the 1990s more exclusive homes with striking designs were built (e.g., in the Regenboogbuurt).

Population

Because Almere is a young city, it has a relatively young population. 30% of its inhabitants are younger than 20 years, and 7% are 65 or over, in the Netherlands as a whole that is respectively 24% and 15%. Recently, the number of younger people declines, and the number of older people rises. Almost one-third of the Almere population is born in the region of Amsterdam. About 16% is born in the city of Almere. Nineteen percent of the inhabitants are born abroad. By far the biggest international community (20.000 people) comes from Surinam, other nationalities include Morroccan (6.300), Antilles (4.300) and Turkey and Germany (3.100). In total Almere includes 152 nationalities and 175 ethnic groups.

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With research being done in 2002 into what was ‘the best municipality to live in’, Almere came in first place. According to the response Almere offered the best of two world: space and green environments of a small town, and infrastructure of a bigger city. When the research was redone in 2009, Almere came in 63th place (of a total of 441 municipalities). The people of Almere appear to be proud of their city. The best way they think Almere to describe itself is as a ‘green, innovative shopping town with a lot of space’. The green aspect is considered to be important by everyone; Almere has more parks than any other Dutch city.

Culture and recreation

Buildings

  • Citadel (impressive part of the city centre, shops with houses and tower-houses on top)
  • Landgoed Hagevoort (former storage building at Tussen De Vaarten, in 2000 transformed into luxurious apartments)
  • Fashion Centre Almere (alongside the A6 at business area Veluwezoom)
  • Parc Domenica (a villa neighbourhood based on dominican building style)
  • Silverline (tower-houses in the city centre)
  • Train station Almere Centrum (opened in 1987, glass roof and red steel framing)
  • Utopolis Almere (megacinema in the city centre)
  • Golvend Land (‘Waving Land’; high tower-house surrounded by smaller tower-houses)
  • Almere Castle (an unfinished castle alongside the A6)
  • Sheep-fold Vroege Vogelbos (‘Early-bird forest’, an innovative solution that won an international architecture award)
  • Wanted Living (building exposition for Almere’s 25th anniversary in the Eilandenbuurt, ‘Island Area’)
  • Panoramique (high tower-house in the Eilandenbuurt)
  • Rooie Donders (tower-houses in the Regenboogbuurt, ‘Rainbow Area’)
  • Towerhouses (yellow round houses in the Regenboogbuurt)
Musea
  • Museum De Paviljoens
  • Art centre De Kunstlinie
Film and theater
  • One (mega)cinema: Utopolis Almere, part of the Utopia chain.
  • Three theatres: De Schouwburg Almere, bordering the city centre, is the biggest theatre and has three halls. Theater de Roestbak is located in Almere Haven and Amateurkunstengebouw de Glasbak (centre for art by amateurs) in Almere Stad.