Amsterdam-Zuidoost, big ideas on the modern city (part 1)

In 1966 Amsterdam annexed the polders Bijlmermeer, Oost-Bijlmer, West-Bijlmer, Bullewijk, Holendrecht, Gein en Gaasp and (part of) the Venserpolder. This new part of Amsterdam called Amsterdam-Zuidoost (Amsterdam Southeast) is an exclave surrounded by Ouderkerk, Duivendrecht, Diemen, Abcoude and Weesp. The old polder landscape was quickly covered over with a layer of sand dredged from the Ouderkerkerplas and Gaasperplas to provide a blank canvas for the realisation of an urban satellite fit for modern living.

The global plan (Structuurplan) was finalized in 1965 after 8 years of research and based on the experiences gained in the Western Garden Cities. The new satellite would have to accommodate 110,000 inhabitants in 40,000 units and no less than 80,000 jobs. Work started in 1966 in the northern part where once the Bijlmermeerpolder had been.

In a sense the ideas for Amsterdam-Zuidoost combine the ideas of the Garden City Movement with those of Modernisme, in particular the ideas of Le Corbusier on the Radiant City. The satellite was to be divided in neigbourhouds, be connected to the central city by road and rail, have areas designated for special functions, have a greenbelt of parks and allotment gardens and separate working and living conform the Garden City Ideals. The satellite was however to be built on a grid plan, with a comprehensive spatial separation of functions and users, with high-rise apartment buildings set in a continuous park landscape and has a large shopping centre with smaller neigbourhood shop satellites along the lines of modernist ideals.

Amsterdam-Zuidoost consists of three component parts: West, North and South. The western party comprises two large industrial estates (Bullewijk and Amstel) to which in the north a football stadium (Amsterdam ArenA) and Leisure complex with cinema, music venues, shops and restaurants was added between 1995 and 2010. The industrial estates are located on a strip between the motorway and railway. East of this strip the housing was planned on a grid parallel to the railway. The Bijlmerdreef separates the northern part colloquially known as Bijlmer (officially: Bijlmermeer) from Bijlmer-Zuid or Gaasperdam.

The Bijlmer was designed with two levels of traffic. The Bijlmerdreef was the first elevated road to be constructed in 1968 and runs between the railway station and the greenbelt-park of Bijlmerweide.  Of this central axis ran several other elevated roads. This separation of modes of traffic is an important feature of the original design. Cars drive along the elevated roads which fly over pedestrian avenues and wide cycle paths. Between the grid of roads and paths hexagonal high-rise buildings were to be built in a varied park. The parking garages for each complex of apartment buildings was easily accessed from the elevated roads. Parallel to the Bijlmerdreef a functional strip with all the amenities was planned. At a right angle to this central strip the large open space op the Bijlmerpark was laid out. With only one railway station on the edge of the development it was decided to connect Amsterdam-Zuidoost with the central city via a metro line. This line runs between the high-rise buildings on stilts through the greenery and terminates near the Gaasperpark.  Later a second line was built through the southern part of Amsterdam-Zuidoost terminating at Gein.

Amsterdam-Zuidoost has a very clear structure underlying it, only in Gaasperdam (G) the layout shifts away from the grid that was laid out parallel to the railway. The satellite hinges on the A9 motorway and is bordered by the A2 motorway. The industrial zone of Bullewijk (b) and Amstel (a) are situated between the motorway and the railway. Near the station we find some offices, as well as the leisure complex south of the Amsterdam ArenA. The northern part of Amsterdam-Zuidoost includes the Bijlmermeer (B) comprised of high-rises (deep red),low-rise housing (tangerine) and amenities (burnt orange). Venserpolder (V) comprises of low-rise apartment blocks and terraced housing. Exept for Nellestein Gaasperdam also comprises of low-rise apartment blocks and terraced housing. The elevated roads are shown in yellow.

The whole of Amsterdam -Zuidoost was to be executed in a brutalist way with high-rise social housing. In a corner near the station conventional slab-type apartment buildings were built within the gridlines. The aim of the new development was to attract middle class inhabitants to this new urban satellite. The apartments provided were very spacious with communal spaces and had covered walkways connecting the buildings and garages. Around the edges low-rise apartment buildings were built together with some terraced housing. All are laid out within the grid.

For the area south of the Gaasperdammerweg (now Motorway A9) the initial idea was to extend the layout of the northern part, with high-rise buildings around the shopping centres, low-rise buildings near the green belt and elevated roads and metro. For this part however, with the at best mixed experiences with Bijlmer-Noord, it was decided to fall back to more conventional solutions as had been proposed in an alternative plan. This meant less high-rise, more terraced housing and low-rise apartment blocks, a return to apartments above shops, more space for car traffic at the expense of pedestrians, no communal spaces within the buildings and a focus on private gardens. The elevated through roads however remained a feature because of the far greater traffic safety. The layout of Gaasperdam departs from the grid layout, except for the older neighbourhoods Holendrecht-West and Holendrecht-Oost.

Social decline, high crime rates and a poor image as a black ghetto combined with the 1992 plane crash resulted in plans for substantial urban renewal towards suburban housing for the middle classes and away from large scale apartment buildings with low cost social housing. In places the elevated roads have been lowered and combined with footpaths on either side. The cycle paths remain segregated. The existing shopping centres have been demolished or redeveloped. Most of the iconic hexagonal high-rise buildings have been demolished and are being replaced by terraced housing and low-rise apartment buildings. The once extensive public green space is being parceled off as gardens and parking spaces. The new buildings are mostly built in a fashionable contemporary style, but without any overarching plan or idea. This makes for a rather scattered urban fabric with small neighbourhoods with distinct but isolated features in street plan, layout and building characteristics. This enforces the mixed morphology of Amsterdam-Zuidoost that was a result of augmentations from the 1980s.The partial preservation of the hexagonal high-rises in the D and G sections also works poorly as there is often little interaction between the new and the old. Thus the distinctive feel of Amsterdam-Zuidoost is slowly being converted into the haphazard approach to suburban living characterized by Almere.