A new urban ground plan for Almere, assembled using the concepts of clarity, tension and dynamics

Space and time, the yardsticks of urbanistic thinking, had a determining influence on the design for a new urban ground plan for Almere. The ground plan makes its peace with the existing Almere, allowing it to grow into a mature, 'fair' city with a population of 350,000 by 2030. The plan has been assembled using the concepts of clarity, tension and dynamic.

Clarity here is a foil to fuzziness and chaos and is the key concept in the landscape structure underlying the urban ground plan. This structure is a spatial framework consisting of the landscape underlay, the relief, water and green space. The framework derives from the received landscape-architectural schematic of the polder and makes an enduring basis for the urban ground plan.

Tension is taken to express the quality needed to stimulate the imagination. In that respect it relates most to the trade-off between city and countryside. The network of public spaces, the infrastructure and the buildings and structures are charged with tension.

Dynamic is used to express the suggestion of movement. The urban ground plan is a static drawing of a dynamic system, namely urban life. The dynamics are illustrative of the changing character of the ground plan. It is not so that the city is ready once the ground plan is in place, but the plan does create the conditions for fleshing it out and working it up.

One additional layer has been added to the time-honoured composition of the urban ground plan: a sustainable infrastructure. Energy is generated and waste processed wherever electricity is consumed and the environment put under strain. The challenge is to compile a neutral urban ground plan with a closed ecosystem.

And so the story of the future urban ground plan for Almere unfolds as drawing proceeds in space and time.

Place of education: AAS Tilburg | Specialization: urban design | Tutor: Paul van Beek