Elizabeth Frederika van den Ban, known as Elze, (18 October 1894 - 25 December 1973)BS Geboorte met Elizabeth Frederika van den Ban
/ref>Overlijde
Algemeen Dagblad 28-12-1973
/ref> was a Dutch urban planner and chief engineer of the Rijkswaterstaat (Department of Public Works) at Zuiderzee Works where she introduced curvatures rather than straight lines into the urban planning process of

polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a lake or the seabed # Flood plains s ...

s and dikes. Van den Ban was the first woman from the Netherlands to graduate as a civil engineer in

Delft Delft () is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and Municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, Netherlands. It is located between Rotterdam, to the southeast, ...

, where she worked as a civil engineer.

Early life and education

Elizabeth Frederika van den Ban, known as Elze, was born in

Haarlem Haarlem (; predecessor of ''Harlem'' in English) is a city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is the capital of the province of North Holland. Haarlem is situated at the northern edge of the Randstad, one of the most populated metropoli ...

on 18 October 1894 to Anna Kater and Jacob van den Ban. Her father was an architect who worked in and around in Haarlem and Amsterdam. She was one of three sisters, Anna Jacoba (Ans) Meerdink-van den Ban (b,1899) who became a pastor in Soest and Frederika Elisabeth Hugenholtz-van den Ban (b. 1896). Their mother - Anna Kater - died young in 1911. Age 16, van den Ban told her mother that she wanted to study at Delft University of Technology and she became the first woman from the Netherlands to graduate as a

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

there.

Career

Van den Ban briefly taught mathematics at the Municipal hogere burgerschool (secondary school) in Haarlem in 1919. After graduating from university, she joined her father Jacob van den Ban at his architectural firm. She then held a position with Provincial Water Authority of North Holland as an urban planner for almost a quarter of a century. She was often referred to as E. F. van den Ban professionally. In 1949, Van den Ban was assigned to the Zuiderzee Works Department as an urban planner. Here, she revolutionised the development of planning by promoting the use of curvatures in the construction of streets and roads, rather than straight lines and was involved in the creation of the Zuid-Kennemerland National Park initially suggested by

Jac. P. Thijsse Jacobus Pieter Thijsse (25 July 1865 – 8 January 1945) was a Dutch conservationist and botanist. He founded the Society for Preservation of Nature Monuments in the Netherlands. In 1925, on the occasion of his 60th birthday he was honored ...

. She was on the board of Vereniging van vrouwen met hogere opleiding (VVAO) (Association for Women University Graduates) from 1931 to 1937 and was chairman when it was founded afd Haarlem in 1937. In 1946, she was one of only four women of forty architects or visual artists appointed by the Minister of Education, Arts and Sciences, on the recommendation of the Queen's Commissioner of Art, to sit on the Provincial Committees on War or Peace Memorials and was chosen as Secretary for

Noord-Holland North Holland ( nl, Noord-Holland, ) is a province of the Netherlands in the northwestern part of the country. It is located on the North Sea, north of South Holland and Utrecht, and west of Friesland and Flevoland. In November 2019, it had a p ...

division. She also gave lectures on her work. Elze van den Ban died in Middenlaan 78, Haarlem on 25 December 1973.

Publications

Hoorn Hoorn () is a city and municipality in the northwest of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland. It is the largest town and the traditional capital of the region of West Friesland. Hoorn is located on the Markermeer, 20 kilometers ( ...

, Westfriesland en de Markerwaard'' Elze F. van der Ban, 1957. ''De provinciale indeling van de IJsselmeerpolders'' by A. Blaauboer, Elze F. van den Ban and A.J. Venstra, 1960

Recognition

In 1955, she was awarded the rank of Officer in the Order of Orange Nassau. Streets have been named in her honour in Almere, Leiden, Heerhugowaard and

Spijkenisse Spijkenisse () is a city in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. Following an administrative reform in 2015, it is part of the municipality of Nissewaard, and has a population of 72,500. It covers an area of of which is water. It is part ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ban, Elze van den 1894 births 1973 deaths Dutch women engineers Officers of the Order of Orange-Nassau People from Haarlem Dutch civil engineers Dutch urban planners Women urban planners Delft University of Technology alumni 20th-century Dutch engineers 20th-century women engineers Recipients of the Order of Orange-Nassau