IJburg () is a residential neighbourhood under construction in
Amsterdam
Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the capital and most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population of 907,976 within the city proper, 1,558,755 in the urban ar ...
,
Netherlands
)
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. It is situated in the
IJmeer
The IJmeer is a ' bordering lake' (''Randmeer'') in the Netherlands. It lies between the De Nes polder (in Waterland), Pampushaven, Hollandse Brug and the mouth of the IJ in IJburg, straddling the provinces of North Holland and Flevoland. It i ...
and is being built on
artificial island
An artificial island is an island that has been constructed by people rather than formed by natural means. Artificial islands may vary in size from small islets reclaimed solely to support a single pillar of a building or structure to those th ...
s which have been raised from the lake. The
Haveneiland,
Rieteilanden,
Steigereiland and
Centrumeiland are already inhabited as of 2004. It is part of the municipality Amsterdam-Oost and also contains the
Diemerpark, one of the city's largest parks.
History
Planning (1965–1997)
In 1965, the architects
Jo van den Broek
Johannes Hendrik ("Jo") van den Broek, (; 4 October 1898 - 6 September 1978) was a Dutch architect influential in the rebuilding of Rotterdam after World War II.
Van den Broek was born in Rotterdam. He joined with Johannes Brinkman in 1936, a ...
and
Jacob B. Bakema designed the Pampus Plan for a town in the IJmeer intended to house 350,000 residents, most of whom were to come from crowded Amsterdam. But national plans changed and people were instead encouraged to move from the city to the expanding towns in the neighbouring areas like
Purmerend
Purmerend () is a city and municipality in the west of the Netherlands, in the province of North Holland and in the region of West Friesland. The city is surrounded by polders, such as the Purmer, Beemster and the Wormer. The city became the t ...
,
Hoorn and the new city of
Almere
Almere () is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, located about 20 km to the east of Amsterdam (as the crow flies) across the IJmeer.
Bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde, the municipality of Almere comprise ...
. The
Bijlmermeer
The Bijlmermeer (), or colloquially Bijlmer (), is one of the neighbourhoods that form the Amsterdam-Zuidoost borough (Dutch: ''stadsdeel'') of Amsterdam, Netherlands. To many people, the Bijlmer designation is used to refer to Amsterdam Zuidoost ...
neighbourhood was also constructed south of the city and
Diemen
Diemen () is a town and municipality with a population of in the province of North Holland, Netherlands. It is located approximately 6 km (3.7 mi) southeast of Amsterdam's city centre, within the Amsterdam metropolitan area.
Etymology
The name ...
was expanded.
Policy changes in the 1980s resulted in the development of construction nearer to the city. Amsterdam is located between
Schiphol
Amsterdam Airport Schiphol , known informally as Schiphol Airport ( nl, Luchthaven Schiphol, ), is the main international airport of the Netherlands. It is located southwest of Amsterdam, in the municipality of Haarlemmermeer in the province ...
and important nature reserves and polders near the river
Amstel
The Amstel () is a river in the province of North Holland in the Netherlands. It flows from the Aarkanaal and Drecht in Nieuwveen northwards, passing Uithoorn, Amstelveen, and Ouderkerk aan de Amstel, to the IJ in Amsterdam. Annually, the r ...
in
Amstelveen
Amstelveen () is a municipality in the province of North Holland, Netherlands with a population of 92.353 as of 2022. It is a suburban part of the Amsterdam metropolitan area.
The municipality of Amstelveen consists of the historical villages ...
and
Landelijk Noord
Landelijk Noord is a neighborhood of Amsterdam, Netherlands
)
, anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau")
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, subdivision_type = Sovereign state
, subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands
, established_ti ...
, the only location possible for development was Nieuw-Oost (New East).
The municipality approved the building the neighbourhood in 1996. Opponents of the plan called for a referendum because of the possible negative effects for the ecosystem of the IJmeer. A referendum was held 19 March 1997 and although the majority of votes were against construction, an insufficient number of votes were cast so construction was allowed to proceed.
Construction (1997–present)
![Steigereiland Homes - panoramio](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/86/Steigereiland_Homes_-_panoramio.jpg)
The first residents moved into their houses on Rieteiland in November 2002. Since then, Haveneiland and Steigereiland have also been populated. Due to a slow take-up of properties, phase 1 construction was delayed for some years so IJburg was not completed in 2012 as originally planned. A new phase in construction began in 2014, new groups of houses were built on Rieteiland and the north-east part of the Haveneiland island is being extended to accommodate new buildings as well as a beach.
When complete, the IJburg neighbourhood will have 18,000 homes for 45,000 residents with schools, shops, leisure centres, restaurants and a beach and provide employment for 12,000 people.
Geography
Islands
![Amsterdam - IJburg 26](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/bd/Amsterdam_-_IJburg_26.JPG)
IJburg consists of six artificial islands built in the IJmeer. They are Steigereiland (Jetty island), Haveneiland West and East (Marina island) and the three Rieteilanden (Reed islands), Large, Small and East. The construction of, and building on these six islands was Phase 1.
Three more islands are planned to be constructed during Phase 2. These islands will be called Centrumeiland (Centre island), Strandeiland (Beach island), and Buiteneiland (Outer island). Construction of these was temporarily delayed by a Superior Administrative Court decision to annul the building permit for Phase 2 due to lack of consideration for the local environment. However, as of 2020, building activities had restarted, and homes on Centrumeiland were under construction, while Strandeiland was being raised from the lake.
Parks and beach
A park is situated on Haveneiland, the
Theo van Goghpark. A much larger park, the Diemerpark, was created parallel to the Rieteilanden and is connected by bridges. It has a small sandy beach on the lake, overlooking IJburg.
A larger sandy beach (''Strand IJburg'' - IJburg Beach) was created on the western side of Strandeiland.
Public transport
The islands are connected via a main thoroughfare, IJburglaan (IJburg Avenue), served by the
IJtram
Amsterdam tram line 26, popularly known as the IJtram, is a tram line operating between Amsterdam Centraal station and the IJburg district in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. , the IJtram was the busiest tram line in Amsterdam, carrying 30,000 riders ...
(tram line 26) to
Centraal Station. It is designed as a
fast tram, with relatively widely-spaced stops, and is the only route in Amsterdam which carries non-folding bicycles (a maximum of two at a time). Demand has steadily risen as IJburg has grown, and peak frequency is now as high as 15 trams per hour.
Headway is now at its minimum, since for safety reasons only one tram in each direction is allowed in the
Piet Heintunnel at any one time. To increase capacity further, in 2020 GVB has converted to operation with pairs of trams coupled together. The bottleneck has also been eased by the introduction of bus service 66 which connects IJburg to
Bijlmer ArenA via the only other road connection, the Benno Premselabrug at its southeastern end. A bicycle ferry between Zeeburgereiland and the Oostelijke Havengebiet may be opened as early as 2021. Longer-term plans are under development to connect IJburg to the
Indische Buurt
(; "Indies Neighborhood") is a neighborhood in the borough of Oost, the eastern part of the city of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The name of the neighborhood dates from the early 20th century, and is derived from the fact that the neighborhood's stree ...
by extending tram 3 or 14 from the
Flevopark
Flevopark is a park located in the Indische Buurt, in the eastern portion of the city of Amsterdam, in the province of North Holland, Netherlands
)
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terminus, Proposals to build a metro line from Amsterdam to
Almere
Almere () is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, located about 20 km to the east of Amsterdam (as the crow flies) across the IJmeer.
Bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde, the municipality of Almere comprise ...
via a tunnel under IJburg have also gained some political support.
Bridges
![Brug 2001, 2018, overzicht4](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/da/Brug_2001%2C_2018%2C_overzicht4.jpg)
Since IJburg is in the IJ Lake, many bridges are required. The first bridge built was the
Enneüs Heerma Bridge
The Enneüs Heerma Bridge ( nl, Enneüs Heermabrug) is a bridge in Amsterdam, Netherlands located in the new neighbourhood of IJburg, built on seven artificial islands in the IJmeer. It connects the district of Zeeburgereiland, on the eastern edge ...
(bridge 2001) and connects Zeeburgereiland with Steigereiland. This bridge is the main route to IJburg and is also used by the tram. The bridge, designed by the English architect
Nicholas Grimshaw was built in 2000 and with two spans of 75 metres, is one of the biggest bridges in Amsterdam.
Bridge 2002 was designed by the same architect and is a smaller version of bridge 2001. This bridge connects Steigereiland to Haveneiland. The tram also uses this bridge.
IJburg's pedestrians and cyclists also have their own bridge connecting them to the Ooster Ringdijk and
Watergraafsmeer
The Watergraafsmeer is a polder in the Netherlands. It was reclaimed in 1629. In the 17th and 18th centuries, there were many buitenplaatsen in the Watergraafsmeer, though nowadays only one, Frankendael, remains.
Since 1921, the Watergraafsmee ...
, called the
Nescio Bridge, of which the southern end terminates in an expansive
spiral cycle ramp. It is named after the writer Frits Grönloh, whose pen name was
Nescio
Jan Hendrik Frederik Grönloh (born 22 June 1882 in Amsterdam; died 25 July 1961 in Hilversum), known by his pen name of Nescio (Latin for "I don't know"), was a Dutch writer. Grönloh was a businessman by profession, but as Nescio he is mainl ...
(Latin for "I do not know").
References
External links
IJburg's official website in Dutch'www.ijbrug.nl', Website for people of IJburg by people of IJburg!IJburg 3rd richest postcode in NederlandIJburg 3rd richest postcode in Nederland
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Neighbourhoods of Amsterdam
Artificial islands of Amsterdam
Amsterdam-Oost