Amsterdam: General Extension Plan

Author(s): Wesley Dougill

Source: The Town Planning Review, Vol. 17, No. 1 (Jun., 1936), pp. 1-10
Published by: Liverpool University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40101241
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 I

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 THE

TOWN PLANNING REVIEW

Vol. XVII June, 1936 No. 1

AMSTERDAM

GENERAL EXTENSION PLAN*

Very few towns in Europe can lay claim to a

from a town planning point of view, to havin
setting or a more attractive layout, than ca
position at the junction of the River Amste
of water which connects the latter to the sea
factors contributing to this. To its geogra
actual site can be ascribed first its lines of for
influenced its growth, second, its three
" grachten " - and third, its unique plan, whi
resolved into a number of facets.
Plans for the extension of Amsterdam have been produced at various
periods in its history. The one under review is by far the most compre-
hensive of them. It is based on the Housing Act of Holland, and deals
with all the territory within the communal limits of the city. Four
years of intensive study of the social, technical, hygienic and aesthetic
conditions were necessary for its production. This study was carried out
collaboratively by all the various sections of the Department of Public
Works.
Population. The present and the likely future population of the
city was made the basis of the plan. In estimating the future population,
three factors had to be kept in mind : migration, birth-rate, mortality.
For many years migration has been practically stagnant, the growth of
the population being due to the birth-rate exceeding the death-rate.
*Algemeen MUbreidinjsplan. Orondslagen voor de Stedebouwkundige Ontwikkeling van
Amsterdam. November, 1934.
This article is based on a study of the town and of the new plan, and on copious notes kindly
supplied by Mr. L. 8. P. Scheffer of the Department of Public Works, Amsterdam.
For an article dealing with the past town planning development of Amsterdam see The Town
Planning Review, Vol. XIV, No. 3, page 194.
1

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 AMSTERDAM

The figures w
will probabl
has been calc
for a probab
allowing a cer
being at any
immigration.
With these f
available wit
development,
other open sp
the populatio
Communicat
munications
structure of t
and this sys
extensions.
The main radial roads lead to (i) Ymuiden (Northsea) along the
Noordzee canal, to the west ; (2) Haarlem and the seaside, to the west ;
(3) Leiden and The Hague, via the Schiphol airport, to the south-west ;
(4) Rotterdam, Brussels and Paris, southwards ; (5) Utrecht, Cologne,
Hertogenbosch and Luxemburg to the south-east ; (6) Hilversum and
Berlin, eastward ; (7) Purmerend and Zuidersea, northward ; and (8)
Zaandam to. the north-west. Roads (7) and (8) enter the northern part
of the city, and after being obstructed by the Y canal are carried forward
to the centre, where they join. Traffic along them crosses the Y canal
by means of ferry boats, and, because of its great volume, produces
much congestion at the heart of the city. The new plan provides
for the decentralising of these two main roads in order to canalize
the traffic from the industrial centre, Zaandam - Alkmaar, through
a projected tunnel under the Noordzeekanaal in the western part of the
town, and that from Zuidersea over a projected bridge in the eastern part.
The western tunnel for automobile and railway, will make possible the
removal of the existing railway swing bridge (Hembrug) at the entrance
to the western seaport, and will considerably open up the access to the
docks.
The other main radial roads leading to the city will be connected in
a systematic way to the inner radial roads, and finally to an inner ring
road which follows the boundary of the oldest part of the city.
The existing waterways also, like the main roads, radiate from the
town. The Rhine canal, to the south-east, is now being widened into a
2

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 AMSTERDAM

first-class i
will, in gen
access to thi
the ferry an
canal around
Similarly, a
enter Centr
city, and cau
To relieve th
harbour wes
to Utrecht a
all the roads
The railway,
co-ordinates
features in t
Industry. W
to locate the
to the existi
people and m
already part
along the N
direction an
specially de
is devoted t
docks are towards the town so that road and other traffic to them will be
easily manageable. This arrangement also makes it convenient for
storage buildings and depots to be assigned to individual firms.
The dock area includes sites for industries of various kinds, and
it is anticipated these will be developed early and thus add considerably
to the importance of Amsterdam as an industrial centre. Some of the
sites, including that of the Ford factory, have already been developed.
A further industrial quarter has been provided at the opposite end
of the town, with easy access to the canal and railway. A total area of
400 H.A. of new industrial sites has. been embodied in the plan. This
can, if needed, be extended to 710 H.A. The existing industrial area
is 150 H.A.
Horticulture. In the past large numbers of vegetable growers have
been dispossessed of their gardens through town extensions. These
growers settled on new land at the extreme boundaries of the town,
with a consequent loss to the municipality in the form of compensation,
and with perpetual unrest amongst the growers who, over a period of
3

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 AMSTERDAM

years, had b
plan a numb
extensions,
factors in se
land- and wa
distribution
Agriculture
half the tot
agriculture,
town extens
for its pres
population.
and north. T
and perpetua
Housing. Be
consideration
namely, con
being the m
Amsterdam
The argum
(a) with a p
and likely
have passed
congestion
larger citie
(6) The futu
in one-fam
realised if
the mom
speculation.
On the other hand, the strong argument in favour of concentration
or aggregation is the important part played by the port and industries
in the activities and welfare of the people of Amsterdam. These elements
can only be constructed and economically exploited if they are laid out
in a strictly centralised and concentrated way in or very near the city.
By so concentrating them and by keeping the housing sectors within
the municipal boundary, workers will be spared much time and expense
in travelling to and from their work.
It was found, by careful investigation, that this method was possible
and feasible and it has been adopted in the new plan.
4

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 AMSTERDAM

As already
projected se
Logically the
can be realise
because of t
a housing de
of this secto
to the east an
quarter.
The extension to the east has been regulated already by means of
a detailed plan, which is incorporated in the use-zoning map of the new
plan. It is only partially destined for housing. The major part of it
is for recreation.
There remains only the northern part of the town, at the further
side of the Y. It was during the first decade of this century that the town
began to extend in this direction by the development of sites for industries.
The land is low-lying and the soil poor, a considerable part of the area
having been used for the depositing of material dredged from the canals.
The sites were cheap and it was anticipated that an industrial centre
would be created along the banks of the Y and that further inland
sufficient houses would be built to accommodate the workers from this
area. In those days, some thirty years ago, traffic was a simple question
of bicycles, pedestrians and horse-riders, and because of this a ferry-boat
communication was deemed sufficient for the anticipated needs of
transport.
Events have proved that these beliefs were wrong. The colony
increased during and after the War to a very much greater extent than
what it was planned for. At present about 45,000 people are living there
in one- and two-family houses. Some of the houses are laid out in groups
on garden city lines. Traffic has increased correspondingly. To com-
plicate the traffic only one half of the inhabitants living in the northern
town are employed there, the other half having to cross the Y to reach
their work in the old city. On the other hand, some 7,000 workers,
living in the city, have to cross the Y in the opposite direction to reach
their work in the northern town. So that Amsterdam has got, quite
unexpectedly, to meet the difficult problem which arises from the fact
that the city now extends to both sides of a wide stretch of water used
for sea transport, a problem which such places as Eotterdam, Antwerp
and Hamburg have had to contend with over a long period.
A tunnel under the Y has on many occasions been suggested. In
a Report published in 1931 it was stated that whilst the technical
5

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AMSTERDAM

difficulties i
at a particula
congested, w
from the tu
traffic cond
tensive stree
part of the o
Accordingl
local traffic w
guided as fa
of the town,
used.
Character an
elevated ring
same lines as
houses per H
southern, all
Outside the
housing deve
garden city,
sectors, each
paratively s
shopping ar
schools, etc.,
for certain k
other cultur
in the two w
people to live
is provided f
Number of
cumulativel
appear to rea
growth of th
existing. It i
(a) The ave
diminishin
3-74. Moreo
average wo
3-37 for th
makes it n
would be needed for the same population under present
6

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 AMSTERDAM

conditions.
plan is 960
houses need
existing is
houses.
(b) To these
slum-clearance schemes.
(c) Whilst the city is developing, large numbers of houses are being
demolished to make way for offices, shops, etc. In the period
1920-30, 8,800 houses were removed in this way and had
to be replaced by new ones in the suburbs.
Against this, there is the constant changing of two-family
houses to tenements.
Considering all these conditions it is calculated that the
commercialising of the city from now until the year 2,000 will
result in 12,000 new houses being required in new areas.
(d) The extending town envelops, in the new plan, some 1,370
existing houses in the rural areas around the city. So that, by
the year 2,000, it is believed there will have to be built a total
of 111,130 new houses, which is more than half the number
of existing ones (200,876).
Recreation. The recreational needs of the future population have
been very carefully considered and provided for in the new plan. The
present city is poorly equipped with parks, sports-fields and allotment
gardens. Nevertheless, there exist on the outskirts of the city some
extremely attractive natural zones, and great care has been exercised to
ensure that when development occurs in or near them it will be carried
out in such a way as to preserve as far as possible their present rural
characteristics.
One of the chief of these natural zones lies to the north and north-west
of the city. Known as " Waterland," this area has many waterways
and very beautiful lakes. The soil is unsuitable for building on, and
the construction of roads prohibitively expensive. Consequently, in
the new plan, the area has been preserved in its present state. It is
intended to lay down paths for pedestrians and cyclists and eventually
to exploit some of the larger lakes as centres for aquatic sports -
swimming, canoeing, sailing, etc. A plan on these lines has already been
prepared for one of the lakes.
Between the northern part of the Rhine Canal and the Ysselmeer
to the east, is a long narrow stretch of waste land. This is to be trans-
formed into a public park, as a connecting link, for pedestrians and
cyclists, between the housing sectors to the east and a further inland
lake, which again is to be developed as a sports centre.
7

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 AMSTERDAM

The existing
beauty spot, a
recreational
very large wo
Paris. To the
Some of the
new cemetery
The river A
Amstelredam
scenery, with
dating from
The propose
wooded park a
the rural asp
jected, toget
parks and som
Totally new c
First, the lar
this land as o
as an unempl
cities to the w
unpopulated s
a park surrou
of the city.
In addition and complementary to all the foregoing, it is proposed
to organise the existing smaller recreational areas or local parks in the
city and to create new ones where required. A difficulty at the outset
was that of determining the area required per person. This varies from
about 5 to 30 and more square metres in different countries. Besides
being of adequate size, these smaller open spaces should be rationally
distributed over the city in order to make them accessible to as many
inhabitants as possible.
A careful survey was made of the existing parks, both as to their
extent and to their accessibility. In the new plan, a radius of effect of
400 metres, this being the maximum distance which mothers with peram-
bulators can be expected to walk to and from the local parks, has been
adopted. In other words the parks are located at 800 metres intervals.
For the larger parks the interval adopted is 1,600 metres, 800 metres
being found to be approximately the maximum distance which adults
will walk to and from the larger parks. The sizes, both of the local and
larger parks, have been based on the number of people living within the
above radii.

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 AMSTERDAM

To ascertain
was made of the existing play spaces. It was found that the
" Costerpark," which is situated in a densely built-up area, most nearly
approached the ideal in so far as area related to the number of people
using it was concerned. This park has an area of 10 H.A., which, when
divided by the number of people living within 400 metres of it, gave
3j square metres per person, and in the new plan this figure has been
adopted as the objective. The parks are so located that they can be
co-ordinated in practically every case by parkways. The latter bring the
3^ square metres up to 4|.
The existing facilities for adult sports, similarly, are much below
actual requirements, and, in the new plan, provision has been made for
rectifying this. The sports grounds are shown systematised, with new
ones to make up the normal deficiency and others to replace those needed
for the extensions to the city. The figures laid down by Dr. Martin
Wagner, of Berlin, in his publication, " Stadtische Freiflache," for
determining the area required for sports, have been adopted. These are
based on the population divided into age-groups. Modifications of
Dr. Wagner's figures were made because of the different soil and climate
of Amsterdam as compared with those of Berlin.
The population figures were divided into 5-year age-groups. For the
first two groups no provision of sports fields is necessary as they will use
the small local parks. For the third group, it has been ascertained that
only about half require sports ground facilities. Dr. Wagner, in his
method of calculation, reckoned with people up to only 30 years of age.
In Amsterdam it has been found that this age limit must be put at 35 years.
Thus, in the new plan, a full normal allowance of sports area has been
provided for persons between 15 and 35 years of age. The area allowed is
5 square metres per person, this figure being for nett playing areas. To it
is added land required for paths, club buildings, woods, etc. For the
future population, which will have a higher percentage of people above
the 35 year limit, the allowance has been reduced from 5 square metres
to 4 per person.
The sports fields are so located that cyclists can reach them in at
most ten minutes from any part of the city.
Allotment gardens. The existing allotment gardens are distributed
haphazardly over the city and its surroundings. In Amsterdam, where the
allotments are extremely popular, it is realised that they must be
systematised and organised, as housing and factories must, if satisfactory
results are to be achieved. A survey of present conditions and a com-
parison of them with those of other towns have shown that 5 square
metres per inhabitant will be required, and this amount has been provided
for.
9

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AMSTERDAM

The allotm
reach of th
siting and de
Conclusion
the future r
possible flex
dictated larg
ample latitu
arise. Moreo
sections as a
The survey
layout of t
comprehens
has set an e
Much of the
generally is
question of
consideration
Wesley Dougill.

10

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