Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
area, It will account for 75 % of the future regional growth of Utrecht at a 37 units/
ha density level within a defined urban area and provides an example of many
smart growth principles. The project also rates high on creating connectivity with
the existing city of Utrecht, by ensuring that the new growth lies within 5 km of the
centre of the old city which will remain as the major shopping and social heart for
the whole new urban area. A potential linkage problem caused by the separation of
the new area from Utrecht by a major highway and the Amsterdam-Rhine canal has
been solved by the construction of three new bridges, one only for bicycles, another
for public transit and bicycles, and a third for all modes of transport, as well as an
ambitious plan to roof over the highway for a third of a kilometre. The new area
includes both private and public sector housing, with a variety of housing types and
apartments, together with pedestrian-friendly public spaces, while local shopping
and industrial zones, and room for in-home offices, provide a mixed use develop-
ment that will reduce commuting. The development rates highly on the sustainable
use of energy and water, for buildings will be served by a district heating scheme,
provided mainly by previously discarded heat from a local electricity generating
plant. In terms of water use, all homes are provided with two water sources, one
for clean water, another of grey-water (less clean) for toilets and non-drinking pur-
poses, obtained from a separate major water line running through the area. Drainage
channels (wadies) have been built throughout the area to collect storm water to pre-
vent flooding, while both greening and ecological variety principles are provided
by the addition of a large central park of 300 ha, which also contains allotments and
sports fields, a development that connects to what is regarded as the Green Heart of
Holland's urbanized region, the Randstadt. Most of the high density developments
and workplaces in Leidsche Rijn are clustered near the bus and train stations to al-
low ease of access, while the use of bicycles is encouraged by extensive networks of
bike-only lanes, to emulate the situation found in Utrecht where a third of the trips
are made by bicycle. This should provide a high degree of mobility alternatives to
cars. However, unlike many other new developments that aspire to sustainability,
this new area does not seek to drastically reduce car use, for it still has considerable
provision for cars, with 1.2 parking spaces per housing unit in the area. The fact that
it is essentially a new area means there are few heritage buildings.
A second area example has more explicitly low carbon principles for its growth,
and was one of Europe's first examples of this type of development, a trend sum-
marized by Foletta and Field (
2011
) using 8 European cases. The GWL-Terrein
project in Westerpark, Amsterdam, is one of these car-minimizing and carbon neu-
tral developments. It is located on a brownfield site located on the edge of the
nineteenth century city that since 1851 had been used as a depot and reservoir for
a municipal water supply company and was the terminus of an existing tram line
(Fig.
6.3
). The new development area is designed for 1400 people at 230 persons/
ha and is only 3 km northwest of the city centre. Development of the 600 dwelling
unit complex, with social and market-priced apartment blocks and houses, began in
1995, although planned several years earlier (GWL
2013
). It included the conver-
sion of some of the heritage buildings, such as old water company's offices and
warehouses, into housing, as well as keeping the water tower as a symbol of its
