The majority of the scenes that I
remember from La Haine are all set in the high-rise apartments and ugly places in
the outskirts of Paris where lower class people and immigrants are living. Such
place can be the synonym of Bijlmer neighborhood in Amsterdam, which was built
in 60s-70s as the town of the future. Another spitting image of Bijlmer can be
Chatsworth in south of Durban which Hansen talks about in his article. Hansen
tells that it was created in early 60s with the intention of having a new
hygienic form of living; a modern and planned township. Large public housing
estates, shopping complexes, play grounds and recreational spaces were built; but
unfortunately Chatsworth have now become the battleground where civic organizations,
city council and private security companies fight for the future character of
the town. It can be said that the Dutch experience has been more successful
about creating what it originally planned because objectively speaking; Bijlmer
today cannot be considered as a total failure where there are constant gun
fights and mess going on. The urban renewal in 1990s helped Bijlmer gain a
better reputation and to become a liveable place for all kinds of people from
different social classes. But still, there is a certain amount of violence going on in Bijlmer.
I don’t know whether it can be
counted as a discernable feature but I think that anger plays a crucial role in
shaping inequalities. We read from Hansen’s article that the promise of a
non-racial future couldn’t be kept and today, racial segmentation of South
African society still shapes the daily life of the postapartheid
nation-state. Unfortunately, this daily life is
based on a constant anger in which both Africans and Indians strengthen it with
their speeches and behaviors. It is possible to feel such atmosphere in the
schools, religious places, institutions, houses and urban plannings. The constant anger helps both sides to shape
different collective memories. While the African collective memory brands
Indians as “parasites and collaborators with whites”, the Indians see
their history as of a “white betrayal that unleashed the uncanny and
unintelligible force of African wrath on them”. Due to
the fact that these collective memories are full of biased stories, the issue
day by day becomes a knot that cannot be untied. In the movie La Haine, the
aggressive nature of racism characterizes the film’s atmosphere in which anger
is spouting from every single character. Related to violence, a form of anger
is existent in Bijlmer too. It was the 7th of August 2009 that a
couple of men, joking in their native Suriname, got out to pick something up after
a barbecue they had attended. Three young men standing nearby thought that the
joking was about them and argument started. One of the Surinamese men referred
to the youngsters as ‘monkeys’ and then a youngster opened fire. 15-year old
Gianluca Flamingo, who was sitting in the back of the car, was hit in the head
and died. The biased mind of both sides and the meaningless anger costed a
young boy’s life. A similar thing happens in the movie around a different
story. In 2009, 22 shooting incidents have been reported in Bijlmer.
“Former borough president Hannah Belliot agrees: "In
this environment of social-economic deprivation that form of protest is
cultivated into viciousness and destruction: I killed that nigger."
Even though Amsterdam Zuidoost, also called
Bijlmer, is a relatively young district of Amsterdam, it already has a long and
rich history. People have come, left, returned and stayed for short and long
periods. Since 1992, Zuidoost has undergo radical changes, not only physically
but also socially. Despite the problems and critiques about Zuidoost and the
dissatisfaction of the early residents, generally, the residents who are living
in Zuidoost nowadays are proud to live here and be part of a rich multicultural
community. Poetry pusher Justin Samgar ones wrote a poem about Amsterdam
Zuidoost: “There is life in the middle, without boredom and with peace”1.
Which refers to the liveliness and bubbling character of Zuidoost.
Figure 1.Flyer of the exhibition ‘The Functional City: Living, working, traffic, recreation in the contemporary city’ at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam in 1935. Source: Verhagen, 1987.
After the second World
War there was a high demand for housing; 40.000 houses had to be build. Inspired
by the innovative, modern ideas and ideals from the Congrès Internationaux d’Archtiecture Moderne (CIAM), founded in
1928, a whole new city plan was developed for the Zuidoost area. The Swiss
architect Le Corbusier was a leading figure within the new style and he was a
proponent of the separation of living, working, traffic and recreation. This
new idea was a critique against the industrialization of society who led to
chaotic cities in which these activities were combined in one place. The city
had to be turned into a “functional city” (figure 1). Form had to serve
function.
The Bijlmer had to be “the city of tomorrow” and “the future”. There was
a strong believe in the social engineering of society. The strong ideal of a
collective community in which people would live and work together and feel
responsible for the shared spaces leaded the architectures in their work. “High
rise estates were perceived as the expression of a new world, one that expected
a lot from modern ideas about an egalitarian society, and that leaned on
technological solutions made long-term demographic and mobility forecasts, and
had high ideals about the common use of facilities”2. The high rise
blocks (figure 2) were therefore an answer on the high prospects of population
and mobility.
The honeycomb form had to reduce the distance between the apartments and
the parking garages and maximize the amount of daylight in the apartments. The
green parks in between the blocks had to serve as a place to meet others (figure
3).
Figure 2. The honeycomb blocks. Source: Verhagen, 1987.
Figure 3. Image of the ideal. Notice the train. It would deliver the purchases of the residents. Source: Verhagen, 1987.
The mayor of Amsterdam
G. van Hall hit the first pole into the Bijlmermeer ground on 13 December 1966.
On 25th November 1968 the first residents, family Copray, got the
keys of their new apartment in the first flat build in the Bijlmer, Hoogoord (figure
4 and 5). We get to speak to Rudi van der Meer (81) (see slideshow below for pictures taken by van der Meer in the early days of the Bijlmer). He and his wife and kids were
one of the first residents of the Bijlmer. We go back to the beginning of
Zuidoost, when most terrain existed of sandy ground where kids had all the
freedom to play: “Every day when school was over we took on our rain boots and
played on the large fields as if we were great explorers”, tells Judith van der
Meer (52), the first born child of Rudi van der Meer.
Figure 4. Hoogoord would replace the old farm.
Figure 5. Hoogoord.
“We, the residents of Hoogoord, were told we were the ones who had to
shape the city of the future. It was a giant task” says van der Meer.But requirements were set for living in
Hoogoord: certificated testimonies and a certificate of good behavior was
needed. Consequently, people from the same social class, high educated people,
lived in the apartments. “We felt that we had something in common, people had a
stronge sense of community. The clearest example of this would be the so called
‘zitkuilen’ (‘sit holes’) in which we spent long nights”. On ground level there
was a common room where the residents came together, the keys of the room were
with the doorkeeper.
Slideshow. An impression of the early days of the Bijlmer.
“Hoogoord was a solid
group. Which differed from the huge honeycomb blocks who were build ”. And that
is where van der Meer hits the core of the problems arising soon after the
construction of the high estates. The blocks were colossal, monotonous (figure 6)
the galleries were extremely long. People felt disorientated and isolated. The
high rise blocks were soon neglected. People did not feel responsible for the
common spaces. In contrast, high social control and a feeling of collective
responsibility existed at the Hoogoord flat as van der Meer explaines: “Other
residents corrected children from the neighbors and felt responsible for them.
The galleries were always smelling like cleaning liquid”. The neighbors at
Hoogoord “were on speaking terms”, while residents of the high rise blocks felt
anonymous and had no direct contact with their neighbors. Van der Meer
comments: “Harry and Anne from South Limburg got assimilated before we noticed
it”.
Figure 6. Source: Verhagen, 1987.
The honeycomb blocks
did not correspond to the preferences of middle-class and higher working-class families
who were intended to live in the new city. They were more attracted to the
alternative choice of single-family houses with gardens in the suburbs. The
flats remained for the most part empty and there were high turnover rates.
Their place was taken by other groups, mainly Surinamese immigrants and
homosexuals. The first group moved before the independence of Suriname in 1975.
Not knowing where to place all these immigrants they were assigned to the empty
flats. “More and more Suriname children were introduced in our classes. Almost
every day we had a new Surinam classmate. Every day two airplanes landed on
Schiphol full with Surinam people says Judith van der Meer. In
subsequent years the native Dutch would move out quickly, being replaced by
Surinamese and other non-native: first mainly Ghanaians and Nigerians. On
average during 1985–2000 one-sixth of the population left every year, according
to Kwekkeboom (2002, p. 76):
New residents generally did not come because they
deliberately had chosen a flat in the Bijlmer, but what was available most
quickly.. . . This reality was diametrically opposed to the ideal image that
the developers of the Bijlmermeer had, of middle-class families with an income
from wages, a strong sense of community and a feeling of collective
responsibility.
At the same time
Hoogoord and Hofgeest got separated from the rest of the neighborhood and
because of the problems occurring in the rest of the neighborhood many
residents left the dwelling. Another factor which leaded to high turnover rates
was the not completed public facilities due to financial problems. Public
facilities including the promised green parks, shopping centers and the metro
line were build years later. Also the high rents leaded to several protests.
Disorientation because
of the monotonous environment and identical blocks, the uncontrollable spaces,
pollution, vandalism, crime, feelings of insecurity, lack of responsibility and
management problems; all these problems had to be attacked.
In 1992 new and
radical plans were introduced by the Projectbureau Vernieuwing Bijlmermeer
which contained three so-called pillars: A physical pillar to create more
differentiation, including demolition and new construction₁, a social economic
pillar, including work, education and training, and improvement of the
quality-of-life problems (crime, safety, drugs, vandalism, pollution), and
better management.
The majority of the
residents with lower incomes, who had to move because their dwelling was being
pulled down, stayed in the district in existing or new council housing
projects. Those with higher incomes could move up the housing ladder, now that
new built properties came within the free rental sector and owner-occupied houses
were available as well. The target groups now are people who prefer to live in
the Bijlmer and who want to stay when decent housing and a decent environment
are offered. Some of the flats are used for specific groups such senior citizens
and students.
Most of the high rise
blocks were demolished (figure 7 and 8). In the spaces made available by the
demolition and also lowering of the elevated avenues, individual homes and
small-scale apartment blacks are being built. Diversity in buildings and
dwellings is showed in the slideshow below.
Figure 7. In red the galleries-shaped high-rise blocks
which dominated the original layout. Source: Projectbureau Vernieuwing
Bijlmermeer (2008).
Figure 8. Many of the honeycomb blocks are demolished and
replaced by low-rise buildings. In green all the constructed buildings between
1992 and 2010. Source: Projectbureau Vernieuwing Bijlmermeer (2008).
Slideshow.
The new
buildings are easy recognisable, helping people to orientate themselves within
the area. As we walk through the neighborhood we notice some places, landmarks
and building who link the past and present of Zuidoost (figure 9).
Figure 9. The Bijlmerdreef. In contrast to the dark and
unsafe subways it is now colored and surrounded by open spaces.
One of these landmarks
helping to orientate oneself, especially at the time of the monotonous
environment, are the green poles, ‘the cruise missile’ at the Bijlmerdreef
placed in 1984 (figure 10). After the lowering of the Bijlmerdreef (partly remained
as an elevated avenue) the management did not want to replace it. But due to protests
of the residents it is still an important landmark as well as an art piece in
the neighborhood.
Figure 10. ‘The cruise missele’ at the Bijlmerdreef.
Art has always been an
important part of the Zuidoost scenery. Here we will only describe a few but
obviously the list could be extended with numerous other examples.
Figure 11. Mama Aida. Designed by Chaim Oren in 1986.
Mama Aisa (figure 11) should not be forgotten. She is the Surinam mother of Earth. She stands as a symbol for the fraternization of all the nationalities coming together in Zuidoost. Aida is submissive, tolerant and forgiving.
Different religious
communities are based in Zuidoost. The original master plan of the Bijlmer did
not included spaces for all these different communities. New residents searched
for space to profess their faith in so called ‘clandestine churches’ in
parking-lots, empty buildings, in the open air an at residential homes. After
breaking down most of these spaces the communities needed new shelters. This
leaded to the establishment of De Kandelaar (the Candleholder) (figure 12). “The church
has a social function for the community in Zuidoost. If someone in Zuidoost
says ‘church’, he also says care and services” says Emmanuel Koney, pastor of
the Pentecost Revival Church, one of the churches who are using De Kandelaar.
Figure 12. De Kandelaar.
Figure 13. Jama Masjid Thaibah mosque. Build in 1985.
Also the Jama Masjid
Thaibah (figure 13) mosque and the Mondir temple are examples of
buildings which have been build to rearrange the environment and space and
disengage it for the people who live there.
Figure 14. Henk.
Green
is very important in the Southeast of Amsterdam. It is the most green district
of Amsterdam. 90% of the original plan was reserved for green spaces designed
in a classic English garden style. While walking through the green zone between
the honey-comb flats we meet Henk (figure 14), an employee of the Groenadvies
Amsterdam bv. and Hans Kapteijn, always been actively contributing to the
development of the neighborhood, first as a biology teacher in several Bijlmer
schools, now still concerned with the conservation of the green areas as member
of the sector district management (‘wijkbeheer’). Together they are making
their yearly round around the green areas in Zuidoost checking if all the trees
are still growing and healthy.
One tree needs special attention. It is ‘the tree that saw everything’ (figure 15). It reminds us of the El Al Boeing plane crash on 4 October 1992. It crashed into the Groeneveen and Klein-Kruitberg blocks. Official numbers shows us 42 victims, but because many unregistered immigrants were living in the blocks, we will never know how much people died that day.
Figure 15.
‘The tree that saw everything’ (De boom die alles zag). A monument at
remebrence of the Bijlmer disaster (Bijlmerramp) on 4 October 1992.
Next to the tree stands a monument designed by Herman Hertzberger. It shows all the names of the victims (figure 16). Figure
16.
Judith van der Meer
still remembers the sounds of the plane coming down: “Although you never heard
the sounds before you know immediately what it means”. She was also confronted
with the unreal and painful consequences as a teacher at ‘Onze Wereld’ (‘Our
World’): “In several classes children were missing. Heart rending"(figure 17).
Figure 17. Drawing by Soraja Buinendaal. Source: Een gat in mijn hart, 1993.
Outcome of the Bijlmer
monitor since 1997 shows that many (new) residents are strongly connected to
Zuidoost. They live, or lived there,have relatives here, work is often nearby, shops are on the corner and
they recreate here as well. Nowadays we can find a variety of different
residents living all together who are getting more and more positive about
their district. Support of the residents has been one of the key factors of
success in the Bijlmer. The ‘modern
citizen’ did not want to conform to the original model of “the city of the
future” which was drawn behind a drawing-board. New residents are getting more
freedom to shape their own living environment. Beautiful examples are the
Dreamzones (see below) and DeFlat (figure 18).
Figure 18. Flyer DeFlat.
For more Zuidoost experiences:
·Make
a city walk with a guide. Check the website of the United Different Voices foundation
(by Hans Mooren) and get a ‘Bijlmer Experience’ tour. Phone number: 020
7769195. www.bijlmerexperience.nl
Prominent public policy and public
institutions, with attention to education, culture, and transport
Current policy issues
The renewal of the Bijlmer is present in many areas, and of course also
when looking at public policy. A recent decision that has to do with the
ongoing renewal of the Bijlmer is for example the decision to create so-called
Droomzones (figure 19) in ‘s Gravendijk, Drostenburg and Driemond (the latter
is not located in the Bijlmer). 3 4 Because in the 80s and 90s the
quality of life in the Bijlmer was very low, in 1992 the first renovation
period was announced with as primary goal to improve the economic position of
the Bijlmer. These renovations lasted till 1999, when the second renovation
period was announced. The focus remained the same but fundamentally different
was that it was decided that most of the high-rise buildings had to be taken
down. Instead there should be low-rise buildings, with more types of houses to
attract a more divided group of people.5 The Droomzones are an
example of ways to attract different kinds of people to the Bijlmer. The second
renovation period is taking till 2014.
Figure 19. Promotion for Droomzone ‘s Gravendijk.
Further policies that are covered in the local media have to do with
participation, pointing at the Uitvoeringsplan Participatie Zuidoost 2013. This
plan consists of all the projects that will be executed with priority this
year. The projects ensure more participation of residents in the areas of
employment, education, youth, care, culture, ‘civil society’, and security.6
In the local media there is also attention to participation (figure 20 and 21). A project that
focuses on participation is for example the Natuurplan Zuidoost. It is namely
possible to let the district office know where you would want to have a tree
planted, and why.7
Figure 20. Participation of residents wanted in deciding where to locate 1000 new
trees.
Figure 21. Urwin Vyent explains a resident about the 1000 new trees. Source: Zuidoost. Amsterdam.nl. 07-02-2-13
Next to policies concerning the ongoing renewal and the promotion of
participation, there is however a more small-scale policy issue that has been
covered in the local and national media quite extensively, namely decisions
considering the Kwakoe Festival.
‘Het Kwakoe Festival,
aanvankelijk opgezet als simpele voetbalcompetitie, is uitgegroeid tot een
feest van nationale, ja, internationale allure.’ Said
Reinier Heidemann sr.8 What is called the Kwakoe Festival first took
place in 1975. Originally it was a Surinam festival, with as highlight a
football match. It takes place a couple of weekends during the summer. As
Reinier Heidemann sr. said above, it has become a well-known festival.
Unfortunately, over the recent years the organisation of the festival
has not gone without difficulties. For example, every year the district
Zuidoost has to give permission for the festival to take place to the organiser
of the festival. Not only is there tension about whether or not the permission
will be given, but mostly, the tension is about which organisation gets to
organise the festival.9 On top of that, in recent years, the
organisations that organised the festival have had difficulties with their
finances.10 This even led Desi Bouterse to wanting to donate 50.000
Euros to the festival.11 The district of Amsterdam however not very
positively received this.12
News considering the Kwakoe Festival is most of the time covered in
local, and even national media. It is worth mentioning as a current political
issue, because for example according to Marjolein Houweling, the Kwakoe
Festival is a representation of the politics in the Bijlmer.13 That
politics and the Kwakoe Festival are closely related also became clear in 2011,
when there resulted a political crisis in Zuidoost after the decision that the
Kwakoe Festival would not take place that year.14 This year, the festival will be called Zomerfestival.
De Vries Producties will organise it and it will take place four weekends,
starting on July 5 2013. For the first time people will have to pay an entrance
fee.
Important institutions
Some of the important institutions of the Bijlmer are a result of the
renewal of Zuidoost. The Bijlmer Parktheater is a good example of this (figure 22). This
theatre has opened her doors in 2009 and is a collaboration between several
cultural institutions that at the time were already located elsewhere in the
Bijlmer. The main focus of the theatre is children and young adults, with the
aim to educate, stimulate artistic development and create social cohesion.
Bijlmer Parktheater sees itself as a ‘local initiative with a national impact’
and wants to form a bridge between the city and the Bijlmer. 15
Besides funding from the district office Amsterdam Zuidoost, housing
corporation Ymere and their revenue from hospitality, rental of the theatre and
ticket sales, the Bijlmer Parktheater receives subsidy from the European Union.16
The European Union (EU) subsidises the theatre as part of a program to reduce
the economic differences between regions in the EU. Dutch national politicians
are against it because they believe subsidies should go to the least prosperous
countries of the EU. Nevertheless, district office Amsterdam Zuidoost already
received 14 million Euros from the EU from 2000 till 2008. Without the EU
funding the Bijlmer Parktheater could not have been realized.17
Figure 22. Bijlmerparktheater.
A very important cultural institute is the CEC – Cultureel Educatief
Centrum. As Mirjam Nicolaas, facilities manager, in an interview on March 25
2013 explained, CEC is set up by six organisations. Among these are the
district office Zuidoost and ROC Amsterdam. It was initially set up to be kind
of a community centre, and to be of great use for immigrants who need
information on anything. However, this changed through the course of time. Now
the main goal of CEC is to refer to the various organisations that are also in the
building, and to other bodies outside of the building.
In the Bijlmer are also public sports facilities. For example, in 2008 a
new sports centre was built, the Bijlmer Sportcentrum. It facilitates a range
of sport activities for all ages, like a fitness centre, an indoor sports hall,
a recreational swimming pool and swimming classes for children as well as
adults. Besides paid sporting facilities in 2010 the district office also
created a public fitness station in the K-buurt, a neighbourhood in the Bijlmer
by placing several fitness machines in a public park. The district office
promotes a healthy and sportive life and by making some sporting facilities
free of charge they try to reach the less fortunate residents of the Bijlmer,
of which there are a lot.18
A final important renewal in the Bijlmer is the so-called Brede School.
This is collaboration between the district office, primary schools and after
school childcare. The aim is to work together in order to give the children
from the neighbourhood a chance to discover and develop their talents and meet
up with other children that live nearby.19
Further educational and cultural institutions of the Bijlmer are mainly
centred near the ArenaPoort. This area covers the newly build Anton de
Komplein (figure 23 and 204, the shopping centre Amsterdamse Poort, the station Bijlmer Arena and
the Arena Boulevard. Many public facilities are settled around the Anton de
Komplein, like Bijlmer Sportcentrum, Bijlmer Parktheater, the district office
(stadsdeelkantoor) and Centrum Beeldende Kunst Zuidoost.
Figure 23. Anton de Konpleim markt. Every monday, tuesday, thursday and friday
Figure 24.
Transport
Looking back at the historical purposes of the neighbourhood, the
Bijlmer was originally planned and built with separate roads for cars and
pedestrians. The eleven story high buildings were surrounded by a car free
scenery of nature, footpaths and playgrounds. Roads for cars where built on
3-meter high platforms, so called dreven,
and were divided from the footpaths. The absence of traffic at certain times of
the day caused a permanent feeling of insecurity. Aiming to bring some
liveliness to the Bijlmer, in 1992, as a part of the second renovation period,
policy makers decided to lower the driven (figure 25 and 26),
just like they demolished unsafe parking lots (figure 27). The original design of the Bijlmer
namely included parking lots beneath or nearby the high-rise flats. These
parking lots were built right next to the dreven,
in order to keep the space around the flats car free. The parking lots and
indoor footpaths to the flats became the territory of criminals and junks,
which made them very unsafe places for residents.20
Figure 25. The lowered Bijlmerdreef.
Figure 26. So called 'Stadstraat' ('City street'). Bijlmerdreef.
As the Bijlmer is situated next to the highway, it is easily reachable
by car. Visitors of ArenaPoort can park on one of the secured parking decks in
the neighbourhood. The Arena also offers another parking facility, the ‘Park +
Ride’. Cars can be parked on the parking deck at a lower price and people will
receive a public transport ticket, which can be used to travel to the city
centre.21
Figure 27. Parking lot nowadays.
In some parts of the Bijlmer it is still possible to park for free in
the so-called ‘blue zones’. In these zones cars can be parked for free up to
1,5 hours. In other parts, mostly nearby shopping areas, the fee for parking is
€1,40 per hour from 9AM till 21PM on weekdays. Residents of these areas can get
a parking permit immediately; unlike in other parts of Amsterdam there is no
waiting list.22
Further, it is very easy to go from the Bijlmer to the city centre of
Amsterdam with public transportation. There are three metro lines running
through the Bijlmer area, of which two lead to the city centre of Amsterdam.
The third line goes through Amsterdam South and stops in Amsterdam West. There
are also a lot of bus lines departing from the Bijlmer with destination
different parts of Amsterdam Zuidoost, the centre of Amsterdam, Amsterdam
Schiphol and villages in the region.
As some concluding words we would like to think about how the history of
a neighbourhood, in our case the Bijlmer, has its influence in the present and
future. Having investigated the history, policies, means of transportation and
important institutions of the Bijlmer, we are slightly surprised how much of
the Bijlmer as it is today is a result of the city renovation periods and we
are curious as to what will come after 2014, when the second renovation period
will be finished.
2 Wassenberg, F. (2011). Large housing estates: ideas,rise, fall and
recovery: The Bijlmermeer and beyond. Technical University of Delft, (39)4,
363-379.
16 Gemeente Amsterdam Stadsdeel Zuidoost,
notitie bedrijfsplan en begroting exploitatie en beheer Stichting Bijlmer
Parktheater 2012-1016, 21 June 2012
Kwekkeboom, W. (2002).
Rebuilding the Bijlmermeer 1992-2002, in D. Bruijne, D. van Hoogstraten, W. Kwekkeboom
and A. Luijten (eds): Amsterdam Southeast, Thoth, Bussum, pp.73-114.
Verhagen, E. 1987. Van Bijlmermeerpolder tot A,sterdam Zuidoost. Sdu uitgeverij, Den Haag.
