Almere’s evolution is a remarkable one. This new town near Amsterdam numbering 180’000 inhabitants is well-known for its dynamic development and its outstanding architecture. It is viewed as a prime example of a successful mix of urban measures which turned Almere into a live and work place offering great life quality, but also into a travel destination. Almere was founded in 1976 on reclaimed land of the former Southern Sea. Over the past thirty years, Almere’s growth has surpassed that of all other European cities. The Centre of Almere City needed to be restructured in order to cope with new demands. Based on a master plan by OMA Office for Metropolitan Architecture, a second (pedestrian) level and new functions have been introduced, which will create a higher urban density. New mega-blocks, apartment and commercial buildings, theatre and entertainment centres, leisure and retail shops have been designed by various renowned international and local architects such as Alsop & Störmer Architects, David Chipperfield, Claus en Kaan, Gigon Guyer, Mecanoo, OMA, Christian de Portzamparc, SANAA, S333, UN Studio and René van Zuuks, to name but a few. Almere has become an important landmark on the international map and its population is expected to increase to 250'000. The government is wondering whether Almere can even grow to 400'000 inhabitants by 2030.
At the Architecture Talks Lucerne, Ria van Dijk will trace Almere‘s urban history, considering the challenges and pitfalls which need to be taken into account when developing such a rapidly growing city, and explaining where the focus will be lying in terms of urban planning in the years to come.
After studying urban design and strategic urban planning at the Technical University Eindhoven, the Postgraduate School of Architecture in Amsterdam, the Amsterdam Academy of Architecture and the University of Amsterdam, Ria van Dijk has been working as an urban designer at the Department of Urban Design and Landscape Architecture of the Municipality of Almere since 2000. In this capacity, she designs plans on different planning levels, from regional plans to structural plans for the entire city to development plans for parts of the city; a task which entails finding new strategies for differentiation in housing and housing environments and improving the building production process, finances and housing quality. At the level of development plans, she designed the plan for the mixed-use neighbourhood Europakwartier and is designing the mixed-use sub-centre Olympiakwartier as well as a three kilometre long coastal area of Almere Poort.
Other projects include the building experiment "Simplicity", a floating housing area of five hundred houses, called Pampushaven, which integrates safety into the urban design process. On the occasion of Almere’s 30th anniversary, Ria van Dijk published "Almere vanuit de lucht" (Almere from the sky, 2006, ISBN 90-6868-437-X) in cooperation with RoVorm. Ria van Dijk teaches and lectures worldwide, amongst others at the Universities of Minnesota and Berkeley (USA, 2007), the Academy of Architecture in Tilburg (2007), the Technical University of Eindhoven (2005) and the Technical University of Delft (2002 and 2003); she was a visiting critic at Stuttgart University in 2006.
