Almere

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For other uses, see Almere (disambiguation).
Almere
Municipality
Skyline of Almere
Skyline of Almere
Flag of Almere
Flag		 Coat of arms of Almere
Coat of arms
Location in Flevoland
Location in Flevoland
Coordinates: Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
Country Netherlands
Province Flevoland
Government[1]
 • Body Municipal council
 • Mayor Franc Weerwind (D66)
Area[2]
 • Total 248.77 km2 (96.05 sq mi)
 • Land 129.60 km2 (50.04 sq mi)
 • Water 119.17 km2 (46.01 sq mi)
Elevation[3] −3 m (−10 ft)
Population (May 2014)[4]
 • Total 196,290
 • Density 1,515/km2 (3,920/sq mi)
Demonym(s) Almeerder
Time zone CET (UTC+1)
 • Summer (DST) CEST (UTC+2)
Postcode 1300–1379
Area code 036
Website www.almere.nl

Almere (Dutch pronunciation: [ɑlˈmeːrə] ( listen)) is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, the Netherlands, bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde. The municipality of Almere comprises the districts Almere Stad, Almere Buiten, Almere Oosterwold (design phase) and Almere Pampus (planned for future). and the boroughs of Almere Haven, Almere Hout and Almere Poort.

Almere is the newest city in the Netherlands: the land on which Almere sits, the Southern Flevoland Polder, was reclaimed from the IJsselmeer in 1959-68. The first house was finished in 1976, and Almere became a municipality in 1984. It is the largest municipality in Flevoland with 196,290 citizens in 2014 and the 7th largest in the Netherlands.[5] In October 2007, the city council of Almere made agreements with the government to expand the city to 350,000 inhabitants by 2030.[6]

History

The original plans for the IJsselmeerpolders saw the land being used for agriculture. However, after World War II housing was needed for the rapidly growing population of Amsterdam and two towns were planned in the polders Oostelijk Flevoland and Zuidelijk Flevoland. The town in Oostelijk Flevoland became Lelystad. The town in Zuidelijk Flevoland was still called Zuidweststad (English: South West City) on the first sketches, but in the 1970s it became called Almere, named after the lake Almere, the early medieval name of the Zuiderzee. The first house in Almere was finished in 1976. At that time the town was still controlled by the Openbaar Lichaam Zuidelijke IJsselmeerpolders (Z.IJ.P.), with a Landdrost. In 1984 Almere became an official municipality. Originally, Almere was envisioned as a town with multiple centres. This idea was later abandoned in favor of allowing neighbourhoods like Tussen de Vaarten to be built. There is also a difference between the way houses are built in the oldest and the newest parts of the city. The housing plan in Almere in the 1970s was basic functionality and a levelling of social status. However, starting in the 1990s more exclusive homes with striking designs were built (e.g., in the Regenboogbuurt).

Governance

Local executive

Franc Weerwind (D66) has been the mayor of Almere since 9 September 2015. On 20 May 2010 the new council was inaugurated. The populist Party for Freedom had won the most seats in the local elections, which was both national and international news due to the controversial statements of its leader Geert Wilders. Even though the largest party they didn't take part in the local administration.

List of mayors:

City council

The first local council was installed on 2 January 1984 in the presence of the then minister of the Interior Koos Rietkerk. The council elections took place on 21 September 1983. Prior to 1984 Almere had an Adviesraad, which was chosen every 2 years (1978–1980, 1980–1982, 1982–1984). This Adviesraad was made up of different political parties similar to a local council. On 11 March 1977 the first adviescommissie was elected. It consisted of 5 people that were chosen on personal title. Since 1998, the council of Almere has a total of 39 members.

Party 1984 1986 1990 1994 1998 2002 2006 2010 2014
PVV - - - - - - - 9 8
D66 1 2 7 10 5 2 1 3 6
PvdA 10 14 9 6 9 7 12 8 5
VVD 5 5 7 10 12 8 7 7 5
Leefbaar Almere - - - - - 9 4 3 4
SP - - - - - - 4 2 4
GroenLinks 2 1 3 4 4 4 3 3 2
CDA 2 3 4 3 3 4 3 2 2
ChristenUnie - - - - 1 1 2 1 1
Almere Partij - 1 2 2 3 2 2 - 1
Faction Eekhuis - - - - - - - - 1
Trots op Nederland - - - - - - - 1 -
Verenigde Senioren Partij - - - - 1 1 1 - -
Stadspartij Almere - - - - 1 1 - - -
CP/CD 2 1 1 2 - - - - -
Stap '84 1 - - - - - - - -
Total 23 27 33 37 39 39 39 39 39

International relations

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See also: List of twin towns and sister cities in the Netherlands

Twin towns — Sister cities

Almere maintains international relations with the following twin cities:[7][8]

Geography

File:Satellite image of Flevopolder, Netherlands (5.48E 52.43N).png
Satellite image of the Flevoland polder island.
File:Almere-plaats-OpenTopo.jpg
Topographic map of Almere, Sept. 2014
File:Map NL Almere.PNG
Overview map of Almere.

Almere is located in the polder of Southern Flevoland (Dutch: Zuidelijk Flevoland). It is the most western municipality of the province Flevoland. It borders with Lake Marken in the west and north, Lelystad in the northeast, Zeewolde in the east, and Lake Gooi in the south.

Almere consists of three boroughs and three districts (Dutch: stadsdelen), three of which are under construction.[10]

Name Year[11] Location
Almere Haven 1976 75px
Almere Stad 1980 75px
Almere Buiten 1984 75px
Almere Hout 1991 75px
Almere Poort 2000 75px
Almere Pampus - 75px

Climate

Almere has an oceanic climate characterized by mild to cool winters, and warm summers with fair precipitation year round.

Climate data for Almere
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Average high °C (°F) 4.9
(40.8)		 5.5
(41.9)		 8.2
(46.8)		 9.6
(49.3)		 16.2
(61.2)		 19.3
(66.7)		 20.8
(69.4)		 21.0
(69.8)		 18.5
(65.3)		 14.2
(57.6)		 8.9
(48)		 5.9
(42.6)		 12.75
(54.95)
Daily mean °C (°F) 2.2
(36)		 2.5
(36.5)		 4.8
(40.6)		 6.7
(44.1)		 11.9
(53.4)		 14.9
(58.8)		 16.5
(61.7)		 16.6
(61.9)		 14.3
(57.7)		 10.6
(51.1)		 6.1
(43)		 3.4
(38.1)		 9.21
(48.58)
Average low °C (°F) −0.4
(31.3)		 −0.4
(31.3)		 1.5
(34.7)		 3.8
(38.8)		 7.6
(45.7)		 10.5
(50.9)		 12.3
(54.1)		 12.2
(54)		 10.1
(50.2)		 7.1
(44.8)		 3.4
(38.1)		 0.9
(33.6)		 5.72
(42.29)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 68.0
(2.677)		 47.0
(1.85)		 59.0
(2.323)		 45.0
(1.772)		 53.0
(2.087)		 62.0
(2.441)		 75.0
(2.953)		 77.0
(3.031)		 76.0
(2.992)		 80.0
(3.15)		 78.0
(3.071)		 76.0
(2.992)		 838.2
(33)
Source: climatedata.org (1981–2010 normals)[12]

Demography

Inhabitants by origin

In 2011 [1]

2011 Numbers %
Dutch natives 118,902 62.3
European immigrants 18,617 9.8
Non European immigrants 53,136 27.9
Surinam 21,183 11.1
Morocco 6,900 3.6
Turkey 3,262 1.7
Netherlands Antilles and Aruba 4,750 2.5
Others 17,041 8.9
  Almere Haven Almere Stad Almere Buiten Almere Hout Almere Poort Almere Pampus Almere in total
1970             52
1975             47
1980 6596           6632
1985 21410 17240 1559       40297
1990 22355 37024 11499       71087
1995 22376 58816 22740 564     104496
2000 22237 83934 35290 1336     142797
2005 22590 103560 47358 1366     175008
2007 22507 105261 51751 1345 134   180998

Sport

Almere is the home of Almere City FC

Transport

File:Scouwburg Almere.jpg
Theatre "Schouwburg Almere"

The traffic infrastructure in Almere is recognisable because of its separate infrastructure for cycles (which have separate cycle paths), cars and buses (In Almere the buses drive on a separate bus lane). Almere is connected to the motorways A6 and A27.

Railway

In 1987 Almere was connected to the national railway system (see NS) with the fully completed Flevolijn which connected Weesp to Lelystad Centrum. Almere currently has six railway stations:

A temporary station, Almere Strand, was set up for certain events, such as Libelle Zomerweek. It was closed just after the summer of 2012 and the iron platforms were torn down at the weekend of October 6–7, 2012, due to the opening of the closely located Almere Poort.

Public buses

In Almere there are 10 bus lines which service the urban area:

  • 1 Almere Buiten Stripheldenbuurt - Almere CS - Almere Haven De Marken
  • 2 Almere CS - Almere Poort Topsporthal - Almere Poort Station
  • 4 Almere CS - Almere Poort Homeruskwartier - Almere Poort Station
  • 5 Almere Oostvaarders - Almere CS
  • 6 Noorderplassen - CS Almere - Almere Parkwijk Station
  • 7 Almere CS - Almere Parkwijk Station - Almere Sallandsekant
  • 10 Almere de Vaart/PIA - 't Oor - Almere Poort Station
  • 14 Almere CS - Almere Muziekwijk Station - Almere Poort Station (only during the wintermonths and during rush hours)

Most buses run about every 7,5 minutes (8 times every hour). The bus company that runs the buses is called Connexxion and the name of the local bus system is called Maxx Almere owned by Connexxion. In the buses one can use the national transportation chipcard (smart card), subscriptions or one can buy bus tickets of Maxx Almere.

Besides the local bus lines there are regional bus lines to Naarden & Bussum (151), Hilversum (156), Zeewolde & Harderwijk (159), Nijkerk (160), Amsterdam Amstel (322 and 327) and Amsterdam Bijlmer & Amsterdam Holendrecht (328)

In addition to the regional bus lines, there are also spitsbusses (buses that only run during rush hours) to Utrecht (150), Amsterdam (153 and 155), Amstelveen & Schiphol (215 and 216).

Since April 2012 a new rush hour bus line, 150, to Utrecht connects Almere directly with the University Area of Utrecht called De Uithof. (This was previously done by former bus line 700).

Notable residents

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ (Dutch) Lijst van grooste gemeenten in Nederland. Retrieved on 2010-12-31.
  6. ↑ (Dutch) Schaalsprong Almere 2030, PDF. Retrieved on 2008-06-09.
  7. ↑ (Dutch) Gemeente Almere: Partnersteden[dead link]. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  8. ↑ (Dutch) Algemene Informatie. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ (Dutch) Gemeente Almere: Stadsdelen. Retrieved on 2015-08-29.
  11. ↑ (Dutch) Sociale Atlas 2007 Bevolkingsopbouw[dead link]. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

 Markermeer Lelystad
IJmeer Zeewolde
  Almere  
Gooise Meren (NH) / IJmeer Gooimeer
Huizen (NH), Blaricum (NH)		 Gooimeer / Eemnes (UT)
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