Spatial framework for Nieuwland area in Schiedam
More homes, green spaces and a ‘ten-minute neighbourhood’
Spatial framework for Nieuwland area in Schiedam
Witteveen+Bos, in collaboration with Urban Synergy, was commissioned by the municipality of Schiedam to create a spatial development framework for the Nieuwland neighbourhood. This plan combines densification with a transition to a ten-minute neighbourhood.
The neighbourhood was developed in the 1950s and 1960s as an early modernist neighbourhood based on an attractive design concept. A renovation in the 1980s and 1990s, prompted by the development of the Benelux metro line, did not bring about the desired improvement.
This made Nieuwland's characteristics even more out of step with the needs of the present day, both in terms of management and maintenance and in terms of the wishes of the neighbourhood's residents, for example regarding the use of outdoor space.
Ten-minute neighbourhood
In order to achieve a good integrated approach to urban renewal for Nieuwland, Witteveen+Bos has developed a Spatial Framework. In this framework, we lay the foundation for a densification project to create more homes in combination with a mobility transition in which Nieuwland becomes a ten-minute neighbourhood.
The urban planning choices contribute to a compact neighbourhood, where residents can reach all important daily amenities within a ten-minute walk or cycle. Providing Nieuwland residents with accessible access to the Benelux metro line is an important aspect of this.
Intimate green spaces
The framework outlines the main structures for the layout of the available space in the neighbourhood. It also provides starting points for the development of redevelopment plans at neighbourhood or street level.
The project analysed, among other things, the original modernist principles of Nieuwland. Two types of land parcelling were identified, both characterised by their openness: intimate green spaces are connected to public spaces.
Robust foundation
In order to prevent future developments within Nieuwland from further damaging the neighbourhood, the openness of modernism, among other things, has been identified as a characteristic. These characteristics have been projected onto the structures of the neighbourhood and described in cross-sections.
Witteveen+Bos has compiled the findings in a report, which will form a robust foundation for the spatial choices made by the municipality of Schiedam in the Nieuwland neighbourhood in the coming years.
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