
Bijlmer: City of the Future, Part 1 - IntronExon
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/bijlmer-city-future-part-1/
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jacquesm
The Bijlmermeer (which is the official name) is a collosal failure. It's the
closest thing to a ghetto that the Netherlands has. The city has sunk massive
funds into attempts to improve things with some very limited effect. In the
end the decision was made to tear down a large number of the flats (in one
part aided by a cargo 747 that crashed right on top of one of the flats), but
even that could not get rid the area of its stigma.

If you want to read more about it the wikipedia page (in Dutch) has a ton more
information:

[https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijlmermeer_(Amsterdam)](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijlmermeer_\(Amsterdam\))

The last few years have seen things improve a bit, but it is nowhere near an
integral part of Amsterdam, and the only reason people live there is because
it is cheap or they have nowhere else to go (such as: Almere, Hoofddorp,
Zaandam, Lelystad, Hoorn and Purmerend which are the other satellite cities of
Amsterdam attracting the people the original Bijlmermeer was intended to
house).

~~~
drukenemo
I'm a foreigner living in Amsterdam and I'm assuming you're Dutch. Look, the
Bijlmer area is certainly problematic within Dutch standards, and I would just
call it a massive failure within these standards. Really, there are no no-go
areas in this country and it's a very well accomplished land in many societal
parameters, when comparing to the world. I'd call a colossal failure the city
I'm from, Rio de Janeiro.

~~~
jacquesm
It's all relative, that's for sure. I've lived in lots of different places and
indeed, by _Dutch_ standards the Bijlmer is a collosal failure, at the same
time it is obvious that that is the context. This is a country that is pretty
big on making stuff work, if not for that the country itself wouldn't even
exist. Engineering on this scale is nothing strange to the Dutch mentality at
all, turning sea into land or having Eifel-tower sized movable dams to keep
out the water is something people don't even bat an eye at (probably because
they are unaware of the feats of engineering underpinning that).

That there are much worse places in the world I readily concede, but it did
not at all turn out how it was meant to be and that's what differentiates
Bijlmermeer from the rest of the Netherlands and how major planning is done
here, and _that_ is why to me it is a collosal failure.

By the way: welcome to our little rainy country!

~~~
drukenemo
Bedankt! (Thank you, in Dutch)

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yvoschaap
If this topic interests you, read about the development of "Plan West" (+6000
houses) and "Plan Zuid" (+2000 houses) both in Amsterdam.

* [https://www.indonesia-investments.com/about-us/who-we-are/ou...](https://www.indonesia-investments.com/about-us/who-we-are/our-history/item300)?

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m0llusk
Architecture here is held up as the core issue, but close examination shows
design isn't even relevant. This complex in the Netherlands was not connected
to transportation and became host to concentrated poverty which we now know is
socially toxic. Pruitt Igor receives mention, but it was intended from the
start to host concentrated poverty and was built so cheaply that it was
falling apart when first residents moved in and proved to be impossible to
maintain.

Just one interesting contrasting development is the Barbican in London which
is not only a dehumanizing tower complex but also built in the now largely
disliked Brutalist style. The Barbican has all of the design flaws called out
and yet is a popular, fully occupied, and highly desirable success.

If you want to have a meaningful impact on design then you will have to stop
lying about concrete tower block development.

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LeonM
For those not from the Netherlands (and since the second part of the article
is not out yet). The Bijlmer was struck by a disaster known as the
'bijlmerramp' (dutch for: Bijlmer disaster) in 1992 when a 747 cargo plane
crashed on one of the structures.

See [0] (Dutch) and [1] (English):

[0]
[https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijlmerramp](https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bijlmerramp)

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Al_Flight_1862](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Al_Flight_1862)

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kvczor
I really love 99% Invisible podcast. Fantastically executed stories.

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microcolonel
I'm really not a fan of this architecture. I think it would be pretty
depressing not to have a clear view over the horizon in _some_ direction.

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srchr
I’ve lived in the Bijlmer for two years and had a wonderful time. The streets
are clean, has great restaurants and the people are warm, kind and generous
(within a few days neighbors dropped by with delicious leftovers of a birthday
dinner as a welcome gift). I never experienced any trouble or felt unsafe
while I lived there. Perhaps people perceive it to be a failure because the
majority of inhabitants happen to be black.

~~~
cybertim
I've lived there for five years, and like you, I'm always very surprised by
all the articles and comments made by people about the Bijlmer (about it being
the worst place ever..) But all these people tend to have one thing in common,
they have never lived or even visited the Bijlmer, or indeed tend to be a bit
racist. It's sad, because it is not a failure at all. In retrospect I even
believe it's one of the most unique places The Netherlands has to offer.

~~~
jacquesm
Hilarious. I've known the Bijlmer intimately since roughly 1980, my mom lived
there for quite a while, and extended family has lived there since the early
1970's and continue to live there today. I've seen parts of it being built
(the later sections), school mates in 1977 lived there and I used to bike
there regularly.

Gliphoeve, Kelbergen and other areas of the Bijlmer were so bad at some point
that the police did not want to go there unless they went as a team. Robberies
were on the order of the day, drug use in the subway stations and on the
trains was so common nobody even noticed any more. The parking garages were
essentially chopshops by night.

At a guess you have only seen the Bijlmer since long after the attempts to
clean it all up have started. Maybe you'd believe my mom who had to get a
large dog just to be able to make it from the shopping center to her house
without being molested or robbed?

If you feel the Bijlmer is one of the most unique places NL has to offer then
you are definitely part of some exquisite group of people with acquired
tastes, the vast majority of the people that I know that have lived there and
have moved out were happy to finally leave it all behind them.

~~~
pasabagi
How common? I just ask because I moved from a country where many people I
know, including myself, have been violently robbed or attacked at one point in
their lives (england), to Germany - where I've never even heard of somebody
getting mugged.

The Germans are pretty unaware of how safe it is here, on the whole - they'll
often explain to me a particular street is dangerous, or an area is bad - but
honestly, if you're from any other country, it's a bit ridiculous.

I mean, feeling unsafe is bad - but to put it in perspective, one of my german
friends lived in Coventry for a short while. On his second day there, he was
beaten up at a bus stop for having long hair. That's what an unsafe area is
like in england, which I'm sure is far more mild than most places in the
world.

