Almere

Almere (Dutch pronunciation: [ɑlˈmeːrə] (listen)) is a planned city and municipality in the province of Flevoland, Netherlands, bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde. The municipality of Almere comprises six official areas[6] that are the districts of Almere Stad (which is further split up into Almere Stad Oost, Almere Stad West and Almere Centrum), Almere Buiten and Almere Pampus (which is currently being designed),[7] and the boroughs of Almere Haven, Almere Hout and Almere Poort. Four of them feature official district or borough offices.[8] Furthermore, it also comprises the unofficial historic district and neighborhood Oostvaardersdiep,[9] which has an active semi-self-governing community,[10] and the planned district of Almere Oosterwold. Almere is part of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (MRA).

For other uses, see Almere (disambiguation).
Almere
City and municipality
Flag
Coat of arms
Location in Flevoland
Coordinates: 52°22′N 5°13′E
CountryNetherlands
ProvinceFlevoland
Government
 • BodyMunicipal council
 • MayorFranc Weerwind (D66 [2])
Area
 • Total248.77 km2 (96.05 sq mi)
 • Land129.19 km2 (49.88 sq mi)
 • Water119.58 km2 (46.17 sq mi)
Elevation−3 m (−10 ft)
Population
 (January 2019)[5]
 • Total207,904
 • Density1,609/km2 (4,170/sq mi)
Demonym(s)Almeerder
Time zoneUTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST)UTC+2 (CEST)
Postcode
1300–1379
Area code036
Websitewww.almere.nl

Almere is the newest city in the Netherlands: the land on which the city sits, the Southern Flevoland polder, was reclaimed from the IJsselmeer from 1959 to 1968. The first house was finished in 1976, and Almere became a municipality in 1984. It has the largest population of the municipalities in Flevoland with 207,904 citizens in 2019 and the 7th largest in the Netherlands.[11] In October 2007, the city council of Almere made agreements with the government to expand the city to 350,000 inhabitants by 2030.[12][13]

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 (notably in the Regenboogbuurt).

Governance

Local executive

Franc Weerwind (D66) serves as Mayor of Almere since 9 September 2015. Following the Dutch municipal elections, 2014 the current municipal council was inaugurated. The nationalist 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

Municipal council

The first municipal 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 2018, the council of Almere has comprised a total of 45 members.

Party1984198619901994199820022006201020142018
People's Party for Freedom and Democracy557101287758
Labour Party1014969712857
Party for Freedom-------996
Democrats 6612710521365
GroenLinks2134443324
Leefbaar Almere-----94343
Socialist Party------4243
Party for the Animals---------3
Christian Union----112112
Christian Democratic Appeal2343343222
Almere Partij/OPA-122322-11
Respect---------1
Trots op Nederland-------1--
Verenigde Senioren Partij----111---
Stadspartij Almere----11----
Centrumdemocraten2112------
Stap '841---------
Total23273337393939393945

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

Twin cities

Almere maintains international relations with the following twin cities:[14][15]

Geography
Satellite image of the Flevopolder
Topographic map of Almere, September 2014
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 Markermeer in the west and north, Lelystad in the northeast, Zeewolde in the east, and Gooimeer in the south.

Almere consists of three boroughs and three districts (Dutch: stadsdelen), three of which are under construction.[17]

Name Year[18] Location
Almere Haven ('Almere Harbor') 1976
Almere Stad ('Almere City') 1980
Almere Buiten ('Outer Almere') 1984
Almere Hout ('Almere Woods') 1991
Almere Poort ('Almere Gate') 2000
Almere Pampus To be constructed

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
(48.0)		 5.9
(42.6)		 12.8
(55.0)
Daily mean °C (°F) 2.2
(36.0)		 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
(43.0)		 3.4
(38.1)		 9.2
(48.6)
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
(54.0)		 10.1
(50.2)		 7.1
(44.8)		 3.4
(38.1)		 0.9
(33.6)		 5.7
(42.3)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 68.0
(2.68)		 47.0
(1.85)		 59.0
(2.32)		 45.0
(1.77)		 53.0
(2.09)		 62.0
(2.44)		 75.0
(2.95)		 77.0
(3.03)		 76.0
(2.99)		 80.0
(3.15)		 78.0
(3.07)		 76.0
(2.99)		 838.2
(33.00)
Source: climatedata.org (1981–2010 normals)[19]

Demography

Inhabitants by origin
2017 Numbers %
Dutch natives 118,944 59.20
European immigrants 17,380 8.65
Non-European immigrants 64,590 32.15
Suriname[20] 22,772 11.33
Morocco 7,871 3.92
Indonesia 5,981 2.98
Netherlands Antilles and Aruba 4,955 2.47
Turkey 3,572 1.78
Others 36,819 18.33

Total population
Year Almere Haven Almere Stad Almere Buiten Almere Hout Almere Poort Almere Pampus Almere in total
1970             52
1975             47
1980 6,596           6,632
1985 21,410 17,240 1,559       40,297
1990 22,355 37,024 11,499       71,087
1995 22,376 58,816 22,740 564     104,496
2000 22,237 83,934 35,290 1,336     142,797
2005 22,590 103,560 47,358 1,366     175,008
2007 22,507 105,261 51,751 1,345 134   180,998
2016 22,037 109,863 55,663 1,678 10,920   200,812

Culture

On 19 May 2004, at the instigation of Kees Kousemaker, owner of the Amsterdam comics store Lambiek, the first buildings of the Stripheldenbuurt were inaugurated in Almere. This is a district where all street names are named after famous comics characters and cartoonists. [21]

Sport

Almere is the home of football team Almere City FC, American football team FlevoPhantoms and the home of professional basketball team the Almere Sailors.

Transport
Kunstlinie Almere Flevoland (formerly known as "Schouwburg Almere")

The traffic infrastructure in Almere is recognisable because of its separate infrastructure for cycles (which, in most cases, have separate cycle paths), cars and buses (the buses drive on a separate bus lane in most parts of the city). 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 seasonal-use station, Almere Strand, was set up for certain events, such as Libelle Zomerweek. The station was made up of iron platforms. It was opened in May 1996 under the name Muiderzand. The station was closed after June 1996 but re-opened in June 1999 under the name Muiderstrand and closed again in July 1999. It re-opened again in 2001 under the name Almere Strand as an official seasonal-use station, meaning it was now open certain seasons every year. Because of the rapid development of the adjacent borough Almere Poort, it was decided to open an official station there (see Almere Poort), thus making the station of Almere Strand obsolete. Almere Poort station opened on December 9, 2012. Therefore, Almere Strand station was officially closed just after the summer of 2012 and its iron platforms were torn down in the weekend of October 6–7, 2012.[22] There are no remains of the station, although passengers can still see where the platforms once stood from the windows of Flevolijn trains.

Local bus lines

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

Line # Route Notes
M1 Almere Centrum Station – Almere Haven De Marken or Almere Haven De Gouwen – Almere Haven Centrum Runs every 5 minutes Mon-Fri during daytime hours (every 7.5-15 minutes on evenings and Sundays). The bus line changes into M2 at Almere Centrum
M2 Almere Centrum Station – Almere Buiten station - Almere Oostvaarders station - Almere Stripheldenbuurt Runs every 5 minutes Mon-Fri during daytime hours (every 7.5-15 minutes on evenings and Sundays). The bus line changes into M1 at Almere Centrum
M3 Almere Centrum Station - Almere Beatrixpark - Almere Muziekwijk Runs every 5 minutes Mon-Fri during daytime hours (every 7.5-15 minutes on evenings and Sundays).
M4 Almere Centrum Station – Almere Literatuurwijk – Almere Gooisekant-West – Almere Poort Homeruskwartier – Almere Poort Station Runs every 5 minutes Mon-Fri during daytime hours (every 7.5-15 minutes on evenings and Sundays).
M5 Almere Centrum station - Almere Danswijk - Almere Parkwijk station - Almere Sallandsekant Runs every 5 minutes Mon-Fri during daytime hours (every 7.5-15 minutes on evenings and Sundays).
M6 Almere Centrum Station – Noorderplassen Runs every 7 minutes Mon-Fri (every 15 minutes on Saturdays and every 30 minutes on Sundays).
M7 Almere Centrum station - Almere Parkwijk station - Almere Buiten station - Almere Oostvaarders station Runs every 5 minutes Mon-Fri during daytime hours (every 7.5-15 minutes on evenings and Sundays).
22 Almere De Vaart/PIA – Almere Buiten Station Mon-Fri only; does not run on evenings and weekends. Has 2 request stops
25 Almere Sallandsekant - Almere Nobelhorst Only on Mon-Fri in rush hours
525 Almere Sallandsekant – Almere Nobelhorst Mon-Sat outside rush hours only

Monday to Friday, most city buses run about every 5 minutes (10 times every hour) during daytime hours. Saturdays, only a few city bus lines run every 7,5 minutes during daytime hours; most of them run every 12–15 minutes. Sunday, most of the city buses run every 15 minutes (with some buses running extra runs during certain hours) and M6 which only runs every 30 minutes.

There are a few overnight bus lines (Mon-Sat nights only): N21, N22 and N23. They run under the Keolis internal name nightGo (but are operated by R-Net branded regional buses).

The bus company running almost all buses is Keolis Netherlands. Local buses (city buses) run under the name allGo. In the buses one can use the national transportation chipcard (smart card), subscriptions or one can buy bus tickets of allGo in the bus or at TVM's (the latter only Downtown).

Regional bus lines

Besides the local bus lines, there are regional and rush hour bus lines to towns and cities in the area.

Line Route Notes
323 Almere Parkwijk station - Almere Poort Station – Muiden P+R - Amsterdam Bijlmer Mon-Fri between 5.30 AM and 10.30 AM and between 14.00 PM until the end of the day. Sat only after 18.00 PM and Sun all day long.[23]
324 Almere Parkwijk Station – Almere Filmwijk - Amsterdam Bijlmer Mon-Fri, rush hours-only, express bus without stops in Amsterdam
326 Almere Centrum Station – Busstation 't Oor – Almere De Kemphaan – Blaricum Carpoolplaats Mon-Fri only; does not run on evenings and weekends.
159 Almere Centrum Station – Almere Veluwsekant – Almere De Kemphaan – Almere Hout – Zeewolde – Harderwijk Mon-Fri only; does not run on evenings and weekends. The last two buses of the day terminate halfway at Zeewolde Kwartiermakerslaan. Closed-system in Almere.
160 Almere Centrum Station – Busstation 't Oor – Almere De Kemphaan – Zeewolde De Eemhof – Amersfoort Vathorst Station Runs 7 days a week, but only every 2 hours and only between 10 AM-10:30 PM. This bus is actually part of the OV Regio IJsselmond concession, but Keolis operates it under contract with Syntus Overijssel-branded buses.[24]
322 Almere Parkwijk Station – Almere Flevoziekenhuis – Almere Gooisepoort – Almere Poort Station – Muiden P+R – Diemen Diemerknoop – Amsterdam Amstel Is allowed to use the emergency lanes on the highway parts of the route to maneuver past traffic jams.
327 Almere Haven Centrum – Busstation 't Oor – Muiden P+R – Diemen Diemerknoop – Amsterdam Amstel Is allowed to use the emergency lanes on the highway parts of the route to maneuver past traffic jams.
328 Almere Haven Centrum – Busstation 't Oor – Muiden P+R – Diemen Diemerknoop – Amsterdam Bijlmer Closed-system in Amsterdam. Is allowed to use the emergency lanes on the highway parts of the route to maneuver past traffic jams.

Line 159 is operated by the bus company Connexxion.

Since April 2012, there was a rush hour route, 150, to Utrecht which connected Almere directly with the University Area of Utrecht called De Uithof. (This was previously done by former bus line 295[25]). Due to budget cuts, line 150 was scrapped on July 9, 2016.[26]

Notable residents
Rob Verlinden, 2012
Michaëlla Krajicek, 2016


Sport

References

Notes
  1. "The municipal executive". Gemeente Almere. Archived from the original on 2013-11-05. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  2. https://www.almere.nl/bestuur/college-van-b-en-w/burgemeester-franc-weerwind-d66
  3. "Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2020" [Key figures for neighbourhoods 2020]. StatLine (in Dutch). CBS. 24 July 2020. Retrieved 19 September 2020.
  4. "Postcodetool for 1315HR". Actueel Hoogtebestand Nederland (in Dutch). Het Waterschapshuis. Archived from the original on 21 September 2013. Retrieved 1 September 2013.
  5. "Bevolkingsontwikkeling; regio per maand" [Population growth; regions per month]. CBS Statline (in Dutch). CBS. 1 January 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2019.
  6. info@almere.nl. "Stadsdelen - Over Almere - Gemeente Almere". www.almere.nl.
  7. "Pampus - Gebiedsontwikkeling - Gemeente Almere". almere20.almere.nl.
  8. info@almere.nl. "Gebiedskantoren - Contact - Gemeente Almere". www.almere.nl.
  9. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 2016-02-29.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Oostvaardersdiep". oostvaardersdiep.net.
  11. (in Dutch) Lijst van grooste gemeenten in Nederland. Retrieved on 2010-12-31.
  12. (in Dutch) Schaalsprong Almere 2030, PDF. Retrieved on 2008-06-09.
  13. (in Dutch) Feiten en cijfers over Almere, Almere.nl.
  14. (in Dutch) Gemeente Almere: Partnersteden. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  15. (in Dutch) Algemene Informatie Archived 2004-09-10 at Archive.today. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  16. "Aalborg Twin Towns". Europeprize.net. Archived from the original on 7 September 2013. Retrieved 19 August 2013.
  17. (in Dutch) Gemeente Almere: Stadsdelen. Retrieved on 2015-08-29.
  18. (in Dutch) Sociale Atlas 2007 Bevolkingsopbouw. Retrieved on 2008-02-23.
  19. "Almere Climate Data 1981–2010".
  20. "CBS StatLine - Selecteren van gegevens". statline.cbs.nl.
  21. "The History of Lambiek (2003-2005)".
  22. http://www.stationsweb.nl/station.asp?station=almerestrand&vraag=almere%20strand%5B%5D
  23. http://wiki.ovinnederland.nl/wiki/Lijn_323_Almere_Station_Parkwijk_-_Amsterdam_Bijlmer_ArenA
  24. http://wiki.ovinnederland.nl/wiki/Lijn_160_Almere_Station_Centrum_-_Amersfoort_Station_Vathorst
  25. "Lijn 295 Almere-Stad Station Centrum - Utrecht AZU - OV in Nederland Wiki". wiki.ovinnederland.nl.
  26. "Snelwegbus Utrecht-Almere stopt ermee - RTV Utrecht". www.rtvutrecht.nl.
  27. IMDb Database retrieved 10 August 2019
  28. IMDb Database retrieved 10 August 2019
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