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Ab initio Nova Gorica
Gumb išči A-Ž

Zoetermeer

Country: The Netherlands
Year founded: the new city was founded in 1962; the original village dates from the 11th century
Planned population: ca. 100,000
Current population: ca. 130,000
Purpose: planned as a satellite city next to The Hague
Special feature: Stad tussen de parken – “Town in between parks”; green space was a key element in the 1968 Struktuurplan

Once a small village of 8,000, Zoetermeer reinvented itself in the 1960s to avoid annexation by The Hague and become a modern satellite city with its own future. Within a few decades, it grew to over 100,000 residents, built along green corridors and modernist housing estates. Later, its large-scale plan was criticised as impersonal, inspiring more human-scale renewal. Today, Zoetermeer faces the challenge of reuniting its village roots with its planned city identity, while rethinking mobility and community life.

Avtor: New Towns New Narratives Network

Kraj: Zoetermeer

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