You will have to search hard in Holland to find newer land than Strandeiland. It’s there, how could it be otherwise, sandy. With green tufts popping up everywhere. The wind and the birds have unleashed. And boys who ride motorcycles don’t care about the fences around them.

But above all else, Strandeiland is huge. If you are going in a straight line from the northwest point to the southeast point, you will travel about two kilometers. In an all-terrain vehicle, you drive from Blijburg Beach through the loose sand in places. The tall buildings of Almere are kilometers from Paleis op de Dam, and the Pampus feels like just a short swim, you can almost touch it.

It’s been a while since not everything has been there. The Amsterdam mainland stopped for a while at Center Island. And associated with this is now, for two years now, a flattened ground in a place where the waters were long ago. And it wouldn’t be long before this land was used for what it was all about: homes. The largest beach in the Netherlands is just an intermediate stage.

It did not pass without a hitch with Strandeiland: when it was decided in 1996 to create IJburg, the project was scheduled to be completed in 2010. But the financial crisis changed everything, so that development stopped after Haveneiland and Stegreland.

215 football fields

It’s now there and the bottom has settled enough. 8000 homes located on 138 hectares of reclaimed land. Good for 215 football fields. Some of it will actually be used for sports, and the rest of all that space will be filled with homes, because the need is great, and the lack of living space is providing the housing crisis with new fuel month after month.

Next to it, in the future, Buiteneiland will be reclaimed: an island with a “natural character”, among other things, space for a park the size of Vondelpark. It should form the last part of the IJburg archipelago. In Buiteneiland, 5.5 hectares are allocated for sports grounds. Current plans take into account the construction of up to 500 homes on the island.

More than just a drink for a drink, this residential development will put an end to the dam. As Oost is in any case one of the main suppliers of housing in the city. Empty spaces are being filled in IJburg and the features of another new neighborhood can already be clearly distinguished in Centrumeiland: most of the houses here will be completed in the coming period.

This is where it will happen

But in the coming years, the focus will be on Strandiland, at the far eastern end of the city. “It’s going to happen here,” says Reiner van Dantzig, a councilor, as he looks at the new patch of sand. Member of the local council on a working visit. to Zeeburgereiland, where Baaibuurten and Sluisbuurt are in the programme, and to Strand and Centrumeiland. “It’s an embryonic process, so nice to see how such a new part of town is being created.”

Van Dantzig is updated everywhere. The allocation in the coalition agreement is clear: 7,500 homes must be built per year. That’s ambitious, he says, and the officials he talks to have to say it with him. He asks what is the current situation, and what do they need. Quick decisions, it seems. “This will be on your desk soon.”

What is happening here is coloring a blank sheet of paper: the municipality can operate in one form or another without being hampered by existing buildings or historical agreements. How many houses, how many schools, how many commercial facilities and how many social facilities, can be placed on the drawing board with a certain amount of freedom. Swimming pool, greenery, food? This is the time. A playground for city makers.

Nightclub under the bridge

Strandland will be for everyone, but the focus will be on family homes, says Van Dantzig. Therefore the 40-40-20 split (40% social rent, 40% medium term and 20% expensive rent and purchase) of 40-25-35 was abandoned. But there will also be temporary housing for people of stature and youth. Also subscribe right now: Underground Nightclub Under the Bridge to Strandeiland. Due to the location, the neighbors will not be disturbed by noise pollution. Alderman, a catering guy, excited.

Soon the bulldozer will go to the ground to build the first homes: the flexible homes will be grouped together in what will soon be called Muidenbuurt. Then the other half of Strandleyland would be called Bamboosport. The first residents will move in at the end of 2025. Pioneers: For schools and shops, they still have to rely on the facilities on the other side of IJburg Bay.

As elsewhere in the city: housing is being built in stages. The city lacks the manpower to allocate land everywhere at once. And what’s more: if everyone starts working on new homes at the same time, it becomes impractical for builders. And imagine that a new crisis comes, it is better to have a half-developed neighborhood than a half-full neighborhood.

Lesson Three from IJburg

The layout is complicated to say the least: Neighborhood design from the drawing board may seem perfect, but there’s a lot involved. Bridges to be used at any time are already waiting on the beach, and the designs take into account the event that a public transport connection between Amsterdam and Almere will be established. And about ten thousand other things like that.

very complicated. But at the same time: the wheel has been invented many times before. What have the area developers learned? Anything, but the good is what someone calls IJburg’s third lesson: If you think you have enough schools, build a few. You always seem to need it.