The renewal of what was tomorrow's idealistic city: Amsterdam's Bijlmermeer high-rise

One of the finest and best-known examples of a CIAM-planned area is the Bijlmermeer in Amsterdam, one of Europe’s leading examples of high-rise estates. Over the years, the Bijlmermeer has been a shining example of the high expectations and ideas of CIAM-planning, the disappointment, problems and stigma of numerous improvement trials and...

Book review of: Mass housing in Europe: multiple faces of development, change and response

review of the book Maas Housing in Europe

The integrated renewal of Amsterdam’s Bijlmermeer high-rise

In recent years, there has been a growing interest all over the world in improving the large housing estates of the 1960s and 1970s. Highrise estates are associated with problematic living conditions, deprived areas, isolated locations, a poor population, a negative image, social isolation, pollution and crime. In short: they are not the most...

Stedelijke Vernieuwing in Frankrijk

De buitenwijken van Franse steden staan niet goed bekend. Rellen. Hoogbouwflats. Troosteloos. Triest. Kansarm. De grands ensembles in de banlieue. In dit rapport vergelijken we Franse en Nederlandse wijken, en tevens het vernieuwingsbeleid in beide landen. Er zijn opvallende overeenkomsten en verschillen.

Large social housing estates: From stigma to demolition?

It is curious that the most frequently reviewed and well thought-out large housing estates are now the areas with the worst image. Image is an important factor of a neighbourhood’s popularity, affecting its position in the local or regional neighbourhood hierarchy. Many studies and reports about problematic areas indicate that a negative image,...

Renewing stigmatised estates in the Netherlands: A framework for image renewal strategies

Like in so many other European countries, the large housing estates of the post-World War II generation in the Netherlands did not fulfil the great and often Utopian expectations. Nowadays they are confronted with the effects of a negative image, a stigma. Images differ according to the persons asked for an opinion. Internal images, elicited...