Utrecht in the province of the same name is the fourth
largest city in the Netherlands with almost 328,00 inhabitants. The city is
located on the eastern edge of the Randstad conurbation. Due to the central
location within the Netherlands the city is an important transport hub.
The foundation date of the city is usually equated to
the erection of a Roman castellum (Traiectum) as part of the Limes Germanicus
around the year 50. The fort on the Rhine was abandoned in the third century. Around
650 the Franks build a church within the walls of the former Roman fortress which
was quickly destroyed by the Frisians. In 732 the fortress of Traiectum -then
known as Uut-Trecht- is bestowed on
Willibrord the new Archbishop by Charles Martel. This is the real beginning of
the present city. The settlement received city rights in 1122. The city was
fortified with a wall and an outer moat with a canalised Rhine running through
the city. Later the city was expanded and fortified in the Dutch manner with
bulwarks and earthworks. In the nineteenth century these fortifications became obsolete
and were demolished after the Nieuwe Waterlinie had been built east of the city
in 1815. Combined with the railway -constructed in 1843- and new shipping
channels -the Keulse Vaart of 1825 and the Merwede Kanaal of 1892- the
centrally situated city grew quickly beyond the former city moat.
From 1880 onwards the city expanded in with
working-class neighbourhoods such as Lombok (3), Ondiep (4) and Oudwijk, Wittevrouwen
and Vogelenbuurt (1) and middle-class
neighbourhoods such as Elinkwijk (5), Tuindorp (2) and Oog in Al (3). Growth
was especially rapid after WW2. The municipality of Utrecht doubled in size
after parts of neighbouring Oudenrijn, Zuilen, Maartensdijk, Houten, De Bilt
and Jutphaas were annexed in 1954. In the same year a structural plan was drawn
up planning the growth of the city until 1970.
In this period several new suburbs were built like Kanaleneiland
(1957-'71), Hoograven (1954-'65) and Overvecht (1960-'70). At the same time
central government decided to spread urbanisation via new satellites around
existing larger cities: the so-called urban growth centres (groeikernen). The
first one designated was the New Town Houten in 1966. The New Town of
Nieuwegein followed in 1971. In Utrecht the suburb of Lunetten (1976-'84) was
built. The suburb of Maarsenbroek -adjacent to the Hooge Weide Industrial
Estate was developed between 1972 and '86 as a new satellite of Utrecht
(although never designated as a growth centre).
Utrecht knows a concentric urbanisation pattern. The
old city of Utrecht (U) lies at the centre of the urban landscape. It is
surrounded by neighbourhoods built before 1950 (1-5).The post-war suburb of
Overvecht (6), Kaneleneiland (7), Hoograven (8) and Lunetten (9) and the
University Campus Uithof (*) lie beyond. At some distance we find the expanded
towns and villages of IJsselstein (IJ), Maarssen (M), De BIlt (B), Bilthoven
(BH) and Zeist (Z) and de villages of Vleuten (v), De Meern (m), Bunnik (b and
Odijk (o). At a similar distance we find the New Towns of Houten (10),
Nieuwegein-Zuid / Vreeswijk (11) and Nieuwegein (12) and the suburb of
Maarssenbroek (13). The most recent expansion is being built in Leidse Rijn
(14), Vleuten-De Meern (15) and Houten-Castellum (16).
Other towns and villages around Utrecht also expanded
rapidly after WW2. The small city of IJsselstein grew from the middle of the
1950s onwards and was even connected by a new tram to Utrecht via Nieuwegein. The
villages of De Bilt and Zeist first saw the growth of villa parks for the
well-off after WW1. Later they built small housing estates for working class
people. After 1960 large scale expansion with high-rises was initiated, making
both de facto satellites of Utrecht, but
with less affordable housing and a bigger portion of homeownership when
compared to Houten and Nieuwegein.
In 1992 it was decided to expand Utrecht once again as
the demand for housing and new employment areas was still strong. The focus of
central government had shifted toward compact cities and it was decided to
expand Houten and create a new suburb across the A2 motorway called Leidse Rijn
and also build between Vleuten and De Meern. Work started in 1998 and is
supposed to be finished by 2018.
The City of Utrecht comprises of the central city and
a number of satellites that are either planned or have grown as a result of
their proximity to the central city. The city is very compact, with only a few
satellites truly separated from the central city, the rest is linked by vast
employment areas and golf courses and parks.
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