Urban Identity in Modernist Urban Development

from Urban Identity in Modernist Urban Development - The Case of New-town Lelystad, the Netherlands

**Elevated pathway between low-rise apartments. Atolwijk, Lelystad, the Netherlands.**
May 26, 2018.

Master thesis

URBAN IDENTITY IN MODERNIST URBAN DEVELOPMENT: THE CASE OF NEW-TOWN LELYSTAD, THE NETHERLANDS

ABSTRACT

Inspired by the much criticised Disneyland-esque new-towns of Shanghai, China, the thesis brings this topic to the west. A fresh urban identity is often imposed on new-towns, and ranges from referring to the past, to appealing to futuristic ideals. The research here focused on the latter. The question revolves around how the planners and designers attempt to create this identity, and how it is subsequently perceived by the inhabitants. The tumultuous history of the study case; new-town Lelystad, the Netherlands, explored in this thesis shows, that creating a new city from scratch is easier said than done. The new-town coped with underpopulation, high criminality and a bad outside reputation over the last decades. The findings of this thesis were therefore unexpected by the author. Based on the treatment of existing literature and empirical studies on urban identity, surveys have been employed to measure the identification of the inhabitants with their city. The relatively positive results from the respondents regarding their urban identity are reflected on the conflicting efforts of urban planning and design of the current and past responsible institutions. The efforts to create urban identity are not clearly reflected in the identification and observations of the inhabitants, and therefore reflect the view that perhaps urban identification happens despite the efforts of designers, rather than because of them.

This article is from:

Urban Identity in Modernist Urban Development - The Case of New-town Lelystad, the Netherlands