Almere

Sister cities

• Aalborg
• Växjö Municipality
• Rendsburg
• Aalborg Municipality
• Lancaster
• Milton Keynes
• Haapsalu
• Kumasi
• Tainan
• Dmitrov

History

The original plans for the IJsselmeerpolders saw the land being used for agriculture. This changed in the early 1960's according to the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics. After World War II housing was needed for the rapidly growing population of Amsterdam and two towns were planned in the polders Oostelijk Flevoland and Zuidelijk Flevoland. The town in Oostelijk Flevoland became Lelystad. The town in Zuidelijk Flevoland was still called Zuidweststad (English: South West City) on the first sketches; but in the 1970s it became called Almere, named after the lake Almere, the early medieval name of the Zuiderzee. The first house in Almere was finished in 1976. At that time the town was still controlled by the Openbaar Lichaam Zuidelijke IJsselmeerpolders (Z.IJ.P.), with a Landdrost. In 1984 Almere became an official municipality, a year before the official establishment of its province, Flevoland. Originally, Almere was envisioned as a town with multiple centres. This idea was later abandoned in favour of allowing neighbourhoods like Tussen de Vaarten to be built. There is also a difference between the way houses are built in the oldest and the newest parts of the city. The housing plan in Almere in the 1970s was basic functionality and a levelling of social status. However, starting in the 1990s more exclusive homes with striking designs were built (notably in the Regenboogbuurt).

Geography

Almere is located in the polder of Southern Flevoland (Dutch: Zuidelijk Flevoland). It is the most western municipality of the province Flevoland. It borders with Markermeer in the west and north, Lelystad in the northeast, Zeewolde in the east, and Gooimeer in the south. Almere consists of three boroughs and three districts (Dutch: stadsdelen), three of which were under construction . {| class="wikitable" |- ! Name ! Year ! Location |- | Almere Haven ('Almere Harbor') | 1976 | |- | Almere Stad ('Almere City') | 1980 | |- | Almere Buiten ('Outer Almere') | 1984 | |- | Almere Hout ('Almere Woods') | 1991 | |- | Almere Poort ('Almere Gate') | 2000 | |- | Almere Pampus | To be constructed | |} Almere has an oceanic climate characterized by mild to cool winters, and warm summers with fair precipitation year-round.