Past, present, future

Zoetermeer then and now

The vision Inner City does not just fall out of the sky. This is about the future development of Zoetermeer. When you do that, it is always good to look back into the past as well. It's nice to see how a city is constantly evolving. Below is an overview of Zoetermeer then and now.

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Is Zoetermeer a young municipality? That is both true and false. True, when it comes to the current size of the city. Not true, in terms of its place in the history books and the existence of a municipality named Zoetermeer. Zoetermeer is a city emphatically concerned with the present and with the future. A culture that stems from the gigantic construction tasks the city has faced over the past decades. And this is still happening, as can be seen in the latest district Oosterheem.

Eye for the past

That does not mean that Zoetermeer does not have an eye for the past. Before 1100, there was already a fishing village of Zoetermeer. In the 1960s to the present, the butter village of that time grew into the city we know today. That history is too fascinating to forget.

Urban life from the Middle Ages onward

In the Dorpsstraat lies the origin of urban life in Zoetermeer. People lived here as early as the 13th century, according to excavations. The Dorpsstraat was halfway along the thoroughfare from The Hague to Gouda, and here the road intersected with the shipping route between Leiden and Delft. Since that time, the street developed into an important traffic junction, which was good for the economy for centuries . The Dorpsstraat became a popular overnight stop between the major cities, so there were several inns. There were also commercial and industrial enterprises. This caused the Dorpsstraat to become a lively meeting place, which eventually became the facility center for Zoetermeer's first neighborhood, the Dorp, in the 1950s.

The first years as a growth center

After World War II, due to all the devastation nationwide, there was a great lack of housing. Zoetermeer was therefore asked by the state to make a structure plan for a city of 100,000 inhabitants; the beginning of the growth of the village of Zoetermeer into a complete city.

In 1962, Zoetermeer was officially granted growth center status and began to expand rapidly and systematically. The Dorpsstraat soon proved too small to continue functioning as a facility center. Therefore, a temporary emergency shopping center was built on the site of today's Soeterweijde.

The new city center: planning

In the 1970s, Zoetermeer had gained tens of thousands of inhabitants and plans were made to build a new city center. The municipality's objective was: "to realize a city center as a meeting place for the residents and as the highlight of urban life.

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Citizens had been invited, in part through a call by sound trucks, to participate in the plans, and they turned out to want a human, livable and cozy city center. Therefore, the city council chose a city center with the structure of a historic downtown: narrow streets with sheltered squares and a mix of stores, homes, businesses and recreational facilities.

The plan was innovative in part: it worked with different levels. Cyclists, pedestrians and shoppers could pass through the city center at ground level. For cars, parking spaces and the Zoetermeer city line (now the RandstadRail), there was space on a level below and at the edges of the center. So shoppers now walk over (parked) cars and the RandstadRail.

Position Dorpsstraat

When plans were being made for the new center, extensive discussion ensued about whether the Dorpsstraat should be part of it. Some plans even proposed demolishing the historic buildings at the Dorpsstraat . In the end, it was decided that the Dorpsstraat should not be part of the new center, but should function as a neighborhood center for the Village. By subsequently enlarging the Dobbeplas, the distance between the Dorpsstraat and the new town center was literally increased.

Economic headwinds

In 1978, the first pole for the new center went into the ground. The start was auspicious. But there was a national economic crisis, so the developers of the city center wanted to fall back on a concept they had already tried and safe: an indoor shopping center like Hoog-Catharijne in Utrecht. Still, the municipality stuck to the plan of a historic downtown with stores outdoors and housing above. The Stadshart ended up being built largely according to that plan.

The economic crisis did lead to budget cuts. Thus, the architecture was kept austere. There were also no stores on the first floor of the buildings on the Market Square. And the height of the spaces on the first floor has been lowered, making it impossible to include stores here later.

1980s and 1990s: city center and residential center

Construction of the new city center progressed steadily. In addition to the shopping area with housing above it, new residential neighborhoods came into being, such as the Greek neighborhood. The Stadshartpassage, the only covered part of the city center, opened its doors in 1990. During the 1990s followed the construction of the City Theater, the movie theater, several residential towers and a shopping arcade along the Waranda. All these downtown developments were called the Stadshart Zoetermeer.

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In the second half of the 1990s, the Woonhart emerged in the center at Europaweg. Here came retail focused on the theme of "living," such as furniture, bed and kitchen stores, with apartments above.

Upgrade Dorpsstraat

Meanwhile, the Dorpsstraat was doing less and less well because it was now "just" a community center for the Village. Entrepreneurs were going out of business and vacancies were growing. Therefore, in the late 1990s the municipality and entrepreneurs came up with a development vision for the Dorpsstraat. The historic setting offered good opportunities for cultural facilities, specialty stores and catering establishments. Thus the Dorpsstraat regained a function for the entire city and was distinctive from the modern city center.

New projects

The construction of the city center has never stood still. A few years ago, Spazio was realized on the west side of the Stadshart; a modern extension with stores, apartments and offices. The "UFO" housing a gym became the eye-catcher of the project.

Plans are also in the works for the near future. With the Cadenza project, living and shopping will be made possible on the east side of the Stadshart.

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Other company

Nowadays, there is increasingly a so-called "network society. Everyone moves around much more easily and is no longer tied to one particular place. As a result, Zoetermeerders goes not only to their own city center, but also to that of The Hague, or to centers such as Leidsenhage (Leidschendam), Alexandrium (Rotterdam) or De Boogaard (Rijswijk).

Leisure needs are also changing. Consumers now feel free to go shopping for an entire morning or afternoon. Grabbing a terrace for a drink or lunch is no stranger to this, whereas shopping used to be useful and terraces were for vacations.

Town centers must keep responding to these kinds of changes. Only then will they remain an interesting place to visit, to live there or to run a business.

Continuing objective

In the past, the goals for the city center, in addition to being a lively meeting place, were above all a human, livable and pleasant city center. The task formulated in the City Vision 2030 to further develop the center into an attractive, vibrant and safe city center fits well with this.