MVRDV + DIY = The New New Urbanism

DIY: still all the rage. Last year, we wrote about DIY land remediation (seriously!), which, at the time, seemed to be an urban intervention that seemed about as antithetical to spontaneous DIY ethics as you could possibly get. Now, thanks to internationally-renowned Dutch architecture firm MVRDV, we can add urban planning to that list of unexpectedly DIY activities.

MVRDV’s new urban plan for Almere Oosterworld tries to avoid what they see as a static, uninspiring environment of overplanned Dutch communities. Almere is a fitting location for MVRDV’s proposal: it is the ultimate planned city, with construction only beginning in 1968. The plan for Oosterworld, on the other hand, is remarkably flexible. While certain conditions on land-use will be maintained (59% urban agriculture, 18% construction, 13% public green, 8% roads, 2% water), how this is realised will remain in flux. Oosterworld is less of a design proposal and more of a strategic development proposal.

MVRDV claims the 43-square-kilometre project site will stimulate the labour market (26.000 new jobs, 200.000-square-metres of new office space) and create new living spaces (15.000 dwellings). Decisions on construction will be made by the community itself, rather than arms of the municipal government. The fine folks at ArchDaily have a collection of renderings straight from MVRDV of what Oosterworld could look like: take a look!