What can be learned from this project?
The VINEX programme provides a number of valuable lessons to other eco-town initiatives:
• Good coordination between different levels of government to facilitate a smooth start, through regional panels of politicians and officials
• Partnership working: negotiating with private developers on the sale of plots, and setting up multi-disciplinary project teams that cross professional boundaries
Vathorst waterside housing (Source URBED)
• Visioning: selecting masterplanners through carefully run competitions with briefs set by the municipality
• Environment: using Quality Panels of design experts to set environmental goals and monitor the material used
• Explotation of existing landscape features, such as trees, water and old buildings, to give each new suburb a unique character
• Building for variety and theming helps sell houses, promotes community pride, and strengthens existing cities.
In Vathorst they say "make water your friend not your enermy" (Source URBED)
• Adopting policies whereby the car is banned from areas that are easily accessible by other means.
• Encouraging the use of alternative means of transport by investing in new routes for pedestrians and cyclists.
• Developing services alongside housing to ensure that sustainability is built in from the start.
Topics associated with this project
Eco-town, Energy, Environmental, Housing, International, Neighbourhood, Planning, Transport