Amsterdam presents plans for new island neighborhood, including massive park

This week, Amsterdam presented its plans for Butieneiland, a new island neighborhood that will be the capstone of IJburg and will be constructed in the Markermeer. The island will have a "strong natural character", including a park the size of the Vondelpark. It will also take some 20 years to build, Het Parool reports.

The construction of Buiteneiland is set to start in 2022 or 2023 and will take around 20 years. According to alderman Marieke van Doorninck, the long development time is due to the fact that the island will be "completely circularly constructed with reused lands from other parts of the city".

Buiteneiland completes the IJburg archipelago. It forms part of IJburg's second phase, which also includes Centrumeiland and Strandeiland. The emphasis on this island is on nature and recreation. There are plans for a park the size of Vondelpark, which spans 47 hectares or 47,000 m². The plans also reserve 5.5 hectares for sports fields, and only allow for the construction of 500 homes - much less than Centrumeiland and Strandeiland, which will have 1,500 and 8 thousand homes respectively.

Amsterdam residents have until December 21 of this year to give their opinion on the design of Buiteneiland. After that, the responses will be reviewed and incorporated into the plan "where possible".