Landscape framework Oosterwold

Oosterwold is a unique development area for housing, food production, and self-organisation. The organic development has generated great diversity but also has downsides: limited accessibility, a lack of collective public space, and problematic water management. For the next phase (fields I, N, and O), clients BPD and Gebiedsteam Oosterwold desire a stronger collective structure. This zone presents additional challenges: nuisance from the highway, wind turbines, and land subsidence.

Together with Urhahn and NIO, Smartland designed an urban and landscape framework that builds on lessons learned from previous phases. The ambition: ‘to define what is necessary and leave free what is possible’. Central to this is the concept of 'rooms' (neighborhoods of 20 to 30 households) in which infrastructure, water management, and urban agriculture are organised collectively, giving residents more freedom on their own plots.

New food forests, agroforestry areas, and forest rooms continue the existing forest ridges. Robust wet and dry corridors form the basis for drainage and connectivity. Together with new avenues and green slow-traffic routes, a contemporary Oosterwold 'estate zone' is emerging, featuring walking routes, recreational areas, and communal facilities such as community centers and playgrounds.

A fine-meshed network of green-blue structures along the edges of the 'walkable zones' chambers connects the chambers to one another and offers space for public gatherings. At a scale level, the framework also forms an important ecological corridor: a robust connection between the Almeerderhout and the Eem Valley, serving as a link in a larger ecological network for humans and animals. In this way, the framework strengthens ecological cohesion, enhances recreational quality, and gives Oosterwold a recognizable landscape identity — as a destination for residents as well as visitors from Almere and beyond. The plan was explicitly developed in collaboration with future residents and based on the experiences of current Oosterwold residents.