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GWL terrain: an urban eco area

The Westerpark municipal district council decided to develop the former minicipal waterboard terrain (GWL terrain) in Amsterdam into a residential area in 1989. The complex was to be a car-free, environmentally friendly residential area. The plans not only influenced car use but also car ownership – the only parking spaces available were created on the edge of the complex. The complex includes properties for both renting and buying, with the emphasis on larger houses for families. There are generous outdoor spaces, apartments with roof gardens, private gardens for the ground floor properties and a green public space intended not only for the residents, but also for those living in the densely built adjacent neighbourhoods.

Publications

Factsheets
Factsheet 1: History of the area
Factsheet 2: Origins
Factsheet 3: Architecture
Factsheet 4: Environment
Factsheet 5: Maintenance

Flyer in Dutch, English and German.
Introduction to the GWL terrain and it’s ecological design.
Westerpark municipal district council, 2000
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Europe’s Vibrant New Low Car(bon) Communities
ITDP has issued a new report that examines eight new developments across Europe and finds that the design and policy measures these developments have employed to limit car use are working. These developments have lower rates of car ownership and car mode share, and higher rates of bicycling, walking and transit use than comparable areas or their surrounding cities. This also means these developments have lower carbon footprints from transportation.
The GWL terrain is one of these eight developments.
English, september 2011
Read the report about the GWL terrain
Read the whole report

GREENPRINT: Examples of sustainable practice in the urban environment is a book of over 150 pages about sustainable practices all over the world. The book focuses on many subjects. One of these are sustainable neighbourhoods. In that chapter one of the projects is the GWL-terrain.
Published: 2011
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Urban Ecology. Innovations in housing policy and the future of cities. Towards sustainability in neighbourhood communities.
Jan Scheurer, Murdoch University, Perth Western Australia, april 2001.
See website Murdoch University
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