POLDERDAY

On the 29th of November the INSIDE group visited the most important and biggerst polders of the Netherlands: the Noord Oost Polder (North East Polder) and Flevoland.

The most fascinating thing about the polderdag for me was the documentary "A NEW VILLAGE ON NEW LAND". The documentary shows the development of the village of Nagele in the northeast polder. The village is a striking example of postwar planning in the Netherlands.

The village was intended for agricultural workers and was designed and built in one great gesture by architects such as Aldo van Eyck, Gerrit Rietveld and Mien Ruys.
The film showed how the architects planned the lives of the people, who were allowed to live there. Not everyone could settle down in Nagele, the residents were selected according to criteria. Already in the design all efforts have been made to make Nagele a close-knit community. The architects had a clear goal, the village was designed to be successful not only for the current generation but also for many generations thereafter.
I find it hard to understand that these architects were convinced that the future generations did not have different needs and therefore demanded a different living environment.

The documentary showed how controlled life in the polder was.
Everything in the polder is invented, created and controlled by men. Nothing is random, even the nature is planted in a grid.
Seeing this movie made me realize how we Dutch like to have everything under control and keep it that way. To the smallest detail.

Documentary: 'Een Nieuw Dorp Op Nieuw Land'

The Noord Oost Polder (land since 1942)

Flevoland (land since 1957-1968)