Reclamation of Land
While in the twelfth century the area of the present-day Haarlemmermeer still consisted of three smaller lakes, the digging of peat and the Southwesterly wind later transformed it into a dangerously choppy inland sea. Plans to drain it were therefore many. Eventually, after the successful poldering of the Zuidplas in the nineteenth century, the Dutch State also took on the Haarlemmermeer.

Steam power
Once again, the engineer J.A. Beijerinck devised the layout. In his 1845 design he opted for a main layout of road- and waterways that would best serve both drainage and national defence: a defensive roadway with a flood-proof "inundation embankment" and a main waterway perpendicular to this axis. The remaining roads, ditches and navigable waterways ran parallel to one of the two routes. For the first time, the usual windmills and millraces were absent in the landscape. Instead there were three big steam-powered pumping stations. It soon became clear that there were too few drainage ditches for the large area of land. During the early years there were therefore considerable problems with water management.

Polder structure
The urbanization of the Haarlemmermeer is now in full swing. Due to its scale and its position in the Randstad conurbation, the area has a lot of urban potential. The polder structure has largely been retained intact, with the exception of the nineteenth-century Geniedijk and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol.

Theme Urbanization

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