Almere

Almere () is a planned city and municipality in Flevoland, Netherlands, across the IJmeer from Amsterdam.

Bordering Lelystad and Zeewolde, the municipality of Almere comprises six boroughs: Almere Stad (which is further split up into Almere Stad Oost, Almere Stad West and Almere Centrum), Almere Buiten, Almere Pampus (which is currently being designed), Almere Haven, Almere Hout and Almere Poort. Four of them feature official district or borough offices. Furthermore, the city also comprises the unofficial historic district and neighbourhood Oostvaardersdiep. Almere is part of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area.

Almere is the newest city in the Netherlands. The land on which the city was built, the Southern Flevoland polder, was reclaimed from the IJsselmeer from 1959 to 1968. The first house was constructed in 1976, and Almere became a municipality eight years later. The city is the eighth largest in the Netherlands, and it is the largest settlement in Flevoland by population with 229,574 inhabitants (CBS; 2025). In October 2007, the city council of Almere had made agreements with the government to expand the city to 350,000 inhabitants by 2030. Schaalsprong Almere 2030, PDF. Retrieved on 2008-06-09. Feiten en cijfers over Almere, Almere.nl.

History The original plans for the IJsselmeerpolders saw the land being used for agriculture. This changed in the early 1960's according to the Dutch Central Bureau for Statistics. After World War II housing was needed for the rapidly growing population of Amsterdam and two towns were planned in the polders Oostelijk Flevoland and Zuidelijk Flevoland. The town in Oostelijk Flevoland became Lelystad. The town in Zuidelijk Flevoland was still called Zuidweststad (English: South West City) on the first sketches; but in the 1970s it became called Almere, named after the lake Almere, the early medieval name of the Zuiderzee. The first house in Almere was finished in 1976. At that time the town was still controlled by the Openbaar Lichaam Zuidelijke IJsselmeerpolders (Z.IJ.P.), with a Landdrost. In 1984 Almere became an official municipality, a year before the official establishment of its province, Flevoland. Originally, Almere was envisioned as a town with multiple centres. This idea was later abandoned in favour of allowing neighbourhoods like Tussen de Vaarten to be built. There is also a difference between the way houses are built in the oldest and the newest parts of the city. The housing plan in Almere in the 1970s was basic functionality and a levelling of social status. However, starting in the 1990s more exclusive homes with striking designs were built (notably in the Regenboogbuurt).

Governance

Local executive Hein van der Loo (independent) has been mayor of Almere since March 2023, with the municipal council consisting of a coalition of several parties.

List of mayors 1984–1986: Han Lammers (PvdA) 1986–1993: Cees de Cloe (PvdA) 1993–1994: Cees Roozemond (PvdA, acting) 1994–1998: Ralph Pans (PvdA) 1998–2003: Hans Ouwerkerk (PvdA) 2003–2003: Jaap van der Doef (PvdA, acting) 2003–2015: Annemarie Jorritsma (VVD) 2015–2022: Franc Weerwind (D66) 2022–2023: Ank Bijleveld (CDA, acting) 2023-current: Hein van der Loo (independent)

Municipal council The first municipal council was installed on 2 January 1984 in the presence of the then-Minister of the Interior Koos Rietkerk. The council elections took place on 21 September 1983. Prior to 1984 Almere had an Adviesraad, which was chosen every 2 years (1978–1980, 1980–1982, 1982–1984). This Adviesraad was made up of different political parties similar to a local council. On 11 March 1977 the first adviescommissie was elected. It consisted of 5 people that were chosen on personal title. Since 2018, the council of Almere has comprised a total of 45 members. Party1990199419982002 20062010 2014 2018 20222026Labour Party/GroenLinks---------8Labour Party9697128574*GroenLinks344433243*People's Party for Freedom & Democracy710128775865Democrats 6671052136545Party for Freedom-----99654Forum for Democracy--------24JA21 ---------4Christian Democratic Appeal4334322223Leefbaar Almere---943433350PLUS--------23Socialist Party----424342Party for the Animals-------331Christian Union--11211221Almere Partij/OPA22322-1111DENK--------11BIJ1--------20Respect Almere-------110Trots op Nederland-----1---0Verenigde Senioren Partij--111----0Stadspartij Almere--11-----0Centrumdemocraten12-------0Stap '841--------0Total33373939393939454545 * Labour/GroenLinks presented a joint list at the 2026 election.

International relations

Twin cities Almere maintains international relations with the following twin cities: . Retrieved on 2008-02-23. Aalborg, Denmark České Budějovice, Czech Republic Haapsalu, Estonia Kumasi, Ghana Lancaster, United Kingdom Milton Keynes, United Kingdom Port Sudan, Sudan (1986) Rendsburg, Germany Tainan City, Taiwan (2009) Växjö, Sweden

Geography

Almere is located in the polder of Southern Flevoland (Dutch: Zuidelijk Flevoland). It is the most western municipality of the province Flevoland. It borders with Markermeer in the west and north, Lelystad in the northeast, Zeewolde in the east, and Gooimeer in the south.

Almere consists of three boroughs and three districts (Dutch: stadsdelen), three of which were under construction .

Name Year Sociale Atlas 2007 Bevolkingsopbouw. Retrieved on 2008-02-23. Location Almere Haven ('Almere Harbor') 1976 Almere Stad ('Almere City') 1980 Almere Buiten ('Outer Almere') 1984 Almere Hout ('Almere Woods') 1991 Almere Poort ('Almere Gate') 2000 Almere Pampus To be constructed

Climate

Almere has an oceanic climate characterized by mild to cool winters, and warm summers with fair precipitation year-round.

Demography

Inhabitants by origin

2017Numbers%Dutch origin118,94454.31Other European origin17,38010.91Non-European origin64,59032.93Suriname22,77211.33Morocco7,8713.92Indonesia5,9812.98Netherlands Antilles and Aruba4,9552.47Turkey3,5721.78Others36,81911.50

Total population Year Almere Haven Almere Stad Almere Buiten Almere Hout Almere Poort Almere Pampus Almere in total1970       521975       471980 6,596      6,6321985 21,410 17,240 1,559    40,2971990 22,355 37,024 11,499    71,0871995 22,376 58,816 22,740 564   104,4962000 22,237 83,934 35,290 1,336   142,7972005 22,590 103,560 47,358 1,366   175,0082007 22,507 105,261 51,751 1,345 134  180,9982016 22,037 109,863 55,663 1,678 10,920  200,8122024 24,571 110,946 58,481 11,510 22,848 4 228,360 Culture

On 19 May 2004, at the instigation of Kees Kousemaker, owner of the Amsterdam comics store Lambiek, the first buildings of the Stripheldenbuurt were inaugurated in Almere. This is a district where all street names are named after famous comics characters and cartoonists.

Monuments

The Green Cathedral The Slavery monument, gifted to the city and its inhabitants to commemorate the abolition of slavery in 1863, which became effective in 1873.

Sport

Almere is the home of football team Almere City FC, American football team FlevoPhantoms, and the home of professional basketball team the Almere Sailors.

Transport

The traffic infrastructure in Almere is recognisable because of its separate infrastructure for cycles (which, in most cases, have separate cycle paths), cars and buses (the buses drive on a separate bus lane in most parts of the city). Almere is connected to the motorways A6 and A27.

Railway In 1987 Almere was connected to the national railway system (see NS) with the fully completed Flevolijn which connected Weesp to Lelystad Centrum.

Almere currently has six railway stations: Almere Poort (opened December 9, 2012) Almere Muziekwijk (opened May 30, 1987) Almere Centrum (opened May 30, 1987) Almere Parkwijk (opened on February 1, 1996) Almere Buiten (opened May 30, 1987) Almere Oostvaarders (opened December 12, 2004)

A seasonal-use station, Almere Strand, was set up for certain events, such as Libelle Zomerweek. The station was made up of iron platforms. It was opened in May 1996 under the name Muiderzand. The station was closed after June 1996 but re-opened in June 1999 under the name Muiderstrand and closed again in July 1999. It re-opened again in 2001 under the name Almere Strand as an official seasonal-use station, meaning it was now open certain seasons every year. Because of the rapid development of the adjacent borough Almere Poort, it was decided to open an official station there (see Almere Poort), thus making the station of Almere Strand obsolete. Almere Poort station opened on December 9, 2012. Therefore, Almere Strand station was officially closed just after the summer of 2012 and its iron platforms were torn down in the weekend of October 6–7, 2012. There are no remains of the station, although passengers can still see where the platforms once stood from the windows of Flevolijn trains.

Public buses

Local bus lines In Almere there are 10 bus lines which service the urban area.

Line # Route Notes M1 Almere Centrum Station – Almere Haven De Marken or Almere Haven De Gouwen – Almere Haven Centrum Runs every 5 minutes Mon-Fri during daytime hours (every 7.5–15 minutes on evenings and Sundays). The bus line changes into M2 at Almere Centrum M2 Almere Centrum Station – Almere Buiten station - Almere Oostvaarders station - Almere Stripheldenbuurt Runs every 5 minutes Mon-Fri during daytime hours (every 7.5–15 minutes on evenings and Sundays). The bus line changes into M1 at Almere Centrum M3 Almere Centrum Station - Almere Beatrixpark - Almere Muziekwijk Runs every 5 minutes Mon-Fri during daytime hours (every 7.5–15 minutes on evenings and Sundays). M4 Almere Centrum Station – Almere Literatuurwijk – Almere Gooisekant-West – Almere Poort Homeruskwartier – Almere Poort Station Runs every 5 minutes Mon-Fri during daytime hours (every 7.5–15 minutes on evenings and Sundays). M5 Almere Centrum station - Almere Filmwijk - Almere Danswijk - Almere Parkwijk stationRuns every 5 minutes Mon-Fri during daytime hours (every 7.5–15 minutes on evenings and Sundays). M6 Almere Centrum Station – Noorderplassen Runs every 7 minutes Mon-Fri (every 15 minutes on Saturdays and every 30 minutes on Sundays). M7 Almere Centrum station - Almere Parkwijk station - Almere Buiten station - Almere Oostvaarders stationRuns every 5 minutes Mon-Fri during daytime hours (every 7.5–15 minutes on evenings and Sundays). M8 Almere Centrum Station– Almere Nobelhorst Runs every 10 minutes Mon-Sat during daytime hours (everybody 15 minutes on evenings and Sundays). 22 Almere De Vaart/PIA – Almere Buiten Station Mon-Fri only; does not run on evenings and weekends. Has 2 request stops 24 Almere Poort Station - Almere Duin Only on Mon-Fri in rush hours. During the summer months also on weekends

Monday to Friday, most city buses run about every 5 minutes (10 times every hour) during daytime hours. Saturdays, only a few city bus lines run every 7.5 minutes during daytime hours; most of them run every 12–15 minutes. Sunday, most of the city buses run every 15 minutes (with some buses running extra runs during certain hours) and M6 which only runs every 30 minutes.

There are a few overnight bus lines (Mon-Sat nights only): N21, N22 and N23. They run under the Keolis internal name nightGo (but are operated by R-net branded regional buses).

The bus company running almost all buses is Keolis Netherlands. Local buses (city buses) run under the name allGo. In the buses one can use the national transportation chipcard (smart card), subscriptions or one can buy bus tickets of allGo in the bus or at TVM's (the latter only Downtown).

Regional bus lines Besides the local bus lines, there are regional and rush hour bus lines to towns and cities in the area.