IJburg

IJburg (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈɛibʏr(ə)x]) is a residential neighbourhood under construction in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It is situated in the IJmeer and is being built on artificial islands which have been raised from the lake. The Haveneiland, Rieteilanden, Steigereiland and Centrumeiland are already inhabited as of 2004. It is part of Amsterdam-Oost and lies adjacent to Diemerpark, one of the city's largest parks.

In 1965, the architects Jo van den Broek and Jacob B. Bakema designed the Pampus Plan for a town in the IJmeer intended to house 350,000 residents, most of whom were to come from crowded Amsterdam. But national plans changed and people were instead encouraged to move from the city to the expanding towns in the neighbouring areas such as Purmerend, Hoorn and the new city of Almere. The Bijlmermeer neighbourhood was also constructed south of the city and Diemen was expanded.

Policy changes in the 1980s resulted in the development of construction nearer to the city. Amsterdam is located between Schiphol and important nature reserves and polders near the river Amstel in Amstelveen and Landelijk Noord, the only location possible for development was Nieuw-Oost (New East).

The municipality approved the building of the neighbourhood in 1996. Opponents of the plan called for a referendum because of the possible negative effects for the ecosystem of the IJmeer. A referendum was held on 19 March 1997 and although the majority of votes (133,000) were against construction, they fell short of the 155,000 vote threshold. The construction was thus allowed to proceed.

The first residents moved into their houses on Rieteiland in Spring 2008. New groups of houses were built on Rieteiland. A temporary beach was also built on Strandeiland, the biggest of all the IJburg islands. The north-east part of the Haveneiland island is being extended to accommodate new buildings.

When complete, the IJburg neighbourhood will have 20,000 homes for 50,000 residents with schools, shops, leisure centres, restaurants and a beach and provide employment for 12,000 people.

IJburg consists of six artificial islands built in the IJmeer. They are Steigereiland (Jetty island), Haveneiland West and East (Marina island) and the three Rieteilanden (Reed islands), Large, Small and East. The construction of, and building on these six islands was Phase 1.

Three more islands are planned to be constructed during Phase 2. These islands will be called Centrumeiland (Centre island), Strandeiland (Beach island), and Buiteneiland (Outer island). Construction of these was temporarily delayed by a Superior Administrative Court decision to annul the building permit for Phase 2 due to lack of consideration for the local environment. However, as of 2020, building activities had restarted, and homes on Centrumeiland were under construction, while Strandeiland was being raised from the lake.