The Bijlmermeer (pronounced [bɛilməʁmeːʁ]) or colloquially Bijlmer ([bɛilməʁ]) is one of the neighborhoods that form the Amsterdam Zuidoost ('Amsterdam South-East') borough (or "stadsdeel") of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Amsterdam Zuidoost is one of the 15 boroughs (stadsdelen of the city of Amsterdam, that consists of four residential areas Bijlmermeer, Venserpolder Amsterdam (pronounced) is the capital and largest city of the Netherlands, located in the province of North Holland in the west The Netherlands ( Dutch:, ˈnedərlɑnt is the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which consists of the Netherlands the Netherlands To many people, the Bijlmer designation is used to refer to Amsterdam Zuidoost and Diemen Zuid as a pars pro toto. Amsterdam Zuidoost is one of the 15 boroughs (stadsdelen of the city of Amsterdam, that consists of four residential areas Bijlmermeer, Venserpolder Diemen is a municipality and a town in the Netherlands with a population of around 24000 Pars pro toto is Latin for "(taking a part for the whole" where a portion of an object or concept represents the entire object or context The other neighborhoods in Amsterdam Zuidoost are Gaasperdam, Bullewijk, Venserpolder and Driemond. Amsterdam Zuidoost is one of the 15 boroughs (stadsdelen of the city of Amsterdam, that consists of four residential areas Bijlmermeer, Venserpolder Driemond ( is a town in the Dutch province of North Holland. It is a part of the municipality of Amsterdam, and lies about 11 km west of Bussum

The Bijlmermeer neighborhood, which houses thousands of people, was designed as a single project. The neighborhood is built up out of several, nearly identical high rise buildings. The apartments were meant to attract a suburban set, rather like condominium housing. A condominium, or condo, is a form of Housing tenure and other Real property where a specified part of a piece of real estate (usually of an apartment The buildings have several features that distinguish them from traditional high-rise flats in The Netherlands, like tubular walkways connecting the flats and garages. The flats are separated by large areas of 'green'; fields of grass and trees. Each flat has its own garages where cars can be parked.

The Bijlmer was designed with two levels of traffic. Cars drive on the top level, the decks of which fly over the lower level's pedestrian avenues and bicycle paths. Segregated cycle facilities are Roads tracks paths or marked lanes designated for use by Cyclists from which motorised traffic is generally excluded This separation of fast and slow moving traffic is beneficial to traffic safety. However, in recent years, the roads are once again being flattened, so pedestrians, cycles and cars travel alongside each other. This is a move to lessen the effects of the 'inhuman' scale of some of the Bijlmer's designs. It is felt a direct line of sight will also improve safety from muggers.

Because of the Bijlmer's perific position relative to the city centre, it was decided a subway line was to be built towards the Bijlmer. A rapid transit, underground, subway, elevated railway or metro(politan system is an electric passenger railway The Oostlijn (east line, actually two lines later numbered 53 and 54) linked the Bijlmer to the Central Station of Amsterdam.

Bijlmermeer in trouble

High-rise buildings in the Bijlmermeer. Red are flats still standing, while gray is demolished. The plane icon marks the location of the El Al Flight 1862 crash. On October 4, 1992, El Al Flight 1862, a Boeing 747 cargo plane of the Israeli airline El Al, crashed into the Groeneveen and

Bijlmermeer was built for success, but it never attracted many middle class families. Reasons for this can be found in numerous areas. First, following Surinam's independence in 1975, many of its inhabitants migrated to the Netherlands. Suriname ( Dutch: Suriname; Sranan Tongo: Sranan) officially the Republic of Suriname (traditionally spelled Surinam by The government placed these immigrants in affordable social housing in the Bijlmermeer.

The neighborhood quickly gained a reputation for being a "black" part of town. The relatively low incomes and social status of its unsettled inhabitants made for a problematic mix with the area's large scale buildings, which afforded little social control. Social control refers to social mechanisms that regulate individual and group behavior leading to conformity and compliances to the rules of a given Society or It has a high crime rate, but this decreased in recent years; the number of registered complaints to the police decreased from 20,000 in 1995 (2,000 of which were robberies) to 8,000 (600 robberies) in 2005. The latter figure may be underreported due to the presence of illegal immigrants who are afraid to report crimes to the police. Illegal immigration refers to Immigration across National Borders in a way that violates the Immigration laws of the destination Country ^[1][2]

As people came and went, cheap social housing remained a central fixture of the area, attracting more immigrants. As a result, the Bijlmer lost its desirablity as a place to settle for middle class families. However, the Bijlmer has always been host to many different ethnicities simultaneously. Throughout the years, claims of rising social segregation or ghettoization have been both denied, and pre-empted by local government. Geographical segregation exists whenever the proportions of population rates of two or more Populations are not homogenous throughout a defined space A ghetto is described as a "portion of a city in which members of a minority group live especially because of social legal or economic pressure

After El Al Flight 1862 crashed into two Bijlmermeer buildings in 1992 (the incident was known as the Bijlmer disaster), it was decided that the neighbourhood needed some positive change. On October 4, 1992, El Al Flight 1862, a Boeing 747 cargo plane of the Israeli airline El Al, crashed into the Groeneveen and In recent years, many of the high rise buildings are being renovated or torn down. More expensive low-rise housing is being built, to finally attract more middle- and high-income residents. This has led to protests from lower-income residents who are being displaced.

Events and sights

Amsterdam Zuidoost is host to Ajax Amsterdam's ArenA football stadium, which hosts football matches and musical concerts, the Pathé ArenA multiplex cinema with 14 screens, the Heineken Music Hall and music and theatrical venues, located in the business park area of Amsterdam Zuidoost, just to the west of the Bijlmer. Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax ( also referred to as AFC Ajax, or simply Ajax, is a professional football club from Amsterdam Amsterdam ArenA is a Stadium in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The stadium was built from 1993 to 1996 at a cost of € 140 million and was There are ca 240 Movie theaters in the Netherlands, with ca 700 screens (, PDF Heineken Music Hall (or commonly abbreviated as HMH is a concert hall in Amsterdam, Netherlands, near the Amsterdam ArenA (Amsterdam South-East The recreational strip is called the ArenA Boulevard. The strip mostly hosts concerts, with a very small number of bars and no night clubs. It has not been able to compete with Amsterdam's city center for the casual Saturday night crowd.

The Bijlmer boasts Amsterdam's biggest shopping centre, the "Amsterdamse Poort", though Amsterdam's city centre remains the largest shopping area. The Amsterdamse Poort is a shopping centre in Amsterdam Zuidoost Stadsdeel (borough in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Alongside the shopping centre, the "Anton de Kom plein" (square) is nearing completion, which will house a cultural centre and the borough administrative offices ("stadsdeelkantoor"). Cornelis Gerard Anton de Kom ( 22 February 1898 &ndash 24 April 1945) was a Surinamese resistance fighter and anti-colonialist author

The annual Kwakoe Festival is a six-weekend long, free, multicultural festival during the summer, with Surinam, Antillian and African food, music and other events.

See also

• Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA railway station

Footnotes and references