Park Groot Schijn

East of Rivierenhof Park is a large open space that gives way for a vibrant associative life: Ruggeveld Boterlaar-Silsburg. The area is bordered by wide access roads, job stores and a densely populated residential area. The E34 highway cuts the area into 2 parts. Today, the park is packed with sports and youth associations: ski slope, ice hall, 150 allotments, dog clubs, soccer and korfball fields...

The ambition of the master plan is to introduce a new spatial structure in the park, while retaining the existing users. To this end, an extensive participation process will be set up in which all those involved will have a say. In the first phase the participation process concentrated on the location study, in the second phase on the layout of the park. To give the park a new structure, we propose the principle of "green joints": as offshoots of the valley areas of the Groot Schijn and Cold Brook, they extend to the edges of the park and surround the recreational program.

The project received the 2010 VRP planning award because "through an open-ended approach, the project succeeds in creating a project in a difficult terrain with a multitude of weakly institutionalized actors that is more than just a pragmatically conceived compromise. The project is recognizable as inspiring. The siloed landscape of more and less fixed claims on open/recreational space is redrawn into a structured playing field in which the interests of the various users reinforce and balance each other." The first part of the park, the redevelopment of the Koude Beek valley and an allotment complex, has now been implemented. Following the master plan, the allotment complexes are conceived as program rooms within the park structure. The green joints, between the gardens, form the connection to the valley of the Koude Beek. The great natural wealth is, on the one hand, enhanced by greening, on the other hand, the area is made accessible to visitors by routes and paths. To increase the legibility of the park as a whole, furniture, recognizable in form and materiality, will be designed and applied throughout the park. Approach: the ambition of the master plan is to bring a new spatial structure to the park, while retaining the existing users. To this end, an extensive participation process was set up in which all stakeholders were given a say. In this process, participation was not only a means for the rapid procedural settlement of a planning process. It was also a way to ensure a better understanding of the problem and possible solutions, and it led to identifiable adjustments to the master plan. A participation steering committee composed of various partners was responsible for "designing" and "controlling" the participation process. In a General Meeting with cabinet advisors, officials, park users and local residents, all major design steps were shown and discussed. In the first phase, the participation process concentrated on the site survey, and in the second phase on the design of the park.