Daniël van Eck

Zaanse Wind

A strategy for the housing crisis 

Zaanstad borders Amsterdam, the largest city in the Netherlands. It is a municipality with a fascinating history and lots of opportunities for urban renewal. In addition, it is part of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area (Metropool Regio Amsterdam, MRA), a region facing the major challenge of rectifying the overheated housing market. The national government is trying to regain control over the situation, while the market is demanding to be left alone. As a result, the process of area development is stalling and the building target of 900,000 homes by 2030 is slipping further and further away. This design proposal highlights the opportunities that exist for the densification of Zaanstad.

The municipalities are the parties that are responsible for the implementation of the housing goals that have been set. This is therefore where the key to finding the solution lies. Zaanstad is a municipality with abundant spatial opportunities. By linking these to the urban challenges, such as creating a future-proof peat landscape, an economically robust city and a socially strong city, the housing challenge can be leveraged. 

For this reason, I advocate a proactive stance from municipalities in my design. By taking control themselves, they can maintain a grip on the housing challenge, thus turning it into an opportunity for the city, rather than a threat. 

In my design, I demonstrate the opportunities presented by the housing challenge. Around the train station, I transform a decaying industrial area into a compact urban district with a Zaanse mix of functions. Connected to the site’s history, with attention paid to the existing landscape, the goal is to create a neighbourhood where both current Zaanstad residents and new city inhabitants feel at home. Part of the design is the developed Zaanse building block. This is a concrete translation of the urban challenges combined with the site’s opportunities, shaped into an attractive and flexible urban building block. 

The design is a response to a threat that I see Dutch cities are facing. Under the immense pressure of the housing challenge, many plans have been realised with a single goal: building as many homes as possible. My design shows that building lots of homes does not necessarily mean that there is no room for broader urban challenges. The Zaanse wind of the housing challenge offers the city these opportunities.


Graduation date: 23 May 2024
Graduation committee: Tess Broekmans (mentor), Marie-Laure Hoedemakers, Martin Aarts
Additional members for the exam: Hein Coumou, Sander Maurtis