Figure 1: Scenarios
Large-Scale Management
4 3 1 2 green sector
Traditional
Working Towards the Future
III
Part
Chater
municipal
business park
Matrix Development Scenarios The criteria for the development scenario were named: 1 Strengthen the Aalsmeer brand; 2 Exploit the geographic location; 3 The wish of the sector to strive towards developing a knowledge centre in order to remain an international centre.
Basic Development Concept for Green Park Aalsmeer: Where Business Blooms The features of Green Park Aalsmeer are aimed at making it possible to differentiate and further deepen the formation of clusters. Setting trends and keeping quality high will lead to the desired exemplary role. This identity formed the commercial basis for the development of 120
‘Floriade’
Unrestrained growth: garden centres; car mechanics; leisure; etc
Small-Scale Management
Despite these criteria for the development scenario, there was still no clear statement on the proper role for the city. The comparison between large-scale and small-scale management of the effort to attract types of companies made it clear that this role had to be large-scale. Clear and precise communication would have a direct influence on the level of recognition and thus the success of the development area. The area’s name, the definition of its identity and, coupled with this, the type of ‘companies setting up business’ there made the development concept tangible and visible.
Page
Permanent
commercial
Consumer market
of the
B-to-B market
Real Property and Physical Planning
Sector
Applied
knowledge centre
the area and was the central message in communications on the area. This identity also made it evident what type of users should be sought: businesses in the green sector with products and services that created extra value or that supplied products and services related to the green sector. The addition of a ‘WorldGreenCenter’ to the basic concept provided the development concept with an extra welcome dimension. WorldGreenCenter as an Extra Dimension of the Basic Concept The WorldGreenCenter, as the heart of Green Park Aalsmeer, will be given a special spot in the business park. The international trade centre will focus on both the consumer and trade—it will combine these seemingly separate worlds. The cities of Aalsmeer and Uithoorn have embraced the entire development concept for Green Park Aalsmeer. For the WorldGreenCenter, the name BLOOM2 has been developed by the regional development company Green Park Aalsmeer. The Urban Development Plan In collaboration with the urban-development office of Enno Zuidema and landscape architects H+N+S, the next thing we did was work on translating the development concept into a concrete
physical plan. On the planning chart, which shows a general outline of how Green Park Aalsmeer is structured, the choice was made to let the N201 run straight through the area. This provides many possibilities for good access and increases the visibility of locations for future users. The centre of the area is the spot where BLOOM2 will be located. It forms the heart of Green Park Aalsmeer. VBA Oost is one of the expansion areas of the Flower Auction itself (shown in dark grey, bottom left). The entire area is divided into various ‘rooms’, which are meant for specific business activities in the flower and plant sector in order to achieve clustering for this sector. So there is a room for the flower-processing industry and a room for specialised trade. From the master plan, the development concept has been given further shape by the visual-quality plan, in which the guidelines for the visual quality of Green Park Aalsmeer are established. It shows how the final design and architectural layout of the internal park roads, the choice of material and the architecture of the buildings in Green Park Aalsmeer can be aligned with the original development concept. Because of the underlying development concept, the urban-development design gives room to introduce interim changes. For instance, in the urban-development plan, space was initially set aside for innovative start-up companies in the so-called Bedrijvenbos (bundle of companies, which is currently seen as an extension of BLOOM2 that will enable visitors to explore the green sector in a park-like environment. The concept remains intact, so that urbandevelopment changes can be introduced without the concept losing its attractiveness or relevance. Moreover, interim changes in market demand can be worked into the plan in this way. The plan is the means by which the goal is achieved and no longer the goal itself. Thanks in part to the conceptual approach, the development remains futureproof.