Building a Community, Not Just Homes

Once the design idea for the redevelopment of Kerckebosch (described in a later article) had been conceptualised, the long process of actually realising it on the ground started. A special development organisation was set up for this goal in which the City Corporation of Zeist partnered the Housing Corporation Zeisterveste (50-50%). In 2009, Evert Jan Roelofsen was appointed as its director and given the task of realising the plans on the ground.

Evert Jan has held this post since the very beginning and over the years has fulfilled this task with great passion and creativity. What makes his role so special is the fact that – and this is particularly relevant for Kerckebosch, which is conceived as a neighbourhood in the urban forest landscape – Evert Jan is a Landscape Architect by training, having been educated at the renowned Wageningen University in Netherlands.

In 2007, our design practice of BDP.Khandekar had been instrumental in formulating the conceptual design of the project, and while my colleague Liesl Vivier had been responsible for guiding the urban design over the following 15 years, the Area Redevelopment Company specially set up to develop the project, headed by Evert Jan Roelofsen had been responsible for managing and executing the whole project.

I caught up with Evert Jan in Kerckebosch to discuss the success of this remarkable project.

Shyam Khandekar: You were appointed to redevelop this area with the target of converting the then existing housing-stock of nearly 700 outdated social housing units into over 1000 renewed/new units with 50% housing from the private sector. What really caught your eye in the assignment you were embarking upon?

Evert Jan Roelofsen: At first sight it was the environment with 700 apartments making up 11 blocks in one row in the middle of a forest that was slightly surreal. Secondly, the possibility to redevelop in an integrated way, with new infrastructure and new buildings, creating a strong community in a healthy environment.

When did the idea of not simply building the housing units but building a community of citizens become an important part of your mission? Could you elaborate a little on the participatory processes you employed to get the citizens involved in the project and how this helped in community-building?

The main goals of the Area Redevelopment Company are both physical and societal. But how do we do this without doing it the old-fashioned way, in the traditional welfare and reconstruction methods? Due to the financial crisis (2008-2012) we invented the organic development method, developing our physical and societal goals step by step. Starting with small neighbourhoods, we worked on a modest scale to see how things worked out. Hence, we minimised our risks and could make the necessary adjustments. And if we did make mistakes, they had little effect on the results. I encouraged my team to dare to make mistakes, take little steps forward, which is better than waiting and doing nothing. The organic way makes it manageable for us but even more so for the existing and future inhabitants.

We were always available to the inhabitants even on a Sunday. Be honest and keep your promise. And if anything appears to be impossible, now or at any time, ensure that you explain the situation to your inhabitants. Participation, from information till cooperation is, I think, the most important part of our work and is in general still underestimated.

I encouraged my team to dare to make mistakes, take little steps forward, which is better than waiting and doing nothing

How did the preponderance of landscape in the urban design structure stimulate you (particularly with your Landscape Architecture background) to use nature and the landscape and to build the community as well?

The existing forest is of course a present. Initially I undertook several walks to absorb the environment and to talk to the existing inhabitants and recreationists. How do they see and experience their environment? The forest was and is very important for them, but in some ways, it also frightened them, because it was not socially safe, especially in the evening. However, there was a very small piece of heathland, which was very popular with visitors. Edges in landscape are often the most interesting, not only in experience, an open view, but also ecologically. Luckily for us the existing forest was not in a good shape. It had lots of invasive species like American Oak. Because of the much overdue maintenance, we were able to create new natural habitats with more dense and open spaces, and more edges with native species, with trees, shrubs and herbal vegetation and with new heathlands. These interventions enormously improved the ecological quality. Nowadays, deer, slowworms, sand lizards, etc. are often seen in the neighbourhood. There are more than 10 species of bees in Kerckebosch. Even wolves have been sighted near Kerckebosch.

The result of nearly 15 years of your work is so astounding that the term ‘living in nature’ is absolutely appropriate. No wonder the project has garnered much positive press, also very recently featuring on the cover of the magazine of VNG (the National Association of City Corporations). Don’t you think that this success is also due to the wonderful coincidence that with your landscape background you could direct this process? Could you tell us something more about how you used your special knowledge and aptitude to involve other organisations (such as Utrechts Landschap) in this project?

Kerckebosch has a long border with the greater nature reserve of Heidestein/Utrechtse Heuvelrug. The latter was in much better shape than the forest in the existing neighbourhood. I started talks with the nature reserve organisation Utrechts Landschap who maintained major parts of it. My dream was not only to persuade them to take over the maintenance of the nature within Kerckebosch, but to check whether any sort of understanding was possible between the nature reserve organisation and the inhabitants of Kerckebosch. So, the Area Redevelopment Company became a friend of Utrechts Landschap and we made all the households in Kerckebosch protectors of Utrechts Landschap. As a result, Utrechts Landschap organise excursions for the inhabitants in the neighbourhood (for instance spotting bats at dusk). We also have a group of volunteers who help with the upkeep and maintenance of the neighbourhood on a monthly basis.

During my recent visits to Kerckebosch I noticed that the peaceful and natural atmosphere encourages most citizens to either simply walk or cycle to their destinations in and around the neighbourhood. While the urban design had this principle embedded in its concept, has the actual practice of enforcing this been difficult?

Enforcing is not the right word; in this case, it is influencing behaviour. And, as always, change is difficult, we know what we have now but we don’t know what we will get in return.

The old and the new Kerckebosch has several schools; it is neighbour-orientated and also regional orientated. In the old Kerckebosch, most of the parents brought their children to school by car. In the new Kerckebosch, we improved accessibility by foot and bike. We also created kiss and ride places (hitch a ride with someone who drops you off) and we narrowed the principal school road. In the beginning, the parents were upset; it was too small and they had to drive slowly: exactly what we had intended!

The main road in Kerckebosch follows the relief of the existing drift hills and swings between monumental trees, so relief and curves make you drive slowly. We also tried out a car sharing project, in an organic way, in phases. Starting with two electric cars, which people can share, we now have 10 cars for sharing. One car is shared by seven to eight households and reduces the use of up to 10 owned cars and parking spaces they would have occupied, which we then transformed to allotments, public greens or playgrounds. An unexpected by-product is that people without a car, mostly in social housing, could use shared electric cars, which improved their mobility. Charging points were provided for the cars.

Edges in landscape are often the most interesting

Clearly Kerckebosch ticks all the right boxes for a sustainable neighbourhood. What according to you are its main qualities?

Sustainability has two aspects: physical and social. A green environment makes people feel healthy and it is the perfect base for welfare. People care for their green living environment and take care of each other, which is also an important goal for sustainability. And of course, we managed to create a fully sustainable physical environment with achieved goals such as CO2 reduction and absorption, climate adaptivity, rainwater infiltration, green and affordable energy. Most important perhaps is the partnership of the inhabitants together with the municipality and the nature organisation Utrechts Landschap.

Finally, the success of a project is judged by how much it is liked by those who actually use it, those who live and work there. Do you think Kerckebosch has the qualities to be such a neighbourhood for now and in the future?

Because the inhabitants are aware of the benefits of their green living environment they strongly care and fight for their neighbourhood. For instance, a few years ago the municipality started to mow the roadsides in September. But the roadside is a place of colourful herbal vegetation and there is no need to mow it. In a short matter of time the inhabitants informed one another and got the mowing stopped and also alerted the local newspaper about this.

This involvement by the inhabitants will preserve the quality of Kerckebosch. Meanwhile the municipality has embraced Kerckebosch as an example for all other neighbourhoods in Zeist. So Kerckebosch is the new standard.

Kerckebosch also has circularity as one of its sustainability goals: 
• Up to 100% re-use of materials of the  demolished apartments.
• 100% re-use of the chopped trees in Kerckebosch, as traffic guidance, as playground material, for bike storage, natural fences, branch rills, etc.
• Only use of native species, trees – shrubs – herbs – roadside mixture.
• A 100% closed ground balance, we don’t want contamination with materials from elsewhere.
• The street lightning in Kerckebosch is 100% stand-alone, fed by solar panels.

In the new Kerckebosch, we improved accessibility by foot and bike

Our way of working is organic and step-by-step. Because of the scale and the organic approach, lots of initiatives, experiments and projects were made possible. That counts for the housing construction but also for social economic initiatives such as:
• A greenhouse for the children to grow their own vegetables and flowers in combination with garden boxes for  young and old in Kerckebosch.
• The calisthenics playground for the youth, self-maintained by them.
• The energy square in the middle of the village with all kind of sports (calisthenics, free run, football, basketball, long jump box) and the unique plan-e setting with herbs providing small electric streams, which feed the Wi-Fi signal on the energy square.

We even made the street art nature inclusive. On the crossings on Kerckebosch avenue, the central access road, in the evening, light projections of animals living in Kerckebosch appear, such as a deer, a bat, a lizard and a wolf. And in the centre of Kerckebosch schools and services have their own totems as signposts.

Finally, this is all made possible by stimulating yourself and your team to be curious and amazed and to be open-minded. You don’t do this by yourself, the team is very important and was and is very dedicated to the job. I am very proud of them. WE made Kerckebosch possible!

All Photographs: Evert Jan Roelofsen