The small post war city of Zoetermeer wants to become more lively residential and entrepreneurial city, attractive for pioneers and innovators whilst strengthening its position within the metropolitan region. The transformation of the Afrikaweg into a city street offers an excellent opportunity for the area to grow with new forms of living and working to attract this new population.

7 ambitions characterise the urban plan; 1. contributing to the housing challenge of the Rotterdam / The Hague metropolitan region, 2. contributing to the expansion of the city center of Zoetermeer, 3. provide a link between station and West Center, 4. Afrikaweg will be a city street, 5. a new green urban quarter with busy and quiet sides, 6. green structure and side streets as a connection with the environment and 7. housing differentiation + roof landscape.

The urban plan is characterised as a new green urban quarter with busy and quiet sides. By relatively narrow and tightly knit high-rise buildings along the city street with a lower more open orientation to the park side, a rich diversity in architecture and living conditions is achieved in relationship to their position in the urban context. Green structure and side streets form larger connections with the surroundings. Despite the high density, the variation in size, height, typology and architecture ensures that the building blocks do not transcend the human scale. On the street side, attention is paid to the use of the plinths while the park side finds collective gardens and private outdoor spaces as buffer zones.