Lunetten

Geschiedenis

Lunetten is a neighbourhood in the southeastern part of the city of Utrecht, that has approximately 12.000 inhabitants. It is mainly a residential area, since there is no significant industry present. Lunetten was constructed as an urban experiment mostly during the late 1970s and 1980s. It was designed and planned by a combination of students of architecture and urban planning and the then foreseen future inhabitants. A result of this was the use of a ring-road with many circular bifurcations running back onto themselves or with dead ends. In Dutch this is called a Bloemkoolwijk ("Cauliflower-neighbourhood"). This urban setup results in the whole neighbourhood becoming like a single living street, much like a distinct village within a city.Lunetten has a network of alleyways connecting the inner courtyards of the urban blocks. This creates a child-friendly neighbourhood with many playing spots. There are also many sports facilities within and around Lunetten.Lunetten is surrounded by major railroads and highways. To cope with the noise and pollution a park was created to surround and insulate the neighbourhood.Lunetten has the longest (140 meters) lightweight bridge in the world with a weight of 400 tonnes (Viaduct Nieuwe Houtenseweg). This was constructed on the A27 on the weekend of 3 and 4 March 2012.