Dordrecht City Park

Dordrecht is committed to the growth of the city and wants to use and strengthen all the qualities present. The Dordtwijk zone with its many sports fields and facilities and its sometimes hidden, park-like and landscaped character provides a starting point for transforming this zone into a new city park, which also connects the city with the outskirts. A new central Dordrecht park where people, animals and plants have plenty of space. A place where people can relax, walk, play sports and recreate, but also enjoy peace and quiet and nature. In the City Park, the aim is one continuous park walk: a wide, 10-kilometre-long, smooth and uniformly designed path on which to run, walk, cycle and skate. The development of the City Park also strengthens the ecological structure, increasing biodiversity, water buffering and increasing the habitat of plants and animals in conjunction with space for nature experience. A 5km long amphibious link between the Wantij and the New Dordtse Biesbosch is part of this. The City Park thus connects two valuable nature areas, with the amphibious landscape also helping to cool the city, absorbing peak showers and assisting in the circulation of clean water. In the plan, sports fields and a sports complex are arranged more efficiently and compactly. This will make the park more publicly accessible, create more space for nature and make it greener, bluer and less paved. The City Park XXL forms one park, but with unique subareas consisting of six different polders. Each of these polders has experienced an unique history and development, so that each one will have a different emphasis on one or more functions (water, nature, sports, recreation). This will give each polder, each subarea of the City Park, its own character. The visual language and atmosphere in the park are in line with the character of the city and the island of Dordrecht. A tough and robust imagery, built with locally grown materials. The Stadspark thus intertwines culture, nature, city and landscape.

Commissioned by the municipality of Dordrecht, park design, public space, new nature, climate proof cities, healthy city, object design, Flux landscape architecture, 2023