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| Shell Pernis: one of the many petrochemical plants |
The city of Rotterdam doesn't stand all by itself. It used
to, but that was very long ago. Nowadays both Rotterdam and the towns
surrounding it have grown into each other, thereby becoming one large urban
area.
While the surrounding cities (for example Schiedam, Capelle aan den IJssel
or Pernis) are formally independent cities, in fact they have become
suburbs of Rotterdam. As more and more people came to work in the Rotterdam and
Europoort regions, the surrounding towns grew accordingly.
Of course this happens to many large cities, and during the last few decades
the entire region between Rotterdam, The Hague, Amsterdam and Utrecht became
one large urban region. While this region actually consists of many separate
towns and cities, it is often referred to as the 'Randstad' region (which
literally translates as 'Rim City'). And in many aspects it is one city.
People from Rotterdam go shopping in Delft, residents of The Hague go out
in Amsterdam, and those from Utrecht seek recreation in Scheveningen.
The 'Rijnmond' region partially overlaps the Randstad region. However, the
term Rijnmond rather refers to the industrial region surrounding the ports of
Rotterdam. Its limits can be a little vague sometimes. It includes the entire
port region, all industrial areas around it right up to the coast, and the
urban regions around Rotterdam.
Let's take a quick tour around Rotterdam to get an impression of the area surrounding the city. (To see what Rotterdam itself looks like, check the 'Sightseeing Rotterdam' page.)
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| Shell Pernis: one of the many petrochemical plants |
Leaving Rotterdam on the north side and driving west on the A20, we pass Schiedam and then go through the Benelux tunnel to get on the south side of the river Maas. Just out of the tunnel we see petrochemical plants on the right. If we continue to drive west, we'll enter the Europoort region (see the 'Port of Rotterdam' page). Instead, we turn south and drive along the south side of the city across the A15. To our left we can see container terminals and a number of ports where general goods are transferred. To our right used to be mostly empty grassland, but now it's rapidly filling up. Most companies here are involved with warehousing, forwarding and transportation, though we can find almost any kind of industrial activity in this area.
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| Rotterdam Zuid: Flakkeesestraat |
We head back into Rotterdam, this time entering the city from the south
side. The southern half of Rotterdam ('Rotterdam Zuid') was not bombed out
during World War II. There was of course a lot of damage, but no complete
destruction as was the case in the heart of the city.
As a result, Rotterdam Zuid has preserved much of its pre-war character.
The post-war parts of Rotterdam have more office buildings and less houses
than they did before 1940, so these areas are more suited for business
than for living. Rotterdam Zuid, however, is still primarily intended to
live in it. Many of the houses were built before the war. Most have been
renovated. Others, especially those dating back to the turn of the century,
have fallen into disrepair and are being torn down and replaced by new ones.
And of course the city is always expanding.
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| IJsselmonde: Hordijk |
A short hop from Rotterdam Zuid we find IJsselmonde. The old core of
IJsselmonde still has some of the atmosphere of the small village on the
south bank of the Maas that it used to be.
After world war II, when there was a severe housing shortage, IJsselmonde was
rapidly expanded. New houses and apartments were build as fast as possible.
This often led to a uniform and anonymous style. Fortunately the older parts
of IJsselmonde have remained relatively (though not entirely) unaffected,
and some streets have hardly changed at all since the first decades of the
20th century. (Incidentally, the picture you see here was taken close to the
street where I was born.)
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| Ridderkerk (Bolnes): Dintelstraat |
We leave IJsselmonde and continue east on the A15. Our next stop is
Ridderkerk. This is also one of the small villages that have expanded
tremendously since the war.
Most of the atmosphere of the original heart of the village has been lost
during those post-war decades. Houses in Ridderkerk are much in demand, because
of its location on the south side of Rotterdam and its excellent accessibility.
As a result of the latter especially, industry in and around Ridderkerk has
also seen much expansion. As is usually the case this is all 'light' industry.
Heavy industry is of course only found outside the urban areas.
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| Capelle aan den IJssel: kanaalweg |
Driving north from Ridderkerk across the A16, we cross the Maas again,
this time by way of the Van Brienenoord bridge. (See the 'Sightseeing
Rotterdam' page for a picture of the bridge.) We take the first exit after
the bridge. We are now east of Rotterdam and we drive on to Capelle aan den
IJssel (Capelle for short) where I live.
Like Ridderkerk (and almost every other town in the region) Capelle also grew
explosively after the war. Older houses in the old core, and modern buildings,
houses and highrises around it. I live at the edge of Capelle, on the 7th floor
of one of the many apartment buildings. (We call them flats, I'm not sure what
they would be called in the UK or the US.) It's a pleasant place to live,
within easy reach of the city and yet far enough out to wake up at the sounds
of cows and sheep. I like it.
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| This is where I live | |
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| The view from my apartment: front... | ...and back |
If we leave Capelle and drive west on the A20 again, we soon return to
the point where we left Rotterdam.
Of course, there's much more to see and do in the Randstad region than a brief
tour like this can show you. And I haven't mentioned the endless traffic jams
due to road construction in and around Rotterdam, or the maddening congestion
of rush hour traffic. :-) Traffic congestion remains a serious problem in
the entire Randstad region. The cities and population have grown to the point
where everyone is living in A and working in B, and during rush hour we're all
trying to get from A to B or vice versa across roads that haven't caught up yet
with the increase of population and industry.
But these pleasures you'll have to come and sample for yourself. There's no
way I can do them justice on a web page.