Herinrichting Zaanenstraat

The layout of the Zaanenstreet in the city of Haarlem is outdated and doesn’t meet the requirements and wishes from the citizens anymore. On top of that, the sewage has to be expanded to be ready for the heavy rainfall in the future.

The challenge was complex because of a high amount of cables and pipes in the ground, limited space for parking and the perception of safety for children on their way to school. We wanted to show to the city council and the citizens what the new layout would look like and how we improved the ability to cross the Zaanenstreet as a pedestrian.

Our VR-model is used as a communication tool within the city council and from the council to its citizens, to create insight in the chosen design-solution.

During stakeholdermeetings in Haarlem we noticed that the comments and suggestions were better founded and clearer formulated. The citizens of course had criticism, but they reacted in a constructive manner and there was a lot of enthusiasm for VR. For the policy makers we could create insight in the design considerations as well as the added value of traffic islands, the different variants for placing trees and the width of the infrastructure. The strength of the VR-model is its effectiveness in communication, in relation to critical themes within the project.