Drachten
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Drachten | |
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| Country |  Netherlands |
|---|---|
| Province |  Friesland |
| Population | |
| - Total | c. 45,000 |
Drachten is a Dutch city, located in the municipality of Smallingerland in the province of Friesland.
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[edit] Beginnings
Drachten began as a small community on the east side of the Drait River. There, early settlers started draining the land to use it for agriculture. As the process of draining progressed, residents began to move further eastward in order to use the drained land—former peatbogs—for agriculture.
Around 1200 A.D., a small stone church was built. It was used for 200 years afterward, until rising waters drove people even further east.
By 1550 the Dutch peat reserve had been exhausted. Consequently, demand grew for peat from Friesland. The wealthy began to buy large plots of peatbog in order to turn them into peat and exploit them in large quantities. In 1641, wealthy residents of The Hague secured permission to dig a canal in Drachten. The canal made the peat drier, and hence more usable, and it allowed for the transportation of the peat, usually by ships along the canal.
[edit] Drachten grows
Along the side of the canal, pubs, shops, shipbuilding facilities, and public utilities, such as a rope-walk, were built. Around 1830, a town hall was built, and a notary public moved from nearby Oudega to Drachten.
The peat industry of Drachten lasted for 200 years. When it ended, the poorer workers stayed behind; some became small farmers, but most of them had no success.
[edit] Accelerated growth
In the post-war period between 1950 and 1991, Drachten grew by an average of 1,000 inhabitants a year. The arrival of the Philips company was a major contibutor to this growth. Today there are approximately 45,000 people living in Drachten.
[edit] Traffic experiment
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Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (January 2007) |
Recently, Drachten received international attention for a traffic experiment known as shared space, a concept pioneered by Hans Monderman. Almost all traffic lights and signs have been removed in the city centre in an effort to improve traffic safety, based on the theory that drivers pay more attention to their surroundings when they cannot rely on strict traffic rules. Previously the city centre had an average of 8 accidents per year. Since the new system was introduced in 2003, this has been reduced to effectively 0.[1]
The German town of Bohmte adopted a similar scheme in September 2007.[2]
[edit] Water is Life
In April 2007, artist Henk Hofstra painted a road in Drachten blue with white lettering and traffic markings. The road is called Moleneind. The lettering spells "Water is Leven" (Water is Life), meant to symbolize a prior waterway (that was paved over).
The part of this water that was situated in the centre of Drachten, was closed in the sixties of the last century, in order to stimulate the local economy and give space to the increased road traffic. Now the centre of the city was no longer reachable by boat.
In 1996 the first plans were made to recreate the water way into the heart of the city. So water tourist can come back to Drachten and visit the centre by boat. The reconstruction of the erea started in 2001 and will last until 2011. It is called the “Drachtstervaart” project.
[edit] Sister cities
[edit] Notes
- ^ The Laweiplein, Evaluation of the reconstruction into a square with roundabout, January 2007
- ^ Catherine Bosley (2007-09-11). "Town ditches traffic lights to cut accidents". Reuters. http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSGOR14512420070911. Retrieved on 2007-09-14.
