Overvecht is a district in the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

city of

Utrecht Utrecht ( ; ; ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city of the Netherlands, as well as the capital and the most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. The ...

. As a post-war development, it predominantly features high-rise apartment buildings with spacious greenery in between. Overvecht offers many amenities: multiple parks, a large shopping mall, a police station, a library, train station and a neighborhood office; in terms of sports and culture, it hosts swimming pool De Kwakel, the Vechtsebanen skating rink, the large Ruigenhoek nature recreation area, and the Stefanus cultural center. Overvecht is one of Utrecht's fastest expanding districts, with the municipality reporting 33,732 inhabitants in 2015, making it the fifth-largest district by population. Its cultural and religious demographics are varied. Three forts belonging to the Hollandse Waterlinie are located at the edge of Overvecht: Fort de Gagel, Fort de Klop and Fort Blauwkapel, all of which are national monuments. Rachel Streefland ( CU) has been district

alderman An alderman is a member of a Municipal government, municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law with similar officials existing in the Netherlands (wethouder) and Belgium (schepen). The term may be titular, denotin ...

for Overvecht .

History

The Municipal Reformation of 1954 led to the absorption of the

Maartensdijk Maartensdijk is a village in the Netherlands, Dutch province of Utrecht (province), Utrecht. It is a part of the municipality of De Bilt, and lies about 4 km north of Bilthoven. History Maartensdijk was a separate municipality until 2001, w ...

, Achttienhoven and Westbroek municipalities, expanding Utrecht's borders by 800 hectares and allowing for the construction of a new city district. Based on designs by urban planners Wissing and Hanekroot, development largely took place in the 1960s, with Coen de Ranitz then secondary mayor of Utrecht ceremonially initiating construction on . Initially, the subdistricts of Overvecht-Noord and Overvecht-Zuid were built, and the majority of new construction consisted of large

social housing Public housing, also known as social housing, refers to Subsidized housing, subsidized or affordable housing provided in buildings that are usually owned and managed by local government, central government, nonprofit organizations or a ...

complexes, while single-family homes were rare. Being a new construction area, the development of Overvecht helped to alleviate the tight housing market at the time, leading to a large influx of new inhabitants. Over time, the neighborhood grew into a mature multicultural district. In 2011, Overvecht celebrated its 50th anniversary. several renovation and construction projects are underway in the district, such as Mariakwartier, Loevenhout, Bruisdreef and Wonen aan de Klop.

Suburbs and neighborhoods

The municipality divides the district into the following subdistricts and neighborhoods: Overvecht Watertoren Vijver

Overvecht Zuid

* Taag and Rubicondreef and surroundings * Zamenhofdreef and surroundings * Wolga and Donaudreef and surroundings * Neckardreef and surroundings *

Polder A polder () is a low-lying tract of land that forms an artificial hydrology, hydrological entity, enclosed by embankments known as levee, dikes. The three types of polder are: # Land reclamation, Land reclaimed from a body of water, such as a ...

Area Overvecht

Overvecht Noord

* Zambesidreef and surroundings * Tigris and Bostondreef and surroundings * Business Area Nieuw Overvecht * Amazone and Nicaraguadreef and surroundings{{Cite web, url=https://www.utrecht.nl/wonen-en-leven/wijken/wijk-overvecht/, title=Wijk Overvecht | Gemeente Utrecht

Street names

All street names in Overvecht end in -dreef (drive). The major thoroughfares are named after famous scientists or scholars. The roads that form the crossroads between these roads are named after rivers. Some of the remaining streets have driven geographic or history names. Overvecht Zuid roads have names of operas, literature, names of

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

and

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

mythology, and a suburb with historical names of women. In Overvecht Zuid (south of the Einsteindreef) street names have European names, in Overvecht Noord they have American names in the west side, Asian and Africans in the east side. Australia is not mentioned. Possibly as a reference to the cultural plurality of Overvecht Noord some of the streets are named after things and cultures from North Africa, such as Berberdreef which is a reference to the large numbers of Moroccans especially ones from the Rif region which has a large number of

Amazigh Berbers, or the Berber peoples, also known as Amazigh or Imazighen, are a diverse grouping of distinct ethnic groups indigenous to North Africa who predate the arrival of Arabs in the Maghreb. Their main connections are identified by their u ...

, also known as Berber, peoples.

References

Districts in Utrecht (city)