Mooi! Where silence speaks – the New Biesbosch of Dordrecht

Article by Fleur Groeneveld

An area so open, it looks empty. A place where people try to escape the city, while animals try to cross lands. The New Biesbosch of Dordrecht, an area located in the Hania’s polder of Dordrecht, was created not only to improve the ecological values of the city, but also to offer citizens an area to escape urban life. Within less than five years, the polder was transformed from an agricultural landscape to a landscape for nature and leisure.  

Figure 1: Welcome sign to the New Biesbosch of Dordrecht (Source: Fleur Groeneveld)

For years, the municipality of Dordrecht was searching for new ways to offer its citizens ways to recreate and to improve the connection between the city and its rural areas. Around the same time, a new notion developed which emphasized the importance of creating a better connection between the Biesbosch of Dordrecht and the Biesbosch of Sliedrecht. Leading to the development of the New Biesbosch of Dordrecht, an area formerly made up solely of agricultural land, which now has a sustainable and resilient water system. 

The inspiration for the design processes and development behind the area is mostly taken from the Biesbosch National Park. The area now holds characteristic freshwater tides, creeks, and willow floodplains, while still holding onto a polder structure. These ecological structures allow animals to freely move through the area, but they weren’t the only organisms thought about. Human activity also proved to play a big role in making the design decisions for the area. 

Figure 2: On top of the dyke part of the main three-compartment based infrastructure feature (Source: Fleur Groeneveld)

The area’s design mainly focuses on pedestrians, cyclists, and horse riders. The head infrastructure feature of the area lies horizontally on the map and has a three-compartment base; bridle path, dyke with foot path on top, cyclypath. Walking over the dyke, allows you to look far over the landscape seeing the beauty it holds. It allows you to stand still in the beauty that an open leisure landscape can carry. Looking over the willow floodplains and creeks creates a feeling of peace that is hard to describe. It is this feeling that people often seek when coming to the area, escaping the city for just a moment of silence. 

However, the New Biesbosch of Dordrecht allows people to even further connect to nature and leave their home lives behind. On both sides of the dyke there are two main footpaths that go directly through the nature areas. One is more of a water path, a metal jetty of sorts. It allows one to walk closely over the water, interacting with multiple small islands based on the floodplains. The other side contains a path through a rough reed field, with reed coming up to eye level. Allowing people to get lost in it, to immerse themselves in the feeling of seclusion, as if the city and their problems lie far behind them.

Figure 3 & 4: Left shows a path over the floodplain, while right shows the path through the rough reed field (Source: Fleur Groeneveld)

Personally, the New Biesbosch of Dordrecht forms one of my favorite places in the Netherlands. Growing up in an adjacent polder in Dordrecht, I witnessed the development of Hania’s polder firsthand. Where I first feared for the loss of her character, I ended up enjoying the newly developed area immensely. It forms a place for me, where I can come to rest and think when life gets overwhelming. Staring over the waters, I always feel an immense sense of peace. The silence of the landscape allows me to think and just breathe. 

The New Biesbosch of Dordrecht shows how a leisure landscape doesn’t have to be flashy or centrally located, but can also take on the form of an open natural landscape. A landscape where one truly can relax and come to oneself. It also demonstrates how nature and recreational areas can merge into each other while simultaneously reinforcing each other, allowing people to interact with nature on a personal level. In the quiet embrace of the New Biesbosch of Dordrecht, we’re reminded that sometimes, the most powerful places are those that simply let us be and breathe.