42 | 160 Saba Golchehr IS INTEGRATION AND EMPOWERMENT OF THE EXCLUDED NEEDED?
Afrikaanderplein: a century of metamorphoses The constant transformation of this neighbourhood is also reflected upon the Afrikaander-square. This square has been undergoing a number of transformations over time, due to the changing demands on the use of this public space. The Afrikaanderplein has a size of seven acres. For a park this would be small, but for a square this is too big. Partly because of its impossible size it does not dictate one particular function. The Afrikaanderplein has over time changed from a football field, to a potato field, to an open-air theatre. Since the sixties more and more users claimed a piece of this square, eventually causing the square to fall apart into loose pieces. In 2005 the square has had its most recent transformation. Again an attempt is made to let different functions co-exist harmoniously on the Afrikaanderplein. On the next page a timeline shows all the transformations of the square, from 1904 until today.
In 1904 the Afrikaanderwijk was recorded in an engraving while it was under construction. Initially the only diagonal path, the Bloemfontijnstraat, would get an perpendicular exponent that would divide the open field in half. Now the shape of the square is a result of leaving three lots of the polder allotment open. From 1909 the football club Celeritas (which later becomes Feyenoord) plays its matches on the Afrikaanderplein. In the early years of Feyenoord the club played football matches every Sunday, on a bare and bumpy field nicknamed ‘Little Switzerland’. The weekly games soon attracted many supporters along the line. In 1912 the parish church on the east side of the Afrikaanderplein was built. In this period, the square does not represent anything yet: it is mostly an empty piece of ground, which between 1912 and 1917 is the home of soccer club Feyenoord. In 1917 the football club had to leave the Afrikaanderwijk. The field was transformed into allotment gardens to cope with the food shortage during World War I.
Afrikaanderplein is...
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7 ac.
8x Schouwburgplein Rotterdam Fig. 4.18 Comparison of size of Afrikaanderplein
4x Markt square Delft
2x Dam square Amsterdam