was founded in the 11th century. Nieuw-West (English: New West) is a sprawling, high-density suburban residential area in the west of Amsterdam. It is situated on the territory of the former municipality of
Sloten, Amsterdam, a town dating back to 1063 which has become part of the borough. The plans for the western expansion of the city date back to 1935, when the
Algemeen Uitbreidingsplan (General Expansion Plan) was adopted. The neighbourhoods in Nieuw-West are designed on the basis of the
garden city principles: planned, self-contained communities surrounded by
greenbelts. Most of these neighborhoods, known as the
Westelijke Tuinsteden (Western Garden Cities) were built in the 1950s and 1960s. At the heart of the borough is the Sloterplas, a lake, surrounded by a large park, the
Sloterpark. The lake was created as a result of sand extractions needed for the development of the garden city neighbourhoods. The oldest garden city neighbourhoods are
Slotermeer,
Geuzenveld,
Slotervaart,
Overtoomse Veld and
Osdorp. In the 1990s, a few additional neighbourhoods were developed:
Oostoever,
Nieuw Sloten and
De Aker (included in Osdorp). Since 2001, the borough has been subject to extensive
urban renewal projects. Under the
Richting Parkstad 2015 plan, thousands of homes were demolished and replaced by new developments. With the renewal projects, the original garden city ideas have been partially abandoned. In 2007, the
Bos en Lommer neighbourhood, now part of the borough of
Amsterdam-West, was marked
aandachtswijk (disadvantaged neighborhood) by Minister of Housing
Ella Vogelaar which made national urban renewal funds and programmes available to the area. The city of Amsterdam subsequently decided to apply the same status to the northeast and southwest of
Slotermeer,
Geuzenveld, central
Osdorp, and
Slotervaart in Nieuw-West. ==Borough government==