See-through panel 6. Larsen

Never hungry again
The IJsselmeer polders were originally intended as an agricultural area. A major aim of the Zuiderzee project was to prevent the Netherlands from facing food shortages or famine again, as during World War II. By developing large arable and horticultural areas, with numerous farms and villages, the Netherlands would become more self-sufficient.

Within cycling distance
The layout of the first IJsselmeer polders was tailored to their agricultural function. In the Noordoostpolder, which was reclaimed in 1942, one medium-sized residential centre was built; that is Emmeloord. Surrounding this central core are ten smaller villages; Marknesse, Tollebeek, Rutten, Bant, Nagele, Luttelgeest, Creil, Urk, Espel and Kraggenburg. These all have their own facilities. The underlying idea at the time was that the polder inhabitants would mainly move around by bicycle. So every farm had to be within cycling distance of a village, so that people could easily use the village facilities.

New insights
In the early 1950s, there were plans to lay out Eastern Flevoland like the Noordoostpolder: one central residential centre, namely Dronten, surrounded by ten villages. During the 1950s, however, car ownership increased sharply and residents became increasingly mobile. Moreover, due to the mechanisation of agriculture, the number of farm workers decreased. It was no longer necessary to design and build facilities within cycling distance of the farms. Of the planned villages around Dronten, only Swifterbant and Biddinghuizen were eventually built.

Thought of everything
The last village to disappear from the map was Larsen. This happened at the last minute. Urban planner and professor Niek de Boer (1924-2016) had finished his design for the village of Larsen in October 1964. The village was to rise southwest of Dronten.

Amenities
You are now looking towards the village. This is what the village might have looked like. A village with 640 houses for about 2,300 people. Everything had been thought of, three school buildings, 10 to 15 shops, a medical centre, a library, a nurse's residence, a frozen food store and a post office. Three large churches were planned and - as written in De Boer's village plan - "maybe a single small church added...

NEVER BUILDED
In fact, sand was already being pumped up on the land where Larsen was to be built. In early 1965, the Rijksdienst voor de IJsselmeerpolders decided to scrap Larsen. Between 1956 and 1959, Larsen was planned in various locations on the map of Flevoland. Initially, it was to be located between Lelystad and Swifterbant. Later, its location in today's Larserbos seemed most likely. A little further from where you are standing now, a sand depot was constructed which is now known as the Heggenlandschap of the Flevolandschap foundation. This was possibly the intended starting location for the Larsen development.