Lewenborg

Location of Lewenborg inside the municipality of Groningen

Lewenborg is a green suburb in the east of the city of Groningen in the Netherlands. It had 8,800 residents as of 2008.[1] Its construction began in 1971.

The heart of Lewenborg consists of the shopping mall and the community center, Het Dok. All of Lewenborg's street names are references to nautical terms. Even the institutions and schools in this neighbourhood carry nautical names. The streets of Zilvermeer (Silverlake), Mooiland (Prettyland), Waterland and Zonland (Sunland) (the last three in the ecological quarter, Drielanden) are also part of Lewenborg. However, they do not concur with Lewenborg's regular nomenclature.

In the past few years, Lewenborg has undergone a suburban-renewal project. The plan consists of the creation of a canal which runs right through Lewenborg—the Lewenborgsingel. Before the digging began, three big flats had to be demolished: the Sloepflat in the fall of 1999, the Toplichtflat in the spring of 2000, and the Kombuisflat in 2005. The western portion of the canal was finished first, and the eastern portion is now also complete. As soon as Lewenborg's medical center has moved to its new location, both parts of the Lewenborgsingel will be connected.

History

Lewenborg is situated in a very old area. Originally the surroundings were terrains of bog-on-clay. The major development of bogs started around the year 1000, mostly because of the efforts of several monasteries. The harvesting (of peat) occurred on the higher located levees, which resulted in ribbon development (see for example Engelbert and Noorddijk) and relatively small lots (see for example the EDON-woods). In a later period, the mining of the bogs caused the ground to sink. At first, they tried to dig ditches (for example the Kardingermaar and the Zuidwending) to drain off the increasingly waterlogged lots. This proved to be insufficient, and major adjustments like water boards, polders, and dikes were deemed necessary.

In presumably the twelfth century, the Stadsweg arose. This was a route from Groningen via Noorddijk en Garmerwolde to the Ems. This old route disappeared with the construction of Lewenborg. However, two small pieces of it still remain: the bicycling path from the Stadsweg in Oosterhogebrug between the football fields of FC Lewenborg to Lichtboei; and on the other side of Lewenborg, the part of the bicycling path from Wimpel to the Bevrijdingsbos and in the direction of Garmerwolde. In 2007 a plan arose to dig up the Stadsweg in the Le Roygebied and pull it through from Wimpel.[2]

Sport clubs

The gymnastics club GV Olympia has used the gym in the sport centre on Valreep for almost fifteen years. The girls' squad participates in competitions on a national level.

Schools

Lewenborg has four elementary schools. It used to have six, but the Ketelbinkie and De Brandaris fused in 1995 into De Tweemaster. The schools Radar and De Swoaistee fused in 2005. After that, the old building of Radar was demolished to make way for the construction of new Swoaistee classrooms.

The current elementary schools are:

Other schools

In the past there were several schools that, albeit temporary, were based in Lewenborg. For example, there was a Waldorf school on Baken for quite some time.

Streets

References

  1. ↑ CBS: Kerncijfers wijken en buurten 2003-2008. The number is the sum of the districts Lewenborg-South, -North en -West
  2. ↑ Regiokrant 3 september 2007
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Coordinates: 53°14′23″N 6°37′29″E / 53.23972°N 6.62472°E / 53.23972; 6.62472

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