Every design for Nieuwegein

Nieuwegein sits on the river Lek just south of the city of Utrecht, with IJsselstein to the west and Houten to the east, and three canals running through it. It was founded on 1 July 1971 as a planned town, joining the old municipalities of Jutphaas and Vreeswijk to house the growing population around Utrecht.

Huis Oudegein carries the longer story. In the land between the two villages stood Geyne, a settlement granted city rights in 1295 and destroyed in 1333 in a war between the Bishop of Utrecht and the Count of Holland. The house is all that remains of that time, and when the councils argued over a name for the new town, they settled on New Gein. Rijnhuizen, Fort bij Jutphaas and Museum Warsenhoeck add further layers, and a company based here at the time invented Wi-Fi.

For anyone who grew up in Nieuwegein, the map is a record of childhood: the sneltram rattling towards Utrecht, the pedestrian ferry over the Lek to Vianen, the parks between the new estates and the old cores of Vreeswijk and Jutphaas where the town began.