BUROPPOSSO

The international zone of The Hague is so named because there are many embassies, UN- or European institutions and international schools. Many expats live in surrounding neighbourhoods. Negative characteristic of the area are the many heavy infrastructure lines. They cut the mainly green landscape in small badly connected parks and places. For the improvement of the area quality the most important intervention was to create one large and strong green city park of as it used to be once. The city is competition with other international cities like Vienna, Geneve, Brussels, Bonn and Rome to attract international organizations. In order to compete on 'the quality of life', an already strong point of this city, The Hague needs to upgrade it's public parks to a European level.

For this purpose the plan proposed to bring the Northwest main route underground, reducing the barrier. Step 2 was restoring the beautiful but erased scenic features such as a belvedere, the Dutch garden of the Catshuis, staircases and long sightlines for orientation. One network of park paths with the romantic sweeping lines reinforces the recreational, artistic and ecological values ​​of this historic inner dune landscape. The increased area quality would be a driver for the further development of The Hague as a city of Peace and Justice. New institutions could land at the available locations around the International Park (or Vredespark).