Zoetermeer is a city in the Western Netherlands, in the province of South Holland. The municipality covers an area of 37.05 km2 (14.31 sq mi) of which 2.60 km2 (1.00 sq mi) is water. A small village until the late 1960s, it had 6,392 inhabitants in 1950. By 2013 this had grown to 123,328, making it the third largest population centre in the province of South Holland, after Rotterdam and The Hague. While now a city in its own right, Zoetermeer started out as a The Hague suburb and is still a part of the Greater The Hague urban area.
The name Zoetermeer (Dutch for “freshwater lake”) refers to the former lake north of the town (reclaimed in 1614). Because the name literally translates as “sweet lake” local residents have dubbed Zoetermeer “Sweet Lake City”.
Zoetermeer’s economy is primarily dependent and revolving around Information technology. With modern infrastructure, a highly digitised centre called ‘het Forum’ that houses city hall, the central library and numerous other organisations, and many schools that offer IT-related education, it also is a major software development centre, with many software developers based here. Given the large number of IT companies with branches in Zoetermeer, like Siemens, which has its Dutch Tech Campus in Zoetermeer, and Toshiba Medical Systems Europe BV, it’s not surprising that 20% of the population of Zoetermeer has an IT-related job. The local government designates a comparatively large part of the budget to computers for schools.
To stress the IT tradition of Zoetermeer, the city is the first in the world to have a city hall in Second Life.
This former new town used to be a satellite city of The Hague, as many residents worked, shopped and were entertained in The Hague. With the growth of Zoetermeer came a large theatre, mega cinema, and other entertainment such as go-karts, laser gaming, survival centre, and a golf centre. The “Locomotion” discothèque, the first mega disco of The Netherlands, was the oldest of them. Locomotion closed its doors in 2011 and has since become a restaurant called Eten Enzo.
Zoetermeer has many parks, the biggest being the “Westerpark” on the west side of town. It is almost as large as Central Park in New York. Other notable parks are the “Buytenpark”, the “Aldo van Eyckpark”, the “Binnenpark”, the “Van Tuyllpark (with Dutch Water Dreams and Aquapark Keerpunt), the “Hoekstrapark”, the “Wilhelminapark”, the “floriade park“, the “Seghwaertse Hout” and the “Seghwaertpark”.
At the north side there is a lake, the “Zoetermeerse Plas”, often called “Noord Aa” because it is in the Noord Aa Recreational Area. There is a beach along one side of the lake and a marina on the other. Wind- and kite surfing, sailing and fishing are the most popular activities on the lake.
On both the west and east side of the city forests are being planted, called “Balijbos” (west side) and Bentwoud (east side). These forests are intended to form a “natural” barrier between The Hague and Zoetermeer.
