An important aspect in the planning of a New Town is the planning of health care services. Many New Towns have a progressive attitude towards health care. In some New Towns, experiments are undertaken to organize health care in new and innovative ways. In some cases even a totally new health care system is developed from scratch. Because of this, New Towns provide great opportunities to learn and research the health care systems that are being developed in different regions around the world.

In 1962 Zoetermeer was designated as the satellite "overspill" New Town of the city of Den Haag. Zoetermeer had to be compact, a green city with good infrastructure and a modern city center. The city’s rapid development over the last 30 years has been less clear than the plans suggest. For some overview of the legislative history and in the current situation the International New Town Institute (INTI) and the city museum of Zoetermeer (Stadsmuseum Zoetermeer) are organizing the course ‘Learning from Zoetermeer’ from 30 May to 4 July. The course offers local residents and other interested parties the opportunity to learn about the development of the New Town Zoetermeer during six evening presentations and discussions.

NieuweStedenStudies (offered in Dutch) will search for the characteristics of the suburban city. What opportunities are there and how should we develop New Towns in the future? How can we organize and shape the physical restructuring? What social measures can stimulate a vital city? The two-day program starts with investigating the original ambitions, design and realization of the New Towns and examines how these aspects have taken shape over time. The course will focus especially on what the future of these cities will look like and how we can develop strategies for a social and spatial form of suburban urbanism.

On May 28, INTI is organizing the expert meeting “Jonge Helden in New Towns” (Young Heroes in New Towns) in collaboration with Platform31. The expert meeting marks the end of the experimental program Self-organization in New Towns, which has been carried out over the past year by Stuurgroep Experimenten Volkshuisvesting (now Platform31). You are welcome to participate.

In 1962, the national government chose to expand the neighboring village of Zoetermeer to address the housing shortage of the Hague. The newly-appointed city planners quickly began designing a modern New Town. It was the first time in Netherlands that a city for 100,000 residents was put on paper. Zoetermeer was an experiment in which modern and progressive ideas about urban planning were processed.

Michelle Provoost, Director of the International New Town Institute, recently participated in a series of lectures curated by Strelka, the Moscow architecture school. In this "Strelka Talk", From Welfare City to Neoliberal Utopia, Dr. Provoost discusses the evolution of utopian models for creating new cities.

Strelka Talks. "From Welfare City to Neoliberal Utopia" by Michelle Provoost from Strelka in Russian on Vimeo.

Under the theme: ‘Sustainable Development: The role of cities in creating improved economic opportunities for all, with special reference to youth and gender’, the 24th Governing Council of UN Habitat came to a close on April 19. After a spirited opening by newly elected Kenyan President Uruhu Kenyatta on Monday, the conference offered a variety of inspiring sessions ranging from a in-depth look at new, experimental forms of Land Readjustment ("PiLar:Participatory and Inclusive Land Readjustment") to an exploratory discussion over the new generation of National Urban Policies (NUPs).

During 2013 INTI is organizing monthly meetings in the exhibition space of Making Almere. In each meeting two researchers will give a presentation on the outcomes of their research/thesis/PhD, with content related to urban planning and New Towns. At the end of each presentation there is time for discussion.