East/Watergraafsmeer

East/Watergraafsmeer is one of the main city-districts and borders the city core in the north. It's a large district that incorporates business, housing, a park, and industry. It's also where the entirety of the betafaculties of the University of Amsterdam are located, at an area of the district known as the Science Park. Other institutes that are located there include;

Institute for Atomic and Molecular Physics (AMOLF) National Research Institute for Mathematics and Computer Science (CWI) Faculty of Science of the University of Amsterdam (FNWI) AMSTEL Institute (AMSTEL) Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek (API) Informatics Institute (IvI) Swammerdam Institute for Life Sciences (SILS) National Institute for Nuclear Physics and High Energy Physics (NIKHEF) Stichting Academisch Rekencentrum Amsterdam (SARA)

The Oosterpark in Amsterdam is the first large park laid out by the municipality of Amsterdam. The park is located in the Oost (East)/Watergraafsmeer borough and forms a component of the Oosterpark area. The park, an English garden, was designed by Dutch landscape architect Leonard Anthony Springer and was laid out in 1891.

In order to make the Oosterpark, a centuries old cemetery behind the Tropical Museum had to be relocated. There were a lot of protests at the time when the municipality of Amsterdam suggested the new plans. In the end the protesters gave in and agreed with the new location for “their” cemetery which is now known as the New Ooster Begraafplaats.

In the park is a pond which contains a small island. The park also contains a part of a former cemetery. The park contains the National Slavery Monument, which commemorates the abolition of slavery in the Netherlands.

The small business district of the Omval contains the tallest building in the city, the Rembrandt tower, at 149,85 metres tall. Also contained within the district is the massive Bijlmerbajes. The Bijlmerbajes is a prison in Amsterdam near the Amstel station. The official name is Penitentiaire Inrichting Over-Amstel, although it is also known as Penitentiaire Inrichting De Stadspoort or Penitentiaire Inrichtingen Amsterdam. The building was designed as a humane prison without bars over the windows and was opened in 1978. However it turned out that the glass of the windows wasn't completely unbreakable, so bars were retrospectively fitted, known as lamellen. The complex consists of 6 towers with small divisions. The towers are connected underground by a tunnel through the prison, known as the Kalverstraat. The entrance to the prison is 50 metres from the Spaklerweg metrostation. The alliterative name Bijlmerbajes was presumably acquired because the tower complex was constructed at the same time as highrise construction in the neighbouring Bijlmermeer, with bajes a Dutch slang term for “prison”.

The district is generally a pleasant one with low (but not non-existant) crime, however; despite the pleasant conditions, it's generally considered a 'low prestige' area, largely on account of the prison and industry in the west of the district. The east is considerably better liked on the other hand.

Fields of Influence: Prison, Private Security, Corporate Sector, Light Industry, Science institutions, University, Sports clubs.

Haven qualities: Location up to 2, Size up to 3