The 'Gender' is a
stream in the
Dutch province of
Noord-Brabant. It originates in originally
marshy flatlands near
Steensel and flows for twenty kilometers through
Veldhoven and
Meerveldhoven in a general
east-northeast direction towards
Eindhoven. Here, the Gender originally flowed towards and through the
city centre to end in a confluence with the
Dommel stream, but by the
nineteenth century, the stretch within the old city had been filled and the Gender now ended in De Vest, the city
moat (which itself was connected to the Dommel).
Twentieth-century channelisation and the emergence of post-
War large-scale residential areas in the Gender
basin have seen the last stretch before the city centre cut off with the stream's water flowing into the specilally-built Afwateringskanaal ("Water Regulation Canal"), which connects the Dommel with the
Beatrixkanaal and controls the water level of the Dommel.
In
2005, plans were put forth to have the Gender flow through the Eindhoven city centre once again: the "Nieuwe Gender" or New Gender project. The stream is to flow partially underground, partially above-ground and to discharge into the Dommel near the
railway station. As of the summer of 2006, large-scale city centre reconstruction plans have included the implementation of the Nieuwe Gender.
The Gender is one of many small
streams that drain what once was the marshy
heath and
moorland of eastern Noord-Brabant and the
Kempen plateau. Similar streams include the
Dommel,
Kleine Dommel,
Keersop,
Tongelreep,
Aa,
Binnen-Dieze and
De Run. All of these streams at one point or other flow together to finally form River
Dieze in
Den Bosch, which in turn flows into River
Maas.
External link
★
De Nieuwe Gender, article in
Dutch on the 2005 reconstruction plans