The Floriade in the Netherlands, a green new city under the sea

The city centre, designed by Dutch star architect Rem Koolhaas, is almost car-free; the parking spaces and roads are below the surface. Photos: Maarten Feenstra/Almere City Marketing/dpa

Under the endless sky, the streets seem to stretch into infinity. Clouds pile up into dramatic formations, reflected on the surface of the water.

Here in the Flevopolder, the land is even flatter than elsewhere in the Netherlands, the sky stretches even further, the light is even clearer. At the south-western tip of the artificial island is Almere.