DWARS through Overijssel: Zwolle

Although as a thirty-something I really can no longer call myself a 'young person', as the youngest member of the group I was given the honour of telling something about what makes Zwolle fun for young people. And fortunately, I know a lot about that from experience!

Our provincial capital has many young residents, and therefore has all kinds of things to offer young people. We have mbo's and hbo's where a total of more than 60,000 young people study. Not all of them live in the city: after all, Zwolle is super easy to reach by public transport. But the real student life, of course, is what you experience by living in rooms. The neighbourhoods around the station, Windesheim University and Assendorp are popular with students. Here you will find cosy student rooms that you often share with housemates. To meet the growing demand for rooms, in recent years three student flats have been built on Talentenplein, on the edge of the city centre. An incredibly popular place to live, so popular that as we speak, a fourth flat is being built. Not surprisingly, because as a student, you are well off here in your own studio flat, with all schools and train station nearby, and the pubs in the city centre at a crawling distance 😉

In terms of going out, there is plenty to do in Zwolle. Student café Het Vliegende Paard is also known as Zwolle's biggest student room. Besides going out, you can eat a cheap student meal, have meetings, play games, enjoy live music or organise your own event here. Besides 'Het Paard', there are many other pubs with often fun promotions for students. There are also all kinds of student associations: a few general ones, and many others based on religion, sports or interests. For music lovers, poppodium Hedon is the place to be. Here you can attend concerts by top national and international acts and dance late into the night at the hottest dance parties. Special alcohol-free parties are organised for under-17s. And for those who want to get started themselves, there are various projects such as hip-hop incubator Fakkelteit and talent competition Kunstbende.

Zwolle is a green city with many parks in and around the city centre where you can play sports and chill out in the summer. Fun events are also organised here regularly. The festival season gets off to a good start on 5 May with the largest liberation festival in the Netherlands. This is followed by the Zwolle Unlimited cultural festival and the Stadsfestival, among others. The beginning of each academic year is kicked off with a student introduction, the Bruisweek. This consists of a three-day programme for hbo students and a special mbo Bruisdag.

As the GroenLinks party, we are proud of what Zwolle has to offer for young people. We are and will continue to actively engage with young people to ensure this remains so. For instance, we maintain contact with the Student Consultative Body Zwolle and the various student associations, make a case for a broad cultural offering and remain alert to the housing offer for young people in Zwolle. So that even more young people know how to find our beautiful city and hopefully stay here for a long time!

Simone Boshove
Citizen councillor GroenLinks Zwolle
s.boshove@groenlinkszwolle.nl