‘Atalanta’ is the name for a common, colourful, migrating butterfly and also the name assigned to the makeover project for the city centre of Emmen. Atalanta will apply to three zones:

• Hoofdstraat site
• Centrum-West
• The Connection (De Verbinding)

Developing Emmen’s city centre is one of the top priorities of the Municipality of Emmen and the Province of Drenthe. The Master Plan for the Emmen City Centre 2020 (MEC 2020) describes the concept for the future of Emmen’s city centre. The idea running throughout the MEC 2020 is the need to reinforce the urban function of Emmen: to stimulate the economy of the three northern Dutch provinces on a long-term basis.A compact, easily accessible and vital city centre requires the strengthening of its east-west axis. Moving the zoo to Centrum-West opens up an opportunity to transform the central part of the city. Emmen is thus being confronted with a unique challenge. Atalanta is the spearheading project in the MEC 2020.

Im Rahmen der Realisierung eines kompakten, gut erreichbaren und vitalen Stadtkernes ist die Ostwestachse des Zentrums zu verstärken. Der Umzug des Tierparks nach Zentrum-West ermöglicht eine Metamorphose des Zentrums, die Emmen einmalige Chancen bietet. Atalanta ist das Schwerpunktprojekt im MEC 2020.