Led by architect Siegfried Nassuth and team, the original neighborhood was designed as a series of nearly identical high-rise buildings laid out in a hexagonal grid.

The goal was to create open spaces for recreation at grade, elevated roads to reduce pollution and traffic from those same recreation areas, and residences climbing upward offering residents views, clean air, and sunlight.

However, in recent years, the roads are once again being put into a single plane, so pedestrians, cycles and cars travel alongside each other.

This is a move to lessen the effects of the 'inhuman' scale of some of the Bijlmer's designs and improve safety using direct sightlines.

The modernist urban design caused various negative issues such as a lack of openness to the city.

Many middle class residents moved out which impoverished the Bijlmer with high crime rates and ghetto areas.

On 4 October 1992, Israeli El Al Flight 1862 lost two engines shortly after take-off from Schiphol at 6 PM.

[citation needed] On November 17, 2007, the Amsterdam Bijlmer ArenA station was officially opened by Princess Máxima.

[citation needed] Despite the construction of roads and the extension of metro Line 53 in the neighborhood, there remains a low employment rate of its residents.

A clear improvement in the quality of life is marked by the various urban renewal projects of the municipality.

This resulted in significant reduction in crime and a more balanced socio-economic composition, whilst at the same time maintaining the area's ethnic mix.

The presence of randomly placed art remains a bone of contention for residents of the Bijlmermeer.

The original statue of Anton de Kom has received considerable criticism for its reproduction of tropes concerning black masculinity.