The Zuider-Amstelkanaal Expansion Plan formed part of the General Expansion Plan of Amsterdam (AUP). It was designed by the city's Department of Urban Development, which at that time was headed by Cornelis van Eesteren (1897–1988). The AUP was officially adopted in 1939. The Zuider-Amstelkanaal Expansion Plan, concerning the area south of the Stadiongracht and the Zuider Amstelkanaal and between the Schinkel and the Boerenwetering, was officially approved by the municipal council one year later.
In its main outlines, Van Eesteren aligned this plan with the already realized 1917 South Expansion Plan of H.P. Berlage. Thus, the symmetrical layout of Berlage’s design was partly maintained. The Minervalaan, a central axis in Berlage’s plan, was to be extended up to the Ring Railway. To the west of Minervalaan, the Parnassusweg was designated as a shopping street, while to the east the Beethovenlaan would serve as a main traffic artery. For reasons of functionality, both streets were not to connect symmetrically with their predecessors from “Plan Zuid.” Running east–west, the Prinses Irenestraat was intended as a major thoroughfare. Although today’s Prinses Irenestraat does not extend beyond the Parnassusweg, it originally continued into the Frederik Roeskestraat.

(Due to the outbreak of the Second World War, implementation of the expansion plan had to be postponed. Only after the war was the plan revised, and it was not until 1953 that it was approved by the municipal council. This plan differed significantly from the earlier 1940 version. Postwar demands and priorities had shifted: there was less need for high-end housing and greater demand for affordable, large-scale, efficient housing construction.)