The Changing Nature of Dutch Urban Planning

Abstract

Abstract Dutch urban planning is known for its efforts to control and direct the suburbanization of Amsterdam and the entire Randstad metropolitan area. In recent years, however, Dutch planners have had to abandon their “concentrated deconcentration” approach and instead to focus their efforts on the reurbanization of Amsterdam and other major cities. We identify the achievements and limitations of Dutch urban planning and discuss the reasons the nation's urban planners have the reversed direction. We try to guage just how similar or different planning in the Netherlands is from planning in the United States.