The Dutch Layers Approach to Spatial Planning and Design: A Fruitful Planning Tool or a Temporary Phenomenon?

Abstract

In 1998, a stratified model that distinguished spatial planning tasks on the basis of the differing spatial dynamics of substratum, networks and occupation patterns—i.e. three layers—was introduced in the national debate on spatial planning in the Netherlands. Although using layered models was not a new thing, this model hit a nerve in spatial planning practice, initially, in particular, on a national level, but later also on provincial and municipal levels. Since 1998, this “layers model” has developed into an approach to spatial planning and design: the Dutch layers approach. In the process, it got transformed in different ways. In this paper, we aim to provide information on and insight into the development of the layers approach between 1998 and 2009 both from a theoretical angle and from its application in practice, focusing on the variations of the layers approach that have been constructed since its introduction. We then add our own comments to the ongoing Dutch discourse concerning the layers approach, both in general and from the point of view of the relation between “time” and “space”. Concluding, we also answer the question posed in the title.