The Randstad area in the Netherlands

Abstract

In the 1930s, Albert Plesman (1889–1953), founder of the Royal Dutch Airlines, hosted a trip over the west of the Netherlands. Looking out the window, he pointed out to his guests the shape of the sea-sided urban conurbation wrapped around a green area and called out: “Een randstad!” (A ring city!). Plesman’s nickname for the area soon grew into a household name and nowadays refers to the urban area in the western part of the Netherlands. It is used in official and unofficial documentation. It is associated with other terms to refer to the same area, like “Holland” (because most of the area consists of the provinces of North Holland and South Holland), or “the West”. Unlike these other terms, Randstad emphasises the urban parts of the area because it contains the word stad (city).