The Selfmade Land: Culture and Evolution of Urban and Regional Planning in the Netherlands

The Netherlands is a river delta where 16.7 million people live on just 41.000 km2, for the greater part selfmade land. Urban and regional planning runs in the blood of this country and its culture. For centuries development planning and land use control have been adopted to reclaim large areas, as well as to keep the country safe and dry. Hardly a square metre of the Mondrian‑like polders and the carefully planned cities has escaped the planners' hands. Even nature is thoroughly managed and sometimes created. In the 20th century, the Dutch planning system became one of the most sophisticated in the world. As a result, planning, occupation and urbanisation in the Netherlands mirror its social, economic and cultural life. This book is a complete remake of the well‑known Dutch textbook Van Grachtengordel tot Vinexwijk, which has had four reprints and sold over 10,000 copies since 2003. It describes the evolution of urban and regional planning in the Netherlands since the 16th century, unfolding a history of not only master pieces like the Amsterdam Canal Belt and spectacular public works like the reclamation of the Zuyderzee and the Delta Works, but also numerous smaller planning projects in cities, villages and the countryside. It tells the continuing story of the birth and rebirth of planning concepts on different time scales, the intriguing debates regarding a sustainable environment in the melting pot of Dutch society, and the final outcomes in terms of quality of space.