Speaker
Description
Abstract
In various European member states, there has been a call for enhancing national spatial planning (Yang et al., 2024; Breach, 2024). The housing crisis is an essential driver behind these calls (ESPON, 2024), but not the only one. Protecting essential ecosystem services, promoting renewable energy, climate adaptation and, lately, reserving space for military use have also been cited as reasons for introducing or enhancing national planning. Conversely, the lack of national planning is often blamed for urban sprawl and/or the uncontrolled proliferation of datacenters and logistical facilities.
Dutch national spatial planning was long heralded as a European forerunner. However, this reputation gradually declined after the turn of the century. In the era of neoliberalism, the Dutch planning system was subjected to far-reaching decentralisation and deregulation (Roodbol-Mekkes, van der Valk and Altes, 2012; Zonneveld and Evers, 2014). In the past decade, subsequent national administrations have asserted the intention to ‘reclaim control’ to tackle the country’s major spatial challenges.
In this paper, recent attempts at a comeback of national spatial planning in the Netherlands are assessed against theoretical and historical notions about the success and failure of national spatial planning strategies. The paper claims that the effectiveness of Dutch national spatial planning can only be understood in the institutional context in which it was developed and executed. For the institutional analysis and the analysis of the emerging strategy, we draw on Ostrom’s IAD-framework, the concept of policy arrangements (Arts et al. 2006) and the concept of planning doctrine (Faludi and Van der Valk, 1994).
The renationalization of spatial planning – by means of the 2020 National Environment and Spatial Strategy (NOVI) – is occurring under entirely different circumstances than when it was denationalised around 2000 (Evers, 2024). The legacy of decentralisation, rise of populism, consolidated power of commercial actors are all factors to be reckoned with. The case offers insight into the relationship between institutional conditions and the success- and fail factors of national strategic planning. As such forces are present elsewhere in Europe, and Dutch national planning’s history is generally seen as exceptional, the Dutch case can be seen as an extreme case to learn from in different contexts.
Literature
Arts, B., Leroy, P. & van Tatenhove, J. Political Modernisation and Policy Arrangements: A Framework for Understanding Environmental Policy Change. Public Organiz Rev 6, 93–106 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-006-0001-4
Breach, A. (2024) Restarting housebuilding I: Planning reform and the private sector, http://www.centreforcities.org
ESPON (2024) House for All: Access to Affordable and Quality Housing for All People. Luxembourg: ESPON. Available at: https://www.espon.eu/sites/default/files/2024-08/affordable-and-quality-housing-leaflet_updated-082024.pdf (Accessed: 6 December 2024).
Evers, D. (2024) ‘The myth of the perfect scale - UGoveRN’, 16 October. Available at: https://ugovern.eu/myth-perfect-scale/ (Accessed: 21 October 2024).
Roodbol-Mekkes, P.H., van der Valk, A.J.J. and Altes, W.K.K. (2012) ‘The Netherlands Spatial Planning Doctrine in Disarray in the 21st Century’, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 44(2), pp. 377–395. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1068/a44162.
Yang, H., Redmond, D., & Williams, B. (2024). Starting again: National spatial planning and the quest for compact growth in Ireland. European Urban and Regional Studies, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/09697764241287023
Zonneveld, W. and Evers, D. (2014) ‘Dutch national spatial planning at the end of an era’, in M. Reimer (ed.) Spatial Planning Systems and Practices in Europe: A Comparative Perspective on Continuity and Changes. New York: Routledge, pp. 61–82.
References
Arts, B., Leroy, P. & van Tatenhove, J. Political Modernisation and Policy Arrangements: A Framework for Understanding Environmental Policy Change. Public Organiz Rev 6, 93–106 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11115-006-0001-4
Breach, A. (2024) Restarting housebuilding I: Planning reform and the private sector, http://www.centreforcities.org
ESPON (2024) House for All: Access to Affordable and Quality Housing for All People. Luxembourg: ESPON. Available at: https://www.espon.eu/sites/default/files/2024-08/affordable-and-quality-housing-leaflet_updated-082024.pdf (Accessed: 6 December 2024).
Evers, D. (2024) ‘The myth of the perfect scale - UGoveRN’, 16 October. Available at: https://ugovern.eu/myth-perfect-scale/ (Accessed: 21 October 2024).
Roodbol-Mekkes, P.H., van der Valk, A.J.J. and Altes, W.K.K. (2012) ‘The Netherlands Spatial Planning Doctrine in Disarray in the 21st Century’, Environment and Planning A: Economy and Space, 44(2), pp. 377–395. Available at: https://doi.org/10.1068/a44162.
Yang, H., Redmond, D., & Williams, B. (2024). Starting again: National spatial planning and the quest for compact growth in Ireland. European Urban and Regional Studies, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/09697764241287023
Zonneveld, W. and Evers, D. (2014) ‘Dutch national spatial planning at the end of an era’, in M. Reimer (ed.) Spatial Planning Systems and Practices in Europe: A Comparative Perspective on Continuity and Changes. New York: Routledge, pp. 61–82.
| Keywords | National spatial planning, Institutional analysis, network governance |
|---|---|
| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
