In search of the urban field: Past, present and future of urbanisation and urbanisation policy in the Netherlands and Europe
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Date
1999
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AESOP
Abstract
At the end of the 20th century, the future spatial design of the Netherlands is being debated heavily in the public sphere. The government intends to publish the Fifth Report on Physical Planning before the end of this year. This provokes a lot of discussion about which direction planning policy should take. Quite often, scientists and politicians mention the formation of so- called urban fields. This would be the next step in the process of continuous deconcentration of population, work and services: first there were cities, then monocentric urban regions, then polycentric urban regions (like the Randstad) and now, the urban fields are supposed to be the 'next big thing'. These urban fields lack a clear centre. Population, work, services and recreational facilities are spread across a large area. The mobility pattern connected to this is characterised by a 'criss-cross' pattern: daily travels are no longer for the largest part between suburb and city, but more and more city-to-city and suburb-to-suburb.
This formation of urban fields might actually be happening, but it might as well not be. So far, a lot of visionary things have been said about the urban fields, but empirical evidence was hardly presented. Are we really heading for urban fields in the Netherlands? What consequences would this have for Dutch planning policy, at the moment still aiming at a compact city development?
Description
Book of abstracts : AESOP PhD workshop 1999, Finse, Depertment of Geography Univeristy of Bergen, Norway
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CC-BY