Urban areas in the Netherlands, 1970-2000
Since 1970, the size of the built-up area in the Netherlands has increased from 8% to more than 12% of the surface area of the country.
Size of urban area is increasing.
In the period 1970-2000, we witnessed a considerable expansion of urban areas. In 1970, the urban areas accounted for about 8% of the surface area of the Netherlands. This had increased to more than 12% in 2000 (CBS, 2003). Housing, work, recreation and transport are taking up an increasingly large share of land in the Netherlands. Economic growth in the last ten years has led to even more intense land use.
The map clearly shows the urban development in the Flevo Polder. Otherwise, a large proportion of urban expansion is located outside the Randstad urban agglomeration. The cities in the province of Brabant provide a clear example of this.
Interactive urbanisation atlas
Users can select maps and superimpose them using the interactive atlas. This means that users can make maps showing developments in urbanisation, new roads and the location of developments with respect to nature areas and valuable cultural landscapes.
The interactive atlas as experiment
The interactive atlas for Urbanisation is one of the two atlas experiments in the Environmental Data Compendium. The second experiment is an atlas for Schiphol, with various maps for noise and safety around the airport.
The aim of these experiments is to acquire experience with this interactive way of supplying information. What possibilities does the technology afford? How do the readers see this service? Does the atlas work quickly enough? Are the functions clear or is more explanation required? Do you have any ideas for other applications? We would be happy to hear from you!
User responsible for own results
The interactive atlas also provides more advanced functions for enthusiasts. They can, for example, set the number of homes located in areas outside urban areas themselves. Users will of course be responsible for results based on their own analyses. The RIVM and Statistics Netherlands cannot be responsible for any results generated by users themselves.
Spatial policy
National government has, in the various policy documents, attempted to establish a framework for, and direct, the spatial planning of the Netherlands. It is difficult to determine later the impact of policy of this kind, given the fact that it is awkward to determine the developments that would have occurred otherwise. You can find more information about the spatial policy in the Space introduction.
What do urban areas include?
Broadly speaking, urban areas include all buildings, such as housing, offices, factories... They are also considered to include most roads in the built-up areas and urban green spaces, such as parks and gardens.
