Extremes of scale in landscape openness

Despite the tendency towards uniformity, extremes in openness can still be found. The most open areas are on the marine clay and carr peat in the west of the country. The most "closed" areas are scattered, but occur mainly on the sandy soils.

Current situation

In the north and west of the Netherlands it is generally the marine clay areas that are the most open and large-scale landscapes. Here, tall vegetation and buildings are few and far between. They are concentrated in villages and occasionally on or around farmsteads. Small-scale areas, known as "closed" landscapes, occur predominantly on the sandy soils (along the borders between the provinces of Groningen and Friesland, and Drenthe and Overijssel, and also in the Achterhoek, Gelder Valley, and central Brabant) and in areas merging into the river region (Langbroekerwetering) and in the southwest marine clay area (Walcheren and Zuid-Beveland).

Technical note

The distinguishing feature "extremes of scale" has been assessed on the basis of research (Dijkstra & van Lith-Kranendonk, 2000) that distinguished very open areas and very small-scale areas by looking at the tall vegetation and buildings on the 1:250 000 topographical map. The very open areas are those that have less than 5% of their area under tall vegetation and also less than 5% of built-up area per 1x1 km grid square. Small-scale areas are those that have more than 3 km of linear plantings per 1x1 km grid square.

References

• Dijkstra, H. en J. van Lith-Kranendonk (2000). Schaalkenmerken van het landschap in Nederland. Rapport 40. Alterra. Wageningen.
• Geertsema, W., 2002. Het belang van groenblauwe dooradering voor natuur en landschap. Achtergrondrapport Natuurbalans 2002. Reeks 'Planbureau-werk in uitvoering', Werkdocument 2002/02. Natuurplanbureau/Alterra. Wageningen.