Urban configurations in a dynamic delta landscape

This chapter seeks to show how the development of the spatial structure of the Randstad can be regarded as the outcome of three processes: the dynamics of the landscape; the changing economic and technical conditions; and changing societal conditions. The dynamics of the delta landscape and the specific way that people tried to intervene in this landscape and manipulate it created the conditions for a specific spatial structure. The development of the collection of Dutch cities, known as the Randstad, is linked strongly to the position of the territory in the delta of the two rivers Rhine and Meuse. Until the 1960s national politics put a strong emphasis on national economic independence. Overlooking a 1,000-year history of urbanisation of a delta-area, we can see the influential and decisive role of changes in the nature of rivers and sea, and the importance of the way that mankind has tried to deal with these changes.