The Netherlands of 2040

Planning for the future, or trying to anticipate what will happen, is often an important aspect of regional studies. At a European level, the Europe 2020 strategy is one example of this.

In the Netherlands, a recent report has taken things a bit further ... to 2040! The Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis has just published 'The Netherlands of 2040', a documents which attempts to imagine the future by looking at various scenarios for growth and development. Perhaps of most interest to RSA members is Chapter 6 (p. 115), on 'Spatial development: Cities and economic geography'.

Earlier on in the report, four scenarios for the development of the Netherlands in 2040 are presented using axes from specialisation to generalisation and scattering to concentration (see below). Four different settlement types are then identified: 'talent towns', 'egalitarian ecologies', 'cosmopolitan centres' and 'metropolitan markets'.

Overall, some interesting stuff and worth a look...

Assembly of European Regions

A short post today about the Assembly of European Regions, which many RSA members will be familiar with. The AER has been promoting regionalism in Europe for 25 years and looks at issues from agriculture and rural development to the role of youth. More information about AER can be found here but the bottom line is that they bring together 270 regions from 33 countries to:

• Promote the principle of subsidiarity and regional democracy;
• Increase the regions' political influence within the European institutions;
• Support the regions in the process of European enlargement and globalisation;
• Facilitate interregional cooperation across wider Europe and beyond.

A full list of member regions can be found here - why not explore to find out more...

Regional Planning in England: Abolished?

Some developments from England that will no doubt interest/concern the RSA membership... Now that the United Kingdom is ruled by a Conservative-Liberal Democrat coalition it seems that major changes to regional planning are imminent.

A key policy development is the move to abolish Regional Spatial Strategies in England (things work a bit differently in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland...). The new Communities and Local Government Secretary Eric Pickles has said that the regional planning regime in England should no longer carry any weight in relation to planning decisions.

Does this make sense? Will it work? Why is it happening? The answers to these questions are for another time and place.

This post will end with a couple of images. Both display a 'commuting intensity' surface for England and Wales. Areas in red are effectively large functional urban areas. In the first image the black lines show the existing Government Office Regions. In the second, the black lines are local authority areas.