From vision to transformations

Planning instruments and strategic transformations in the Randstad and Amsterdam city region
The practice of Dutch spatial planning has often been considered as a model for other European countries. One of most recognized aspect is the integration between different planning instruments produced at different levels, from the national, to the regional and metropolitan levels. Nonetheless, the practices of urban transformations reveals that the translation of over-local directives in "elements of urban quality" is not straightforward. Difficulties are related to multi-level governance processes that are not always linear, because of the difficulty to translate national and regional visions into local planning prescriptions and because of the projectual inconsistence between sovra-local levels of development and local planning requirements. The recent institutional reform promoted by the new government - and strongly debated - has radically redefined the planning regulative framework, promoting more decentralization and giving a new role to national spatial planning.
Different speakers will present the practices of Dutch planning at each level in order to give a picture of the relationship between planning instruments, structural plans and the concrete outcomes of urban transformation projects, examining how these instruments influence the transformation of Amsterdam Metropolitan area. The presenters will respectively show the nature and functions of nationally designed strategic plans (Randstad 2040) and locally defined structural plans (Amsterdam Structuurvisie) and discuss their effects and relation with some concrete key development projects.