A returning topic when it comes to #longterm #spatialplanning is the further future of the majestic open polder landscapes in the Netherlands. In the area where I work those landscapes are often peaty and swampy and entirely below sea level. The show an idyllic and typically Dutch image of black and white cows in green meadows. It is a wonderful view, but highly vulnerable.
Climate is changing, rains are getting heavier, and the soft soil is sinking in. At the same time the beautiful wide panoramas that we all cherish so much pop up as locations for other future purposes. Industrial estates, forests, and a parking area for roughly a million cubic meters of peak water that fell as heavy rain elsewhere in the country. The most recent potential claim is the Federal government looking for space to put electric masts, cables and transfomer stations.
Once I got a newspaper cut-out which said: Don’t worry, the future comes later (De toekomst komt later wel). Like the ‘Snooze’ button on your alarm clock this may soothe you into sleep. But I would argue: being prepared is better. And yes, we wrote a spatial vision until 2040 which clearly states: Build within the city, but keep the landscapes open and strengthen their nature’s value. But already then we were trying to think further ahead: What can be a vision for 2050, or even the year 2100?
Recently, we looked into possible far away futures for some of the polders of Zaanstad. We did that with Steven Slabbers of BoschSlabbers landscape architects, eldermen René Tuijn and Wessel Breunesse, colleagues Els Lenting, 🍀 Elise Bos Eyssen, Jouke van der Werf, Jan Schreuder, Bregt Balk, Alphons Rommelse and others and a wonderful group of motivated citizens in the completely over-booked former Town Hall in Assendelftamidst those polders.
We shared information, listened to each other talking about history, business, beauty and worries. We discovered that landscape has always been changing. But we also thought of strategies and possible scenario’s for the further future, and how to team up with each other. And how to be prepared for a future that mistakenly seems far away.