Policies for Urban Form and their Impact on Travel: The Netherlands Experience

This paper documents an evaluation of the consequences of the Netherlands national physical planning policy for an individual's travel behaviour. Four components of this policy are considered: the concentrated decentralisation of the 1970s and 1980s; the strict compact-city policy of the 1980s and 1990s; the A-B-C location policy; and the spatial retailing policy. Using data from the 1998 Netherlands National Travel Survey, the article addresses the following questions. Did physical planning reduce the use of the private car and promote the use of public transport together with cycling and walking? Did physical planning lead to shorter travel distances and times? The analysis suggests that national spatial planning has been most effective in retaining high shares of cycling and walking in the large and medium-sized cities, in particular for shopping trips. In terms of travel time, however, spatial policy seems to have been less successful. The building of new towns and, more recently, the development of greenfield neighbourhoods close to cities do not appear to have reduced commuting times. Alternative strategies to promote the use of public transport, the bicycle and walking through the regulation of land use are discussed. Relaxing some of the present spatial planning controls is suggested to reduce car use and travel times.