Importing and exporting spatial needs: A Dutch approach1

The increasing demand for space determines much of the approach to spatial planning in countries with a high population density like the Netherlands. In the next three decades more land will be needed for housing, work, traffic, leisure, nature and water. There is only one sector that will yield land: agriculture. The Dutch Minister of Spatial Planning has presented six intervention strategies to cope with the increasing demand for space: (1) priority setting; (2) export spatial needs; (3) reduce the need for space in accordance with policy; (4) intensify land use; (5) combine spatial needs; (6) transform spatial structures and buildings. Spatial planning in the Netherlands is becoming more and more geared to strategies 4, 5 and 6, which take the need for land as given. This paper seeks to explain that the first three strategies, and strategy 2 in particular, are also crucial for a country like the Netherlands, even though the policies associated with them would not generally be labelled spatial. For the spatial planner, however, the export of spatial needs is relevant as this determines the outcome of spatial planning to a large extent. This shall be illustrated by reporting on international residential migration, the use of leisure homes and second homes, international business migration and the restructuring of the agricultural sector. The Netherlands is not only exporting spatial needs, but also in the same time even imports needs at a larger scale, which puts spatial planning on a larger pressure. In the past the lack of space was solved by relinquishing land that was originally earmarked for water or nature. But the need for space for water and nature has increased recently and will continue to do so in the coming decades. This makes intervention strategy 2 even more relevant for the future. Spatial planners need to widen their horizons and include the import and export of spatial needs in their analyses.