ABSTRACT
Currently urbanisation is again an issue in Dutch spatial policies. The renewed attention has been initiated by the Fourth Report on Physical Planning (On the road to 2015), of which the first concept has been published by central government in 19881. One of the central issues in the report is that new urbanisation areas must be designated. The immediate cause is an increasing demand for space for housing and business activity, in combination with the fact that the existing potential urbanisation areas are unable to meet this demand. In addition, the relationship between urbanisation and mobility (actual use of public or private transport means) is a reason for a reorientation on the urbanisation concept. The high density of the Netherlands and the growing use of private transport, especially in the case of private cars, not only have negative effects on the environment, but also on one of the economic strengths of the country, the Netherlands as a transport and distribution country (with the harbours of Rotterdam and Amsterdam and the airport of Amsterdam as most important 'main-ports'), is threatened.
