ABSTRACT
Cities have a long history and have known glory, decay, growth, change, adjustment and renewal. Nowadays society is working on the sustainable development of cities. Spatial policies in the metropolises in The Netherlands were fundamentally changed by the 1968 Urban Planning Law, stipulating the zoning arrangements for existing and new parts of the cities. Environmental legislation got an enormous boost in the late seventies. Ever since then, cautious steps have been taken towards improving the quality of the urban environment. How far have urban policies come as regards the space and the environment we live in? Is there adjustment and synergy, are there conflicts, and how do politicians and planners resolve them? How do we compare with the rest of the world?
