ABSTRACT
The Dutch urban structure is an example of a poly-nucleated urban system: very large cities are absent and the many medium sized cities are located relatively near to each other. Most of these cities have changed by a process of spatial deconcentration of population and employment. This chapter discusses the development of the economy in Dutch city regions, particularly in the Randstad Holland. The central issue investigated in this chapter is related to the performance of those regions in terms of growth of production, productivity and employment. These developments are related to structural economic changes, e.g. changes in sector composition and spatial deconcentration. The chapter raises questions as to the meaning of agglomeration economies within the poly-nucleated urban structure of the Netherlands. To investigate a more precise relation between economic growth and urban size, the chapter examines the economic growth of nineteen Dutch cities, which traditionally function as the urban nodes of the city regions.
