The Hague region: Negotiating the common ground in peri-urban landscapes

Abstract

This chapter deals with the case study region with the highest average urban density, the biggest area below sea level and the largest area of greenhouse horticulture of all PLUREL case studies, The Hague Region, in the Netherlands. The chapter introduces the area and then the planning system in The Netherlands and the position of the city region in peri-urban governance. Three regional strategies are examined in more depth following the analysis of the area carried out using the joint analytical framework presented in the introduction to this section of the book. These are: giving incentives to farmers for landscape management (known here due to the large amount of water in the Dutch landscape as 'green and blue services') to strengthen agriculture in the urban fringe, examples of discourse development for making green space politically more important, and the use of inner city densification to prevent urban sprawl. Two scenarios (based on the SRES scenarios presented and discussed in Chap. 1) were developed for The Hague Region in addition to a Business as Usual scenario: 'Peak Oil' and 'Fragmentation'. The scenarios were modelled using MOLAND (see Chap. 3), with and without strategies, in order to test their robustness in different situations. To conclude, recommendations are given for planning and governance in the peri-urban zone of The Hague Region and for improvement of the strategies which were assessed.