11 research outputs found
Rijkswaterstaat:Guardian of the Dutch Delta
Founded in 1798, Rijkswaterstaat, the Dutch governmentâs agency for infrastructural works, brought flood security, navigable waterways and highways to the Netherlands. It is an iconic institution within Dutch society, best known for its âbattle against the waterâ. The Zuiderzee Works (1920â1968) and the Delta Works (1954â1997) brought worldwide acclaim. This chapter tells the story of a humble semi-military organization that developed into a formidable institution of civil engineers with a strong technocratic mission mystique. It also recounts the institutional crisis the agency experienced in the 1970sâ1990s when it was too slow to adapt to major sociocultural and political changes. To ride the waves of change, it eventually developed several proactive adaptation strategies and reinvented its mission mystique in managerial terms. Adaptation to climate change now presents another key challenge, for which Rijkswaterstaat will have to develop a new âsocial license to operateâ