De oorsprong van het ingenieursberoep

Het ingenieursberoep is bet resultaat van een drie tat ontwikkelingen: De opkomst van de moderne natuurwetenschappen, de industriële revolutie en bet proces van staatsvorming. Het beroep krijgt in Nederland zijn vorm in de negentiende eeuw en zijn maatschappelijke erkenning in de twintigste eeuw. De ontwikkelingen worden gelilustreerd met bio graflsche notities over Nederlandse ingenieurs

Building materials and construction:the four building challenges

\u3cp\u3eThe chapter analyses the radical changes in the supply chain of building materials and construction between 1850 and 1910. It investigates the consequences for the four building challenges in this period: public hygiene, public housing, the struggle against water and the development of road infrastructure. The hygienists succeeded in getting the issue of urban pollution due to faeces and other organic waste on the societal agenda. Despite this, the effect of the movement on the health of the poor and workers in this period was still minimal. Realising the hygienist program demanded firm municipal policy and large investments. Moreover there was exuberant debate on the nature of the measures to be taken. Public housing too became a significant political issue thanks to the efforts of the progressive bourgeoisie and socially conscious entrepreneurs. The most important result was the passing of the Housing Law of 1901, that provided the future framework for the condemnation, dispossession and improvement of dwellings. In the field of water management, the government public works agency (Rijkswaterstaat), intensified its struggle against regularly recurring river floods. An impressive program of river normalisation was carried out under its leadership. Successive governments would devote much attention to infrastructure with the aim of improving welfare, reinforcing the position of the maritime harbours and improving the accessibility of remote regions. The construction of a network of canals and railways guaranteed the spatial integration of the Netherlands and had far-reaching consequences for the modernisation of the economy.\u3c/p\u3

Een land met stoom

No abstract

Maakt techniek gelukkig?

Maakt techniek gelukkig? Volgens de Britse filosoof, wetenschapper en staatsman, Francis Bacon (1561-1626) was het antwoord positief. In zijn utopie Het Nieuwe Atlantis uit 1627 leefden de mensen lang en gelukkig. Het was de eerste utopie waarin wetenschap en technologie een centrale rol speelden. Wetenschap en technologie hadden in het Nieuwe Atlantis een einde gemaakt aan schaarste, armoede, honger en ziekte. Zij zorgden voor welvaart. Dat alles vormde de basis voor welzijn. Had Bacon gelijk, zo luidt de vraag van dit essay. Leiden welvaart en welzijn tot gelukkige mensen? Zijn wetenschap en technologie de voorwaarden voor welvaart en welzijn? Vervolgens zullen we ons ook afvragen wanneer het Nieuwe Atlantis in Nederland werd gerealiseerd. Tot slot komen we bij een cruciaal thema: doet techniek er nog toe in de 21ste eeuw

Agriculture and nutrition:the food revolution

\u3cp\u3eThe chapter analyses the fundamental changes in the agriculture and foods supply chain between 1850 and 1910 and investigates the consequences for the food supply, in particular for the poor. Initially, agriculture profited from the liberalisation of international trade. The mixed crop tillage farms in the region of the large rivers and on the sand grounds commercialised and specialised themselves. After 1880, cheap, especially American, grain imports cast Dutch agriculture into a profound crisis. In part because of this crisis a number of innovations were introduced, like the use of artificial fertiliser and the founding of agricultural cooperatives. In addition, common lands were to disappear and large tracts of heathland were to be reclaimed. The 1860s proved a turning point for the food processing industry. The revival of the domestic market in these years was a key factor. Also, a number of sectors oriented to foreign markets like the potato starch and the sugar beet industry flourished. The steam engine gained ground at the cost of horse-mills and windmills. Moreover new sectors like the margarine and the dairy-processing industry were established. The modernisation of agriculture and the food processing sector had contributed to the improvement of the food situation. That also resulted from changes in the tax structure, whereby taxes on food were lowered and from increased welfare. Quantitatively there was sufficient food at the beginning of the twentieth century, also for the poor. Potatoes and grain were still the main menu of the majority of the populace. The problem now shifted to food quality.\u3c/p\u3

From extreme poverty to the social question. Well-being and sustainability around 1910

\u3cp\u3eThe dynamics of the resource-production-consumption chains as analysed in the three previous chapters were interrelated with the dynamics of societal institutions. The strategies of professional groups and political parties eventuated in a corporatist state structure, with a societal midfield solidly anchored in a political system and in a state bureaucracy at local, provincial and national levels. New notions about extreme poverty and well-being acquired a legal framework around 1900, within which governments, entrepreneurs, citizens and workers could continue to work on the solution of different issues. The legal framework was also the origin of the welfare state as it would develop in the course of the twentieth century. The modernising economy was also characterized by the emergence of new professional groups and a modern knowledge infrastructure. This is the context in which we must place the well-being monitor for 1910. Well-being and sustainability around 1910 are viewed from three perspectives. Judged by the societal agenda of 1850 much progress had been made, especially in regard to extreme poverty. But the societal agenda of 1910 shows that opinions about poverty have shifted and that in this period the qualities of the food supply, of public health facilities, of public housing and of work are the core issues. The present-day perspective on well-being differs little from that of 1910. But in regard to the issue of sustainability there are big differences.\u3c/p\u3