Town planning in the Netherlands since 1800

This article summarizes part of the gist of Town Planning in the Netherlands since 1800. Responses to Enlightenment Ideas and Geopolitical Realities, a book that discusses Dutch urbanism in its international setting, dividing its contents in a series of clusters that are presented as being determined by geopolitics, ideology, and planning. The timeframe of over 200 years (400 years if the prologue is included) highlights continuities and discontinuities that otherwise would have been lost – a strong motive in favor or writing books instead of articles. It defines urbanism as a combination of spatial planning (distributing human activities across space in cities, regions and on the global level) and design (one of its uses being that of a billboard for local identity, the community, the nation or political ideologies).In the two centuries of urban planning presented here, the Netherlands had to re-invent itself several times. Dutch urban history is marked by changes on the international scene, the prevailing political ideals, the development of modern planning as a distinct discipline and the continuous changes of the main countries that inspired Dutch planning – France until the 1830s, Germany from the 1830s to the 1930s, and since the 1930s increasingly the United States. The years between 1795 and 1815 marked the end of an era: though the nation still clung to the idea that it could play an important role in the world’s political affairs, its days as a ‘hyper power’ - to quote Amy Chua - were numbered. Nothing illustrated this more vividly than the run-down state of most of its cities. Especially in the province of Holland, many had become a faded imagine of their former self: comparing maps made during the so-called Golden Age with the brand new cadaster maps that had been ordered by the national government in the early nineteenth century, nobody could escape the impression that for almost two hundred years, nothing had changed. Some cities, for instance Enkhuizen, had even lost a large part of their inhabitants and demolished part of their buildings... In 1815 the Netherlands definitely abandoned the political structure that had characterized it in its heydays: the federal republic was replaced by a unitary state headed by a king, William I, a representative of the Orange family the fate of which was closely connected to the Netherlands since it gained independence in the late sixteenth century. William I, who had spent many years in England, embarked upon an ambitious campaign that should restore the country to its former glory, an ambition sparkled by the merger with the Southern Netherlands (now Belgium). Canals were dug and new roads, subdivided according to a French inspired classification system, were built that connected the two re-united states, accepting the distinct nature of both: the former Republic was expected to revitalize an economy based on trade, banking and agriculture, whereas the Southern half continued to promote industry. Combined with many other differences - the North was Calvinist and bourgeois, the South was Catholic and here the aristocracy never lost its privileged position - the merger proved untenable and after a short civil war, Belgium became independent (and subsequently developed into the continent’s first industrial state). William’s revanchist policies caused economic stagnation in the Northern half, the huge investments in its infrastructure proved futile

Modern Hospitals and Cultural Heritage

The decades between 1950 and 1980 mark the heydays of modern hospital architecture. It represents an ideal merger between Modernism and medicine and a highly specific approach to health and illness as medical qualities. Since the 1990s, public health experts have recognized that aspects that have been discarded both by medicine and by modern architecture should be re-integrated in all policies that target health: the modern hospital has become a relic of the past. This essay is a plea to incorporate the changing views on health and illness in the value assessment of the modern hospital

Johann Hermann Knoop en de kunst van de geschiedenis

Johann Hermann Knoop was born at the beginning of the eighteenth century in Freyenhagen near Kassel (Germany), where his father was in charge of the palace gardens. In 1731, Maria Louise, daughter of the Elector and widow of the Frisian stadholder Johan Willem Friso, summoned Knoop to the court of the ‘Frisian’ House of Orange in Leeuwarden. There he was responsible for the layout and maintenance of the gardens and estates. In 1747 the ‘Hollandse’ branch of the House of Orange died out and the Frisian branch relocated to The Hague. Leeuwarden lost its status as royal residence and not long afterwards Johann Hermann lost his position. So began his second career as scientist and publicist.  Knoop regarded mathematics, and in particular geometry, as the key to understanding the natural world. It is significant that Knoop’s first publication, in 1744, was a revised and enlarged edition of J. Morgenster’s handbook for engineers and surveyors, Werkdadige Meetkonst. His next scientific publication brought him international fame. Knoop’s Pomologia appeared in Dutch in 1758; German and French translations followed in 1760 and 1771 respectively. Pomologia classifies all the then known apple and pear trees and their fruit, and is embellished with exceptionally fine, coloured drawings. It was followed by similar volumes on garden trees and fruit trees; the trilogy was reprinted several times. Knoop’s contributions to the Dutch encyclopedia underscores his status as a respected scientist.  However, his greatest importance derives from the publications in which he addressed himself to the ordinary citizen. These can be divided into three categories: garden books, historical-anthropological works and, finally, publications in which he endeavoured to summarize information useful in everyday life. Knoop’s first book written for a general readership, published in 1752, was about the garden: De beknopte huishoudelyke hovenier, of korte verhandeling en synonymische en meernamige listen (The concise home gardener, or brief discourse and synonymic and multiname lists). It was followed in 1760 by a volume explaining the ornamental garden. A volume dealing with the medicinal use of plants completed the trilogy in 1762.  Just as mathematics helps us to understand the natural world, so history and anthropology are helpful in understanding the social order. After a 1759 booklet about heraldry, geography and history in the form of a game (a precursor of today’s ‘serious gaming’), in 1763 Knoop published his masterwork in this field: Tegenwoordige staat of historische beschryvinge van Friesland (Current state or historical account of Friesland), a hefty 539-page work.  The third category summarizes existing knowledge. In 1756 the first volume of Jongmans onderwijser appeared, followed three years later by volume two; together they amounted to over 1500 pages of information on mathematics, bookkeeping, the art of letter writing, the proper way to draw up contracts, geometry, stereometry, political history, logic, physics, mechanics, architecture, astronomy and instructions for making sundials. The section on architecture is over one hundred pages long and can lay claim to being the Netherlands’ best concealed eighteenth-century architectural treatise.  Knoop’s world was that of science, art and popular education. He believed that it was science that determined the individual’s position in the natural and social order and he felt that it was essential that people should be aware of this: dissemination of knowledge was as important for him as scientific research, and that made him a typical representative of the Enlightenment

Johann Hermann Knoop en de kunst van de geschiedenis

Johann Hermann Knoop was born at the beginning of the eighteenth century in Freyenhagen near Kassel (Germany), where his father was in charge of the palace gardens. In 1731, Maria Louise, daughter of the Elector and widow of the Frisian stadholder Johan Willem Friso, summoned Knoop to the court of the ‘Frisian’ House of Orange in Leeuwarden. There he was responsible for the layout and maintenance of the gardens and estates. In 1747 the ‘Hollandse’ branch of the House of Orange died out and the Frisian branch relocated to The Hague. Leeuwarden lost its status as royal residence and not long afterwards Johann Hermann lost his position. So began his second career as scientist and publicist.  Knoop regarded mathematics, and in particular geometry, as the key to understanding the natural world. It is significant that Knoop’s first publication, in 1744, was a revised and enlarged edition of J. Morgenster’s handbook for engineers and surveyors, Werkdadige Meetkonst. His next scientific publication brought him international fame. Knoop’s Pomologia appeared in Dutch in 1758; German and French translations followed in 1760 and 1771 respectively. Pomologia classifies all the then known apple and pear trees and their fruit, and is embellished with exceptionally fine, coloured drawings. It was followed by similar volumes on garden trees and fruit trees; the trilogy was reprinted several times. Knoop’s contributions to the Dutch encyclopedia underscores his status as a respected scientist.  However, his greatest importance derives from the publications in which he addressed himself to the ordinary citizen. These can be divided into three categories: garden books, historical-anthropological works and, finally, publications in which he endeavoured to summarize information useful in everyday life. Knoop’s first book written for a general readership, published in 1752, was about the garden: De beknopte huishoudelyke hovenier, of korte verhandeling en synonymische en meernamige listen (The concise home gardener, or brief discourse and synonymic and multiname lists). It was followed in 1760 by a volume explaining the ornamental garden. A volume dealing with the medicinal use of plants completed the trilogy in 1762.  Just as mathematics helps us to understand the natural world, so history and anthropology are helpful in understanding the social order. After a 1759 booklet about heraldry, geography and history in the form of a game (a precursor of today’s ‘serious gaming’), in 1763 Knoop published his masterwork in this field: Tegenwoordige staat of historische beschryvinge van Friesland (Current state or historical account of Friesland), a hefty 539-page work.  The third category summarizes existing knowledge. In 1756 the first volume of Jongmans onderwijser appeared, followed three years later by volume two; together they amounted to over 1500 pages of information on mathematics, bookkeeping, the art of letter writing, the proper way to draw up contracts, geometry, stereometry, political history, logic, physics, mechanics, architecture, astronomy and instructions for making sundials. The section on architecture is over one hundred pages long and can lay claim to being the Netherlands’ best concealed eighteenth-century architectural treatise.  Knoop’s world was that of science, art and popular education. He believed that it was science that determined the individual’s position in the natural and social order and he felt that it was essential that people should be aware of this: dissemination of knowledge was as important for him as scientific research, and that made him a typical representative of the Enlightenment

Nieuw bestaat niet

Change is what the twentieth century was all about. Never before were so many utopias designed, hardly ever were they so radical. And what is more: thanks to the availability of new, rational management techniques, new technologies and – probably more important than anything else – the emergence of political ideologies willing to use them, many of these utopias were actually realized. Ushering in a new era, the twentieth century did not continue history, it broke away from it. Architecture and urbanism, the disciplines that helped to shape the new era, were no exception – rather, the trend to eradicate the past appeared to culminate in them. If that is so, it would be logical to assume that these disciplines had no use for history; creating tomorrow’s society, they focused on the future, not on the past. No wonder, then, that twentieth-century architecture and urbanism were dominated by modernism, the philosophy that is usually credited for its ambition to transcend tradition and convention. This article questions this standard view, arguing that until the 1940s, history was a key element in both traditionalism and modernism.De twintigste eeuw was de eeuw van verandering. Nooit eerder werden er zoveel utopieën ontworpen en zelden waren ze zo radicaal. Bovendien zijn veel van deze utopieën ook werkelijkheid geworden, dankzij de beschikbaarheid van nieuwe, rationele managementmethoden, nieuwe technologieën en – waarschijnlijk het allerbelangrijkste – de opkomst van politieke ideologieën die bereid waren ze in te zetten. De twintigste eeuw zette de geschiedenis niet voort, maar scheurde zich ervan los; en zo werd een nieuw tijdperk ingeluid. Architectuur en stedenbouw, de disciplines die het nieuwe tijdperk mede vorm gaven, waren geen uitzondering − eerder het hoogtepunt van de tendens om het verleden te elimineren. Om die reden is het logisch te veronderstellen dat deze disciplines niets moesten hebben van geschiedenis: ze waren de maatschappij van morgen aan het scheppen en concentreerden zich daarbij op de toekomst, niet op het verleden. Het is dus geen wonder dat architectuur en stedenbouw in de twintigste eeuw werden gedomineerd door het modernisme, de filosofie waaraan gewoonlijk de ambitie wordt toegeschreven, traditie en conventie te willen overstijgen. Dit artikel stelt vragen bij deze gangbare opvatting en poneert dat geschiedenis tot aan de jaren 1940 een sleutelrol speelde in zowel het traditionalisme als het modernisme

Technology and Society in Equilibrium:

This sector portrait of the design engineering sciences describes the common denominator of the various design disciplines in the Netherlands. In a future sector plan, the above investment areas will be further explored and purposefully developed. The implementation of technological innovations aligned to societal issues encompasses a design challenge. This increasingly demands science-based design methodologies. The broad Dutch design landscape can fulfil the role of connector well in this regard. In order to optimally strengthen this bridging function, three areas for further investment have been identified: Research More research and research funding are needed to meet the design challenges posed by Dutch societal missions, as well as for the further development of Key Enabling Methodologies (KEMs) as the basis for effective design. Educational Capacity Expanded teaching capacity and further development of design-driven didactics are needed to meet the growing demand for designers, This demand stems from the emerging need for design approaches in new research programmes within Horizon Europe and the Dutch Research Council (NWO). Access to Technology Continuous access to the rapidly evolving technological disciplines must be guaranteed for professionals who can both understand the technology and meet the investigative design challenge

Cities and health:An evolving global conversation

The Cities and Health journal sees its launch in 2017. Looking back over half a century of growth and global expansion in economic activity, although there have been societal benefits, negative impacts are starting to take their toll on planetary resources and human health. As we enter what is being termed The Anthropocene, the city is becoming the preferred habitat for humanity. The imprint of city lifestyles, in terms of both resource use and waste, is found across the globe, threatening the ecosystem services that support our health. In cities themselves, due to risks and challenges to health, we are witnessing a rise in non-communicable disease, twinned with infectious disease for the many who live increasingly in informal or slum urban development. High levels of health inequity are found within urban populations. The resultant health problems are placing increasing strain on health services, with pressure only set to increase due to continuing urbanization and ageing populations. Evidence increasingly demonstrates that many aspects of city and neighbourhood form, urban and transport design, and residential environments play an important role in mediating health and health equity outcomes. The new journal Cities & Health is being launched to support political, academic and technical leadership and transdisciplinarity in this field. For this endeavour we will need to re-examine the nature of evidence required before we act; to explore how academics, policy-makers, practitioners and communities can best collaborate using the city as a laboratory for change; and to develop capacity building for healthier place-making at professional and community levels

Technologie en Maatschappij in Balans:

Dit sectorbeeld van de ontwerpende ingenieurswetenschappen beschrijft de grote gemeenschappelijke deler van de verschillende ontwerpdisciplines in Nederland. In aanloop naar het schrijven van dit sectorbeeld hebben we gezamenlijk bepaald waar onze sterkte ligt, en waar we concreet kunnen bijdragen aan het oplossen van maatschappelijke knelpunten. Implementatie van technologische innovaties in aansluiting op maatschappelijke uitdagingen omvat een ontwerpopgave. Dit vereist in toenemende mate wetenschappelijk onderbouwde ontwerpmethodieken. Het brede Nederlandse ontwerplandschap kan hierbij de rol van verbinder goed vervullen. Teneinde deze brugfunctie optimaal te versterken worden drie gebieden voor verdere investeringen gezien: Onderzoek Er is meer onderzoek en onderzoeksfinanciering nodig voor het volbrengen van ontwerpuitdagingen die in de Nederlandse maatschappelijke missies worden gesteld, evenals voor de verdere ontwikkeling van Key Enabling Methodologies als basis voor effectief ontwerp. Onderwijscapaciteit Er is een ruimere onderwijscapaciteit en verdere ontwikkeling van ontwerp gestuurde didactiek nodig om te kunnen voldoen aan de groeiende vraag naar ontwerpers, een vraag die voortkomt uit de opkomende behoefte aan ontwerpaanpakken in nieuwe onderzoeksprogramma’s binnen Horizon Europe en NWO. Toegang tot technologie Er moet voortdurend toegang gegarandeerd zijn tot de zich snel ontwikkelende technologische disciplines voor professionals die zowel de technologie doorgronden als de onderzoekende ontwerpuitdaging aankunnen. Dit sectorbeeld van de ontwerpende ingenieurswetenschappen beschrijft de grote gemeenschappelijke deler van de verschillende ontwerpdisciplines in Nederland. In een toekomstig sectorplan zullen bovenstaande inversteringsgebieden verder en doelgericht worden uitgewerkt