- The changing Role of the Dutch regional Level: from a strategic to an Implementation Role in spatial Planning    286 kb by    Spaans, Marjolein | m.spaans@tudelft.nl    Short Outline The Dutch regional level (urban region and province) moves towards more implementation. This change is mirrored against French examples. Abstract Social, economic, and technological developments have repercussions on spatial planning. There is evidence in society and in the economy of a continuous increase in spatial scale, which has repercussions for the level at which spatial issues are addressed. This will increasingly be the region and results in an increasing role for regional government in planning practice in many countries. Often spatial planning instruments and policy are being adapted to reinforce the new regional role. This paper explores the new role of the region in the Netherlands and illustrates the change in role with examples from current planning practice. In the Netherlands two regional levels can be distinguished, the province and the city-region. Concerning the province, changes in the Dutch planning system involve a reinforcement of the implementation role, as the province already disposes of competences for the strategic role. One of the presented examples in the paper concerns area development that is increasingly addressed at the regional level and thus requires a new role of the province. In this type of projects the province might even participate in consortia with private partners for the implementation of projects. Some of these projects were initiated to stimulate the regional economy by developing an attractive living and working environment through the creation of a lake and surrounding nature and leisure facilities. The institutional transformation of the province is mirrored against experiences in France. Since 1999 municipalities can regroup into two types of community: the communauté urbaine (dating from the mid 1960s) and the communauté d’agglomération. Both have formal competences for the implementation of spatial planning projects. As for the Netherlands, the paper shows some examples from current planning practice illustrating the role of this regional level in France. This experience is used for a reflection on the Dutch situation. Keywords comparision of changing role of region in the Netherlands and France Case Study presented on the ISOCARP Congress 2006: Cities between Integration and Disintegration   Click to open the full paper as pdf document   Click to send an email to the author(s) of this paper