RANDSTAD

Image:Randstad_with_scale.png|400px|thumb|right|Schematic map of the Randstad
circle 528 380 26 Schiphol
rect 426 356 498 436 Haarlemmermeer
rect 399 166 479 245 Velsen
circle 250 716 32 Delft
circle 220 642 60 The Hague
circle 456 569 27 Alphen aan den Rijn
circle 555 201 52 Zaanstad
circle 999 168 42 Lelystad
circle 798 474 29 Hilversum
circle 492 692 34 Gouda
circle 347 654 31 Zoetermeer
circle 944 532 40 Amersfoort
circle 521 24 33 Alkmaar
circle 442 294 44 Haarlem
circle 466 943 36 Dordrecht
circle 334 537 30 Leiden
circle 840 314 50 Almere
rect 245 738 400 869 Rotterdam
rect 13 725 81 789 Port of Rotterdam
rect 82 749 116 788 Port of Rotterdam
rect 117 778 148 803 Port of Rotterdam
rect 120 804 209 835 Port of Rotterdam
rect 158 826 247 857 Port of Rotterdam
circle 742 617 53 Utrecht
circle 615 324 88 Amsterdam

The 'Randstad' (Rim City, i.e. a city at the rim of a circle, with empty space in the centre) is a conurbation in the Netherlands. It consists of the four largest Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht), and the surrounding areas. With its 7.5 million inhabitants (almost half of the population of the Netherlands; when other conurbations connected to this area are also taken into consideration, it would have a population a little over 10 million, almost 2/3 of the entire Dutch population) it is one of the largest conurbations in Europe. Its main cities are Almere, Amsterdam, Delft, Dordrecht, Gouda, Haarlem, Hilversum, Leiden, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, and Zoetermeer. Other centres include Alphen aan den Rijn, Amstelveen, Capelle aan den IJssel, Hoofddorp, Katwijk, Leidschendam, Nieuwegein, Houten, Purmerend, Rijswijk, Schiedam, Spijkenisse, Vlaardingen, Voorburg, and Zaanstad.
The cities of the Randstad more or less form a crescent or chain. This shape has given the Randstad its name (''rand'' means rim or edge and ''stad'' means city or town). The area that is enclosed by the larger cities is called the ''Green Heart'' (Groene Hart).

Contents

Controversy

See also

External links

Controversy

Over the last few decades, a major topic in the Randstad is the "conflict" between the cities and the towns in between. These towns are usually much greener than the cities, they house many commuters that work in the cities and the former strongly depend on the latter for facilities such as hospitals and large scale entertainment. Cities need more space to expand, yet the towns fear losing their identity and autonomy.
Another 'hot issue' about the Randstad, is the question about its borders. Nobody can tell where the Randstad begins, and where it ends. Some will say that only the four biggest cities of the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) are part of this Metropole, others would say that areas such as Alkmaar-Hoorn, Arnhem-Nijmegen and Eindhoven-Tilburg-Breda-Den Bosch are also part of this conurbation. All of these conurbations are self-sufficient areas, but for many things, they still rely upon the bigger cities.
(For further details: see the articles of Global City, Agglomeration Conurbation and Metropolitan Area).
The 'Groene Hart' (''Green Heart'') is another hotly debated issue closely related to the conflict between cities and towns. On the one hand people feel this large and relatively sparsely populated area should be protected, as it is considered a valuable rural area amongst cities. On the other hand, many people enjoy living in the relatively quiet environment near their places of work and the facilities the Randstad provides.
Recently, Dutch planners have started to refer to the Randstad as 'Deltametropool' [1]. Deltametropolis actually consists of two large metropolitan areas:
1. The 'Noordvleugel' (''North Wing'', with a population of around 2.5 million people), consisting of the Haarlem and IJmuiden conurbations in the west, Amsterdam at the centre and Almere and the Gooi area in the east. The conurbation of Utrecht (pop. around an extra 1 million) could also be considered to be part of the North Wing. The main center is however clearly Amsterdam, which could - as such - be considered a classical centralistic metropole.
2. The 'Zuidvleugel' (''South Wing'', with a population of around 3.5 million people), stretching some 60 kilometers from Dordrecht in the South East to Leiden in the North. The main conurbations are the Rotterdam and The Hague areas. The virtual centre of the Zuidvleugel lies in between these two major cities, near Delft. The first steps toward this development are currently being taken with the construction of a new fast light-rail connection between Rotterdam and The Hague: RandstadRail. A long delayed extension of the western A4-motorway from the south of Delft to Rotterdam has also been put back on the administrative agenda, creating a second connection between Rotterdam, via The Hague, to Amsterdam.
A colloquial joke is: "There is only one Dutch city... the Randstad".
There is also a certain feeling of the Dutch living outside the Randstad that they are often overlooked in decisions taken by the national government in The Hague. Criticism exists about the inward look of policy makers and inhabitants of the Randstad. The term for this is usually "The arrogance of the Randstad" (Randstedelijke arrogantie).

See also

★ List of European metropolitan areas by GRP

External links

★ Regio Randstad official website (English)

★ Official Zuidvleugel website (Dutch)