Making Space for Work in Urban Growth: The Case of Zaanstad Municipality, The Netherlands

Lehner, Mathias (2025) Making Space for Work in Urban Growth: The Case of Zaanstad Municipality, The Netherlands. URBAN INNOVATION: TO BOLDLY GO WHERE NO CITIES HAVE GONE BEFORE. Medium sized cities and towns as a major arena of global urbanisation. Proceedings of REAL CORP 2025, 30th Intl. Conference on Urban Development, Regional Planning and Information Society. pp. 1153-1157. ISSN 2521-3938

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Abstract

An Austrian architect and senior strategist shares his insights from his experience in the Netherlands. His case study describes how municipalities can make space for work within the tension of addressing urgent global transitions, using the Urban Development Plan until 2040 of Zaanstad municipality called “Making Space” as an example. Zaanstad is a Dutch city next to Amsterdam and her 170.000 inhabitants will rapidly grow with 25% in the coming fifteen years. Their spatial vision, entitled “Making Space”, focuses on growth with quality within the existing built environment: a “no-net-land-take” urban development plan. The vision establishes five basic principles: 1. Climate-adaptive design; 2. Promoting walking, cycling and public transport; 3. Developing space for work within the city; 3. Embracing energy transition and, as a 5th principle: Investing spatially for social return. The urban development plan emphasizes nature-inclusive design and attention to biodiversity and climate adaptation are the foundations for a prosperous urban development. This paper stresses the importance of developing space for work within the urban weave. As the cradle of Dutch industry, Zaanstad has a history with more work than housing. In recent years, old factories have been transformed into purely residential areas – while keeping employment within reach would have been important. The aim of the spatial vision is to reserve substantial amounts of space for work in all new urban developments. This is not self-evident in the Netherlands, because the business model of constructing houses is much more attractive in the short term. On the other hand, realizing space for work in the city contributes to fewer commuters, better use of public transport and a better work-life balance in the entire metropolitan region around Amsterdam, of which Zaanstad is a part. The vision “Making Space” proposes intensifying peripheral industrial estates (where 20% space can be gained), adding space for work in currently monofunctional residential areas and dedicating 30% of all new surfaces to work in new transit oriented developments around stations. The paper also hints on appropriate planning strategies and instruments such as building codes and zoning. The vision entails that jobs come closer, become more accessible to less privileged residents contributing to equity, and commutes decrease. Spatial quality and the quality of life in the city increase, and the ecological footprint becomes smaller. Drawing up the vision was a long and complex process. But it was freshly adopted at the end of 2024. This case shows that future-proof urban development is also possible in medium-sized cities through discussion, integral cooperation and a long-term approach.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	spatial planning, land use, economy, work, combining functions
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HD Industries. Land use. Labor T Technology > TA Engineering (General). Civil engineering (General)
Depositing User:	The CORP Team
Date Deposited:	26 May 2025 14:59
Last Modified:	07 Jul 2025 10:08
URI:	http://repository.corp.at/id/eprint/1256

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