The concept of the Delta Metropolis emphasises on the region of the urbanised western part of the Netherlands, capturing cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht among others with more than five million inhabitants and nearly three million jobs. All this is situated around a fairly open and green centre. The region is located in the delta of the rivers Rhine and Meuse.

It is widely agreed that, in the long term, the unification of Europe means a decrease in significance of national borders and an increase of the significance of regions. That is, competition between nation states is shifting to competition between regions. In this perspective it is unavoidable though at the same time necessary that the cities and towns in the west of the Netherlands, the economic engine of the Netherlands, start to function as one region, thus competing with other metropolitan areas in Europe and the world.

With this in mind, different governing bodies and organised interest groups in this region decided to co-operate and join forces. Keeping internal competition among all the different cities and parts of the region alive, acknowledge to belong to a constellation of complementary urban centres that for external competition have to function more as one system, a metropolitan area. Combining competition with complementarity they keep their competitive edge with regard to other metropolitan areas in a steadily unifying Europe and meet the conditions of the globalizing economy. This co-operation resulted in the founding of the Delta Metropolis Association in the year 2000.

The members of the Delta Metropolis Association are water boards, housing corporations, municipalities, chambers of commerce and organised interest groups (agriculture, nature conservation and recreation). The association functions as an informal platform which produces integral and integrated spatial concepts and policies, in order to procure the Delta Metropolis.

Connecting the Delta Metropolis

The Delta Metropolis has a specific geographic and economic position: at the strategic crossroads of trading routes that have been important from ancient times. One is the route from the cities in Northern Italy, along the river Rhine, to London and the Midlands. This is the economic backbone of Western Europe, also referred to as the Blue Banana. The other is the intercontinental shipping route along the coast of the North Sea, roughly from Le Havre to Hamburg. This strategic position is emphasised by the number of European head offices and transport divisions of multinational companies that are located in the Delta Metropolis. The strong international trade character of the Delta Metropolis is underlined by the two mainports in the Delta Metropolis: (1) the port of Rotterdam, the largest in the world, and (2) Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, one of the four biggest in Europe. Therefore it is essential that the Delta Metropolis, as one region, is connected to the Trans European (Transport) Networks and maintains its role as a main component of these networks.

Now, if the Delta Metropolis is to really start functioning as a metropolitan area it should dramatically improve the internal accessibility and so create a metropolitan-size consumer-, labour- and capital market. Besides this point another important issue challenges the Delta Metropolis. As stated before, the region is located in the delta of the big European rivers, mainly below sea level. Because of climate change, sea level rising and decline of soil, reshaping of the internal water system will have to be taken care of.
The Delta Metropolis Association has challenged both issues with research projects, respectively the Water Realm and the Delta Network.

 

Box 1: The Water Realm; the computations of the method of design

The notion of the ecological base. Especially in a delta the biotic and a-biotic conditions result in a unique environment. Every intervention has to be tested against these conditions. Water system. As stated above, a well-functioning water system is essential for the very existence of man in a delta. Cultural history. The ‘human footprint’ is characteristic of the landscape, man made, in this delta. Cultural history therefore must play an important part in design processes. Outdoor recreation. To use the park system and experience it as a whole, the different parts have to be accessible both from the cities and from each other. A main network of boat, bike and walking routes must see to this. Landscape unities. Based on aspects like soil, water and land-use landscape unities are identified. On the scale of sub-sectors the appropriate balances and designs can be made.