The Process of Acceptance and Diffusion of the Concept of “Spatial Quality” and the change in its Definition in Spatial Planning in the Netherlands

Abstract

The objective of the paper is to examine the process of cross-sectoral acceptance of the idea of “spatial quality”, that has been one of the key concepts in the Netherlands’ spatial planning, and its diffusion in the municipal urban and regional planning. The discussions over the “spatial quality” in broad sense were carried out in the three sectors, which were the Ministry of VROM that first used the term in 1982, the Ministry of V&W that introduced the term “LNC” values in the 1970’s, and the Ministry of LNV that put forward the term “landscape quality” within the Landscape Vision in 1992. The process can be understood in terms of four periods, which ccan be called as those of “issue identification”, “dispersive introduction of the ideas”, “integration of the ideas”, and “diffusion to the municipalities”. Integration of these ideas was intermediated by several concepts such as “casco concept”,“multiple landuse”, and the groups such as the Big Group, Eo Wijers Foundation and Habiforum，and some particular events such as planning and implementation of the Room for the River Program.