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Delta metropolises

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Expedition agroparks

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Abstract

Urbanisation, the process whereby people come to live in an ever-decreasing area, became possible from the moment man discovered agriculture and started creating food surpluses56. Following the industrial revolution and the accompanying rise in agricultural productivity, the urbanisation process persisted at an even greater pace and, according to United Nations’ statistics, there are now more people living in cities than in the countryside the world over57.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Diamond J. (2000). Zwaarden, paarden en ziektekiemen. Uitgeverij Het Spectrum, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

  2. 2.

    UNFPH (2008). State of world population. Unleashing the potential of urban growth. Available at: http://www.unfpa.org/swp/2007/english/introduction.html.

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    Mumford L. (1961/1989). The city in history. Harcourt, London, UK: 30–38.

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    Ibn Khaldun (1967). The muqaddimah. Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ, USA: 141–142.

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    McNeill W. (1963/1991). The rise of the west. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, USA: 201.

  6. 6.

    RECLUS (1989). Les villes europeénnes. DATAR. RECLUS, Montpellier, France.

  7. 7.

    Slicher van Bath B. (1960/1980). De agrarische geschiedenis van West-Europa 500–1850. Uitgeverij Het Spectrum, Utrecht, the Netherlands.

    Bieleman J.J. (1992). Geschiedenis van de landbouw in Nederland, 1500–1950. Veranderingen en verscheidenheid. Boom, Meppel, the Netherlands, 423 pp.

  8. 8.

    De Nijs T. and E. Beukers (eds.) (2002). Geschiedenis van Holland (4 dln). Verloren, Hilversum. the Netherlands.

    Lesger C. (2001). Handel in Amsterdam ten tijde van de opstand. Verloren, Hilversum, the Netherlands.

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    Thomas H. (2003). Rivers of gold. Phoenix, Londen, UK.

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    Israel J.I. (1996). De republiek 1477–1806. Van Wijnen, Franeker, the Netherlands, 1368 pp. James L. (1994). The rise and fall of the british empire. Little, Brown and Company, London, UK.

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    Wesseling H.L. (2003). Europa’s koloniale eeuw. Uitgeverij Bert Bakker, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

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    Imber C. (2002). The Ottoman empire. Palgrave (Macmillan), Basingstoke, UK. Darwin J. (2007). After Tamerlane. Allen Lane (Penguin Books), London, UK.

    Amsterdam, as a trading city that became a colonial capital city, acquired a dual character. On a regional level the city remained part of a cluster of more or less equal adjacent cities (also a result of the federal structure of the Republic); in its role on the world stage, Amsterdam increasingly distinguished itself from these surroundings. In the fifteenth and early sixteenth century, the biggest city in the Netherlands was Dordrecht, not Amsterdam. By the seventeenth century Amsterdam had not only become the biggest city, but it was double the size of Rotterdam, number two on the list.

  13. 13.

    McNeill W. (1963/1991). The rise of the west. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL, USA.

  14. 14.

    For the Netherlands: Van der Woud A. (2007). Een nieuwe wereld. Uitgeverij Bert Bakker, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

  15. 15.

    Israel J.I. (1996). De republiek 1477–1806. Van Wijnen, Franeker, the Netherlands, 1368 pp.

  16. 16.

    Sassen S. (2001). The global city. New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA, 447 pp.

  17. 17.

    Florida R. (2002). The rise of the creative class. Basic Books, New York, NY, USA.

  18. 18.

    Taylor P.J. (2004). World city network: a global urban analysis. Routledge, London, UK, 241 pp.

  19. 19.

    Ibid.: 43.

  20. 20.

    Meijers E. (2007). Synergy in polycentric urban regions. Complementarity, organising capacity and critical mass. Delft University of Technology, Delft, the Netherlands: 3.

  21. 21.

    Hall P. and K. Pain (2006). The polycentric metropolis. Learning from mega-city regions in europe. Earthscan / James & James, London, UK: 3.

  22. 22.

    Porter M.M.E. (1998). Clusters and the new economics of competition. Harvard business review76: 77, quoted in Hall P. and K. Pain (2006). The polycentric metropolis. Learning from mega-city regions in Europe. Earthscan / James & James, London, UK, 256 pp.

  23. 23.

    Hall P. and K. Pain (2006). The polycentric metropolis. Learning from mega-city regions in Europe. Earthscan / James & James, London, UK: 4.

  24. 24.

    Innovatieplatform (2005). Creativiteit. De gewichtloze brandstof van de economie. Available at: http://www.innovatieplatform.nl/assets/binaries/documenten/2005/creatieve_industrie/rapportcreatieveindustrie2.pdf.

  25. 25.

    Van Susteren A.W.C. (2005). Metropolitan world atlas. O10 Publishers, Rotterdam, the Netherlands: 7.

  26. 26.

    Ibid.: 10. The added metropolitan areas are Melbourne, Barcelona, Berlin, Montreal, Lisbon, Geneva, Athens, Vancouver, Oslo, Jerusalem-Tel Aviv (MCR), Tangier and Baghdad.

  27. 27.

    Hall P. and K. Pain (2006). The polycentric metropolis. Learning from mega-city regions in Europe. Earthscan / James & James, London, UK, 256 pp.

  28. 28.

    Taylor P.J. (2004). World city network: A global urban analysis. Routledge, London, UK, 241 pp.

  29. 29.

    Sassen S. (2001). The global city. New York, London, Tokyo. Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA, 447 pp.

  30. 30.

    Taylor P.J. (2004). World city network: A global urban analysis. Routledge, London, UK: 66.

  31. 31.

    Hall P. and K. Pain (2006). The polycentric metropolis. Learning from mega-city regions in Europe. Earthscan / James & James, London, UK: 86.

  32. 32.

    Beaverstock J.V., P.J. Taylor and R.G. Smith (1999). A roster of world cities. Cities16: 445–458..

  33. 33.

    Taylor P.J. (2004). World city network: A global urban analysis. Routledge, London, UK, 241 pp.; Hall P. and K. Pain (2006). The polycentric metropolis. Learning from mega-city regions in Europe. Earthscan / James & James, London, UK, 256 pp.

  34. 34.

    Ibid.

  35. 35.

    Ibid. define eight polycentric mega-regions (PMR) in North West Europe (but could also have included in this area the ECRs of Central and North England, Hamburg and Copenhagen): Dublin and surroundings, South East England (London), Randstad (including Amersfoort, Breda and the hub of Arnhem Nijmegen), the Flemish Diamond, Rhine-Ruhr, Rhine Main, central Paris and Zurich. In Figure 2these PMR are included, but with Van Susteren’s codes.

  36. 36.

    Ibid.: 13

  37. 37.

    Ibid.: 120.

  38. 38.

    Dublin, London in South East England, Amsterdam in the Randstad, Brussels in the Flemish Diamond, Düsseldorf in Rhine-Ruhr, Frankfurt in Rhine Main, Paris and Zürich.

  39. 39.

    Van Susteren A.W.C. (2005). Metropolitan world atlas. O10 Publishers, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, may serve as a good basis for such an exercise.

  40. 40.

    See for example, the description of Jakarta by Buijs S.C. (1990). De stedebouwkundige ontwikkeling van Jakarta. In: Rijksplanologische Dienst (ed.) Ruimtelijke verkenningen 1990. Ministerie VROM, The Hague, the Netherlands.

  41. 41.

    Monterey (California, USA) has been omitted from this list because of unclear classification.

  42. 42.

    Taylor P.J. (2004). World city network: A global urban analysis. Routledge, London, UK, 241 pp.

  43. 43.

    These areas are Zürich, Prague, Caracas, Warsaw, Budapest and Munich.

  44. 44.

    Jacobs J. (1984). Cities and the wealth of nations. Vintage, New York, NY, USA, in: Taylor P.J. (2004). World city network: A global urban analysis. Routledge, London, UK, 241 pp.

  45. 45.

    Ibid.: 45.

  46. 46.

    Wallerstein I. (1979). The capitalist world-economy. Cambridge Universty Press, Cambridge, UK, 305 pp.

  47. 47.

    Taylor P.J. (2004). World city network: A global urban analysis. Routledge, London, UK: 46.

  48. 48.

    Ibid.: 48.

  49. 49.

    Hall P. and K. Pain (2006). The polycentric metropolis. Learning from mega-city regions in Europe. Earthscan / James & James, London, UK: 113.

  50. 50.

    Sloterdijk P. (2006). Het kristalpaleis. Een flosofe van de globalisering. Uitgeverij Boom/SUN, Amsterdam, the Netherlands: 163 ff.

  51. 51.

    Castells M. (2000). The information age: economy, society and culture. Volume 3: end of millennium. Blackwell, Oxford, UK: 368.

  52. 52.

    In the period between 2002 and 2005 a team of researchers from Alterra and RIZA worked on a publication about Delta Metropolises, but due to a lack of funding this work was not completed. This section uses unpublished components of this collaboration. Other publications arising from this collaboration are:

    Smeets P.J.A.M., W.B. Harms, M.J.M. Van Mansfeld, A.W.C. Van Susteren and M.G.N. Van Steekelenburg (2004). Metropolitan delta landscapes. In: Tress G., B. Tress, W.B. Harms, P.J.A.M. Smeets and A. Van der Valk (eds.) Planning metropolitan landscapes. Concepts, demands, approaches, Delta series. Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands, pp. 103–114. Oosterberg W. and C. Van Drimmelen (2006). Rode delta’s. Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat, The Hague, the Netherlands.

  53. 53.

    Taylor P.J. (ed.) (2003). European cities in the world network, The european metropolis 1920–2000. Eramus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands. Summary of descriptions from different authors in the list Venice, Genoa, Antwerp, Amsterdam, London and New York. See also:

    Wallerstein I. (1974). The modern world system. Capitalist agriculture and the origins of the European world-economy in the sixteenth century. Academic Press, New York, NY, USA; Wallerstein I. (1980). The modern world system ii. Mercantilism and the consolidation of the european world economy 1600–1750. Academic Press, New York, NY, USA, 370 pp.; Wallerstein I. (1989). The modern world system iii. The second era of great expansion of the capitalistic world-economy, 1730–1840s. Academic Press, New York, NY, USA, 372 pp.

  54. 54.

    McNeill W.H. (1996). De excentriciteit van het wiel en andere wereldhistorische essays. Uitgeverij Bert Bakker, Amsterdam, the Netherlands: 37.

  55. 55.

    Wallerstein I. (1974). The modern world system. Capitalist agriculture and the origins of the European world-economy in the sixteenth century. Academic Press, New York, NY, USA; Wallerstein I. (1980). The modern world system ii. Mercantilism and the consolidation of the European world economy 1600–1750. Academic Press, New York, NY, USA, 370 pp.

  56. 56.

    Makaske B. (2008). De kwetsbaarheid van delta’s. Zeven plagen in een geologisch perspectief. Geografe17: 50–55.

  57. 57.

    Oosterberg W. and C. Van Drimmelen (2006). Rode delta’s. Ministerie van Verkeer en Waterstaat, Den Haag, the Netherlands. Discuss the flooding problem of the Thames Delta, the Seine, the Elbe, the Rhine and the cities of New Orleans, Tokyo, Wuhan (China), Dhaka (Bangladesh) and Venice..

  58. 58.

    Van den Broeck J., M. Barendrecht, P. De Boe, F. D’hondt, P. Govaerts, P. Janssens, R. Kragt, M. Van Ginderen and W. Zonneveld (1996). Ruimte voor samenwerking ; tweede Benelux structuurschets, Brussel, Belgium, 185 pp.

  59. 59.

    Verkennis A. and T. Groenewegen (1997). Ontwikkelingen in de regio Randstad-Rijn/Ruhr. In: Zonneveld, W. and F. Evers (eds.) Van delta naar Europees achterland. NIROV-Europlan, The Hague, the Netherlands.

  60. 60.

    European Commission (1995). Europe 2000+. Office for Official Publications of the European Commision, Luxembourg, Luxembourg.

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    Peter J. A. M. Smeets

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Smeets, P.J.A.M. (2011). Delta metropolises. In: Smeets, P.J.A.M. (eds) Expedition agroparks. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen. https://doi.org/10.3920/978-90-8686-719-6_3

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