The Stedenbaan project can make a major contribution to a regional public transport network in the South Wing of Randstad Holland and support the spatial development of the region. Stedenbaan is a Dutch example of the English TDA approach.
The Zuidvleugel, literally translated as the ‘South Wing’ of the Randstad, is being transformed from a series of separate urban regions into a single cohesive metropolitan area with a heightened level of interaction between functions. The regional road network and public transport system have not kept pace with these changes and are unable to meet the growing demand for transport. In 2004, the South Wing Administrative Platform decided to take a critical look at the mismatch between the dynamics of urbanisation and transport development. The South Wing Administrative Platform (Bestuurlijk Platform Zuidvleugel) is a partnership of the local and regional authorities in the area and Zuid-Holland provincial council.
The Stedenbaan project was launched in response to these developments and combines two strategies:
Stedenbaan station areas
This ‘dual-purpose strategy’ is based on developing a traffic and transport concept in combination with a spatial development strategy. However, this integrated urban and network development is not just a simple equation for delivering a given number of journeys and more intensive land use. Mobility networks influence a variety of spatial characteristics, such as the size of cities and towns, the intensity of functions, the degree of mixed use and the decentralisation of activities. In turn, spatial characteristics influence the development and use of networks. The second step of the survey consisted of an inventory of the existing relations between the areas and networks along the Stedenbaan line. These relations were determined using a set of indicators which describe the positions of the stations within the network and the characteristics of the surrounding areas that will be influenced by the network:
Drawing on existing knowledge about how spatial and network development influence each other, nine potential developments were outlined for typical situations found along the Stedenbaan. These nine potentialities can be seen as ‘Stedenbaan typologies’. They describe developments that are promising since they are inspired by the impacts of the transport network on specific areas and vice versa. The nine ‘Stedenbaan typologies’ are:
Stedenbaan Sustainability scenario
Following the inventory of development sites in the Stedenbaan station areas and the review of the potentialities, the last stage of the study explored possible aspirations for the Stedenbaan project. Three scenarios were used to assess how these potentialities can be exploited to achieve the goals at the supraregional level. The Stedenbaan scenarios show how local choices can support objectives at a higher scale, and therefore also show how the ambitions of the Stedenbaan project can steer decision-making at the local level. The developments which are promising because they are supported by the existing networks and areas (the potentialities) contribute to higher-level goals in varying degrees. The three scenarios have been drawn up to reflect different aims. In each scenario the potentialities are assigned to the stations differently because they contribute to the relevant aim to a greater or lesser degree. The scenarios are outlined hereafter.
The Densification scenario is in line with the National Spatial Strategy, which states that from a traffic/transport perspective it is important to make maximum use of the potential for densification within the sphere of influence of transport hubs in order to create attractive cities and towns.
In the Densification scenario the metropolis is not defined as a single urban planning concept, but as a coherent programmatic whole. The scenario offers maximum diversity of services and locations within given temporal and spatial constraints. The quality of the location is based on accessibility and on the sites designated for housing, recreation and employment. The main goal within this scenario is the formation of networks.
The aim of the Sustainability scenario is sustainable development. Great value is placed on the potentialities for densification in existing urban areas, for mixed-use, and hence more sustainable, development, and which preserve the typical landscape.
The outcomes of the modelled scenarios show that in all scenarios the quantitative goals for new housing and employment uses are met. In the Densification scenario the amount of new housing in dense urban environments goes far beyond the projected market demand. This scenario also demonstrates that when densification is the prime goal it leads to the development of a one-sided offer of working environments. The South Wing Network scenario delivers a lower volume of development in terms of square metres of floor space, but a broad variety of both housing and employment environments. It also makes the biggest contribution towards the development of an emerging regional transport network. However, the high proportion of development with supraregional functions will generate additional traffic. The positive effects of the Sustainability scenario can be seen in the outcomes for the environment and the preservation of open landscape. As expected, this scenario generates the least amount of car traffic.
The survey by the South Wing Studio contributes to the ongoing development of the Stedenbaan project and the South Wing as a whole. The first and foremost task of the survey was to put the Stedenbaan project onto the regional planning agenda. Secondly the study assesses the merits of the project not only for the 47 individual station locations but for the entire South Wing. The present agreements between the leading partners in the Stedenbaan project draw on the dual-purpose strategy only for the purpose achieving their most direct goals: to generate more travellers and accommodate major housing and employment developments. But integrated urban and network development can also be a strong catalyst for developing and enhancing the qualities of a metropolitan region. The purpose of the survey was to explore and describe more ambitious aspirations for the Stedenbaan project. The results demonstrate that a much wider range of objectives can be met.
The Stedenbaan survey was conducted by the Atelier Zuidvleugel. The Zuid-Holland provincial council established the Atelier Zuidvleugel (South Wing Studio) back in May 2005. The studio is supported by the municipalities of Rotterdam and The Hague, the Bestuurlijk Platform Zuidvleugel (the South Wing Administrative Platform), the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment and the Habiforum and Transumo research programmes, who are now co-owners of the project. The studio was set up to study the evolution of the network city in the Randstad, the conurbation in the west of the Netherlands. It focuses on the effects of the increasingly complex and widespread social and economic interactions on the spatial development of the South Wing, the southern part of the Randstad.
