Planning never finishes, soil is a continuum
Making European planning more soil-inclusive through the SPADES project
The Spatial Planning and Design with Soil (SPADES) project is working to make planning systems in Europe more aware of and responsive to soil. A planning system includes many things: laws, regulations, policies, government institutions, and professional practices. But planning is not just about official rules. It is also shaped by traditions, informal practices, and how much people trust the system.
A Dutch Tradition Rooted in Soil
The Netherlands is a low-lying country with many rivers and a long coastline. Over centuries, people have shaped the land using knowledge of soil, water, and weather. Much of the land was reclaimed from the sea and rivers through an organized system of dikes, canals, and pumps.
This careful land and water management became known as “polder culture.” A polder is a piece of land protected from water by dikes, and it reflects a broader approach: people work together to plan and organize the land to keep it livable. Spatial planning (the way we organize space for housing, transport, farming, nature, etc.) has been a public responsibility in the Netherlands for a long time. This tradition helped shape the country and affected how soil is used and protected.
From Centralized Planning to Decentralization
In 1958, the Dutch government began a series of national spatial planning documents. These shaped how cities grew—especially those in the Randstad (a ring of major cities in the west)—keeping growth controlled and intentional . This continued until 2004, when the ‘Spatial Policy Report’ (Nota Ruimte) marked a shift: the national government decided that planning was “finished” and handed over responsibility to local governments, companies, and citizens.
This shift was called decentralization—meaning decisions were now made more locally. Deregulation also became a trend: fewer government rules, and more involvement from private developers and community members. This change was meant to encourage a “participation society,” where everyone plays a role in shaping their environment.
A New Law: The Environment and Planning Act
The ideas of decentralization and integration came together in a new law: the Environment and Planning Act, introduced in 2021. This law combines many earlier rules into one system and aims to make planning simpler and more modern. It encourages a balance between development and protecting the natural environment.
One of its tools is the Environmental Vision (Omgevingsvisie), a plan that can be made by national, provincial, or local governments. Municipalities now create an Environmental Plan that replaces older zoning plans. These new plans are more flexible and cover all aspects of the physical environment, including land use, nature, traffic, water, and culture.
Bringing Soil into the Picture: National and Local Visions
At the national level, the Environment and Planning Act led to the creation of a strategy called the National Environmental Vision (NOVI). This is still being developed, but it already recognizes many important topics underground—such as archaeology, pipelines, clean and stable soil, water, energy, and minerals. However, some areas like underground construction and fossil energy storage are still underrepresented.
The national NOVI gives direction to Provincial Environmental Visions, which vary between regions. One good example is South Holland, where soil and the subsurface (everything below the ground) are part of all major planning decisions. Their 2013 Soil and Subsurface Policy Vision later became part of the province’s 2019 Environmental Vision.
At the municipal level, cities like Arnhem and Maastricht are leading the way. Arnhem created a subsurface strategy in 2009 that shaped future plans for soil energy and groundwater. Maastricht explored its soil strategy as early as 2005, using digital tools like a “subsurface database” to help connect soil data to planning. Municipalities have until 2033 to complete their environmental plans.
New Urgency: Soil and Water as Planning Priorities
Giving more power to local levels has led to challenges. Without national coordination, it’s harder to prepare for big, long-term problems like climate change or land degradation. This awareness brought back interest in national planning, and in 2024, a new Spatial Report was published to renew the tradition.
At the same time, professionals working in soil and water succeeded in making these topics a national priority. A new policy letter from the government calls for soil and water to guide future planning. This letter was not forced from above—it answered a need felt across the country.
Many of the practical questions about how to do this are now being explored in the SPADES project. One focus is the Green Heart, the rural area at the center of the Randstad. Since the 17th century, this area has been protected from urban development to keep space for nature and farming. Even today, the idea of “no net land-take” (meaning no loss of open land) guides planning here.
But the Green Heart faces serious issues. Its soil is degrading due to agriculture. More housing is needed, which puts pressure on space. The soil is also sinking (called subsidence), which releases CO₂ and increases the risk of flooding. These problems require careful planning with soil quality, climate adaptation, and biodiversity in mind.
Soil: From Background to Central Focus
In the past, soil was mostly invisible in planning maps—it was simply marked as farmland or green space. Today, that is changing. New projects give soil its own category in planning documents, based on its quality, function, and ability to support future challenges.
This is complex work. But with research projects like SPADES, new knowledge and tools are being developed to help. The goal is to use the soil not just as a background for development, but as a central part of building sustainable, livable places.
Read the long form article here.
Literature
Burke, Gerald L. (1956) The making of Dutch towns. A study in urban development from the tenth to the seventeenth centuries London
Cammen H van der and Klerk L de (2012) The Selfmade Land. Culture and evolution of urban and regional planning in the Netherlands. Uitgeverij Unieboek | Het SPectrum BV., Houten – Antwerpen, Belgium.
Ministerie van Binnenlandse Zaken en Koninkrijksrelaties (MBZK) (2020) Nationale Omgevingsvisie, Duurzaam perspectief voor onze leefomgeving. MBZK: Den Haag
Heurkens E, Hoog W de and Daamen T (2014) De Kennismotor, Initiatieven tot faciliteren en leren in de Rotterdamse gebiedsontwikkelingspraktijk (The knowledge motor, Initiatives to facilitate and learn from practice of area development in Rotterdam). TU Delft, Delft, Netherlands.
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Rijksoverheid (2021) Omgevingswet. https://www.rijksoverheid.nl/onderwerpen/omgevingswet
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