Board of Government Advisers project Panorama Netherlands

The Netherlands does not have a fixed shape. It is changing all the time, but there has hardly ever been a generation that has had to face such momentous and relevant social challenges as that of ourselves and our children. Climate adaptation, agricultural reform, urbanisation and the energy transition are all challenges whose consequences we shall all feel, in the landscape and in our lifestyle. In 2020 the Board of Government Advisers outlined a perspective for the future spatial organisation of the Netherlands in Panorama Netherlands. It shows how the major social challenges of today can be the key to welcome structural improvements in the future.

Principal

College van Rijksadviseurs

Partners

Vereniging Deltametropool en West8

Design Year

2018

The Board, of which Berno Strootman was a member until 1 January 2021, outlined a perspective for the future in Panorama Netherlands. It explored the imprecise field of necessary changes in relation to one another. It also defined a number of strategic principles, each with an integral, spatial vision and argued from the long-term perspective.

Where the market and the government are often too short-sighted to adopt the long-term perspective in their actions, we as designers can look further into the future with a view to designing a shared and attractive vision for the future, in which the desired transitions can be set in motion. The Panorama is grouped around four main themes: water, agricultural land, urbanisation and sustainable energy. Behind these four spatial themes lies the overarching theme of solidarity.

Panorama Netherlands closed after a tour through the Netherlands – the perfect opportunity to hold discussions with many people in the country – in September 2020 with the Panorama4daagse. In a series of online broadcasts, the Board examined how we can take the step from an optimistic vision for the future to the realistic and sometimes contentious practice. Berno Strootman talked about the importance of greenery in our direct surroundings, how the Netherlands landscape is under pressure, and how we must once again aim to become a rich farming country.

Gallery