Understanding culture in territorial management and its implications for spatial planning: The case of floodplain management in urbanised delta regions in the Netherlands and Thailand

Previous experiences have shown that the implementation of planning policy does not always lead to the originally intended territorial management outcomes. This issue is particularly crucial when policy ideas, institutions, models and programmes are transferred into places with different cultural settings without adaptations (Knieling and...

Between Flexibility and Reliability: Changing Planning Culture in China

In recent years, China has undoubtedly undergone a dramatic process of urban growth and transformation. Apart from its speed and scope, what is less recognized is that these processes are confronting the Chinese planning institutions with new and unexpected demands almost on daily basis. In reference to the increasing importance of private...

Rotterdam: Dynamic Polder City = Land + Water + Culture

The planning culture in the Netherlands is based on the experience of building cities on very wet and soft soils. The design of Dutch polder cities was from early on a balance between land and water: building site preparation. The relation between technological development and urban development can be ordered in six phases: natural (-1000),...