Landscape quality depends on firm spatial planning decisions.

Between 1970 and 2000 the urban area expanded by 128,000 hectares to 340,000 hectares, or about 12% of the total land area of the Netherlands (Figure 5). During the same period government policies on spatial planning partly succeeded in protecting nature areas and protected landscapes from building and road construction, but were not always able to resist the further fragmentation of these areas. The previous government laid out a new course for spatial planning in its "Position Statement on National Spatial Policy"(Stellingnamebrief Nationaal Ruimtelijk Beleid), a policy that has been carried forward in the coalition agreement of the present government. Central government will delegate the task of finding the right balance between urban expansion and green space to the provincial councils, which will constrain the possibilities for directing the pattern of urbanization on the national scale. In the National Landscapes the restrictions on new development will be relaxed somewhat to allow new building to meet the needs of internal growth in local populations.

Dispersed building patterns have longer visual edges than concentrated building clusters. In open landscapes they are visible from a long distance and reduce the attractiveness of the landscape.

Figure 5. Urban Growth in the Netherlands from 1970 to 2000 (Source : CBS)