Physical and social engineering in the Dutch polders: the case of the Noordoostpolder

Abstract

This chapter provides an overview of the Zuiderzee project and describes the design and development of the Noordoostpolder. It focuses on the design and development of the Noordoostpolder. Planning projects such as the Zuiderzee project fitted very well into the international Zeitgeist of the interwar period. The reclamation of the Zuiderzee became an object of national pride, attractive to the whole nation and a useful symbol of the Dutch national identity. In the 1960s and 1970s, following sociocultural changes in Dutch society, the selection procedures were criticised more strongly and, in the polders of Oostelijk Flevoland and Zuidelijk Flevoland, they were applied much less strictly. The plans for and implementation of the partial reclamation of the Zuiderzee coincided with the development of the social sciences in the Netherlands. The physical and social planning of the Noordoostpolder reached new heights after 1945. Engineers, architects, spatial planners and social scientists became involved in the development of this polder.