From Amsterdam to Amsterdam Metropolitan Area: a paradigm shift

The Amsterdam Metropolitan Area is searching for new ways to position itself on the global economic stage as a full-fledged and sustainable European metropolis. While repositioning, the City of Amsterdam and its surrounding municipalities have made a shift to a more urban-regional narrative to serve the region and tackle its planning challenges. This paper will discuss the current situation of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area and analyse the scale and scope of the metropolitan thinking, with emphasis on the importance of international competitiveness and sustainability policies - and the balance between them - in this process of metropolitan capacity-building and consciousness-building.