A New Role for Young Planners in the Netherlands Still a Planner's Paradise?

The Netherlands has been called a ‘planners’ paradise’ (Faludi & van der Valk, 1994). Planners really can make a difference, and the work of Dutch planners has been internationally acknowledged. Amsterdam has enjoyed praise as a ‘grounded utopia’, an exemplar of the ‘just city’ (Fainstein, 2005). Transport planners around the world are astonished by the way the Dutch bicycling system has been planned (Miller et al., 2013). The Dutch system of water management and policy on climate change are cited as perfect outcomes of the country’s planning tradition of long-term disaster prevention (Stead & Taşan-Kok, 2013). Dutch land and housing policies have provided opportunities for planners to contribute to a better world. With some justification, then, Dutch planning students embarked on their education with optimism about the future. However, a crisis in Dutch planning began in 2008 and may impact on the current generation of students and young planning professionals. Construction fell to very low levels in the Netherlands, with fewer jobs for planners in overseeing development as a result. Moreover, the shift from government financing to market financing has meant that many activities have come to an end. This deprives planners of the pride they would normally feel on seeing a project through to fruition, while making it even more difficult for young planners to find jobs in the planning sector at all.