The International Planning History Society (IPHS) is dedicated to the enhancement of interdisciplinary studies in urban and regional planning history. IPHS was inaugurated in 1993 as a successor association to the Planning History Group (PHG), a British-based organisation founded in 1974.
Next IPHS Conference will be held in July 17-21, 2016, in Delft, Netherlands.
Ben Oldemeierink en Heidi van Limburg Stirum van de NKS zullen een presentatie geven over: The transformation and integration of estates in the Dutch urban landscape
Abstract:
In the past, many municipalities in the Netherlands purchased bordering country estates. They were incorporated within the city`s urban structure. To this day such development is still on going.
This development has in recent decades been neglected by researchers. Even the Atlas of urbanization in the Netherlands, pays insufficient attention to this. It pays no attention the integration of country estates in the urban structure. Transformed and incorporated estates are being threatened yet again by new spatial developments.
In 1982 the exhibition: `Estates in Utrecht` was organized. The topic was the five surviving and the 25 disappeared country estates within the municipality of Utrecht. The exhibition showed that no outdoor area still had its original function, but they were still present in a very reduced form and had been retained with a different function. The municipality of Haarlem placed during this period a focus on outdoor locations within the city with an exhibition on 400 years Haarlemmerhout (1984), in which the former country estates on the edge of the Haarlemmerhout were presented. Neither of these exhibitions nor the accompanying catalogues and books, paid much attention to the question of how urban planners coped with their task to incorporate country estates within their plans.
In large-scaleurban expansion from the mid-nineteenth century and especially since the beginning of the twentieth century it shows that agricultural land, market gardens and country estates disappear. Some estates were acquired in their entirety, the farmlands were intended for housing and the country estate itself was used as a city park for the inhabitants of the newly developed residential areas. We see that the main structural elements such as like water features, paths, roads and gardens were lovingly incorporated by urban planners and much attention was paid to greenery.
Since 2000 the green spaces in urban areas are under pressure. New planning requirements such as increase in building density, changes in infrastructure and expansion and developments such as office vacancy rates, high land prices, and cuttings on maintenance costs for public parks and greens, threaten these incorporated country estates, for the second time in their existence.
On the other hand we also see that since 2000 country estates and even remnants of country estates have had a positive contribution, and were even leading, in the design of new neighborhoods in Houten and Utrecht Leidsche Rijn. Municipalities are since 2012 mandatory to include cultural history in their new zoning plans. This legislation will give more attention to the incorporated estates. A thorough historical analysis of the way in which these estates were incorporated in the past 100 years and the coming future is highly recommended for the further conservation of these estates. There is fragmented knowledge on the subject, but the broader historical context is missing.
The endeavour to save as much as possible of these estates and their remnants would be supported by futher research of the way in which in the past these were incorporated into the city structure and were transformed into urban green structures.
Het panel:
In het panel presenteren verschillende internationale onderzoekers onderzoek waar ze mee bezig zijn, willen gaan doen of hebben gedaan m.b.t. het thema: Estates and estates landscapes; past and future perspectives
Vervolgens zal gediscussieerd worden over: The historic and current roles and methods to describe historical gardens and estates in the metropolitan landscapes. What was the historic role of estates in the (pre-)urbanisation of the countryside? How were estates connected to the urban landscapes? Which methods can we use to best describe this connection, characterising the essence of estates in the present situation? What methods are used to revitalise gardens, estates and estates landscapes and make them sustainable and resilient in the future? Between the 16th and 19th century nobility and rich civilians constructed their (landed) estates dominating large parts of the countryside. Strengthened houses were constructed in the countryside near city or village. Wealthy merchants created themselves a `noble` life with the construction of smaller estates close to each other, which led to the creation of urban estates landscapes. Estates influenced and were influenced by both cities and urban life as well the cultural landscape and its agriculture, geomorphology and land reclamations. These estates and historical gardens formed the promotors of wealthy civilian life and recreation. In periods of diseases they formed a refuge from the city life. They combined art, culture and nature, as well as health and wealth in the (pre)urbanisation of the landscape. Nowadays, many estates are still present in cultural urban landscapes showing great resilience over time. They were changed many times because of fashion, financial issues and natural disasters. These estates and estates landscapes are contributing to the living identity and historic continuity of the metropolitan landscapes of today and are highly valued by local people and tourists.
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