BARCELONA The Delta Metropolis Association. Introduction

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1 The Delta Metropolis Association Introduction The concept of the Delta Metropolis emphasises on the region of the urbanised western part of the Netherlands, capturing cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht among others with more than five million inhabitants and nearly three million jobs. All this is situated around a fairly open and green centre. The region is located in the delta of the rivers Rhine and Meuse. It is widely agreed that, in the long term, the unification of Europe means a decrease in significance of national borders and an increase of the significance of regions. That is, competition between nation states is shifting to competition between regions. In this perspective it is unavoidable though at the same time necessary that the cities and towns in the west of the Netherlands, the economic engine of the Netherlands, start to function as one region, thus competing with other metropolitan areas in Europe and the world. With this in mind, different governing bodies and organised interest groups in this region decided to co-operate and join forces. Keeping internal competition among all the different cities and parts of the region alive, acknowledge to belong to a constellation of complementary urban centres that for external competition have to function more as one system, a metropolitan area. Combining competition with complementarity they keep their competitive edge with regard to other metropolitan areas in a steadily unifying Europe and meet the conditions of the globalizing economy. This cooperation resulted in the founding of the Delta Metropolis Association in the year The members of the Delta Metropolis Association are water boards, housing corporations, municipalities, chambers of commerce and organised interest groups (agriculture, nature conservation and recreation). The association functions as an informal platform which produces integral and integrated spatial concepts and policies, in order to procure the Delta Metropolis. figure 1: The Delta Metropolis; geographic location

2 Connecting the Delta Metropolis The Delta Metropolis has a specific geographic and economic position: at the strategic crossroads of trading routes that have been important from ancient times. One is the route from the cities in Northern Italy, along the river Rhine, to London and the Midlands. This is the economic backbone of Western Europe, also referred to as the Blue Banana. The other is the intercontinental shipping route along the coast of the North Sea, roughly from Le Havre to Hamburg. This strategic position is emphasised by the number of European head offices and transport divisions of multinational companies that are located in the Delta Metropolis. The strong international trade character of the Delta Metropolis is underlined by the two mainports in the Delta Metropolis: (1) the port of Rotterdam, the largest in the world, and (2) Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, one of the four biggest in Europe. Therefore it is essential that the Delta Metropolis, as one region, is connected to the Trans European (Transport) Networks and maintains its role as a main component of these networks. Now, if the Delta Metropolis is to really start functioning as a metropolitan area it should dramatically improve the internal accessibility and so create a metropolitan-size consumer-, labour- and capital market. Besides this point another important issue challenges the Delta Metropolis. As stated before, the region is located in the delta of the big European rivers, mainly below sea level. Because of climate change, sea level rising and decline of soil, reshaping of the internal water system will have to be taken care of. The Delta Metropolis Association has challenged both issues with research projects, respectively the Water Realm and the Delta Network. figure 2 a & b: The Delta Metropolis; on a strategic crossroads Interconnecting The Water Realm The first requirement for the very existence of the Delta Metropolis is a robust water system that can cope with present and future developments like rising sea level, changing environment and increase in demand for fresh water. The Water Realm is a concept that first of all contains a totally new design for a water system for the Delta Metropolis. The design suggests a system with an expanded and flexible capacity. In this way it will be able to absorb a sudden excess of drainage water, caused by rain and river, and can contain a big supply of fresh water in times of shortage. Primarily, all this is done by the improvement of the connections between already existing parts of the water system, which still operate quite autonomously nowadays. Instead of dealing with demands to the water system on a local level, this can be done on a much more appropriate regional level, using the basic logics of a river basin: organise flows from high to low, fresh to salt and clean to troubled. But there is more to the concept. Apart from the re-dimensioning and re-designing of the water system the concept of The Water Realm also contains an innovation in the organisation of the rural system.

3 The region contains relatively large open and green areas, blessing the Delta Metropolis with a uniquely open centre instead of being one huge tangled knot of built-up areas. To use this asset the unique characteristic of the rural system must by strengthened. This is done by reconstructing the open and green areas, big and small, as parts of one system, a metropolitan park system. figure 3: The Water Realm; the water system figure 4: The Water Realm; the recreational networks The concept of The Water Realm proposes a method of design of such a metropolitan park system that integrates issues within the rural and water systems of different kinds (living conditions, agriculture, nature, outdoor recreation, water and cultural history). In order to align this integration into actual designs on a local level, the method consists of computations, reflecting on the regional level of the Delta Metropolis (see box 1). In this way strategic considerations are made on the regional level of the Delta Metropolis, and designs are made on the local level. So the Water Realm proposes the re-configuration of open and green spaces, and the strengthening of character and quality of these spaces. By interconnecting, in terms of water system and recreational networks, a metropolitan park system will be realized, which contributes to a high quality environment. Box 1: The Water Realm; the computations of the method of design The notion of the ecological base. Especially in a delta the biotic and a-biotic conditions result in a unique environment. Every intervention has to be tested against these conditions. Water system. As stated above, a well-functioning water system is essential for the very existence of man in a delta. Cultural history. The human footprint is characteristic of the landscape, man made, in this delta. Cultural history therefore must play an important part in design processes. Outdoor recreation. To use the park system and experience it as a whole, the different parts have to be accessible both from the cities and from each other. A main network of boat, bike and walking routes must see to this. Landscape unities. Based on aspects like soil, water and land-use landscape unities are identified. On the scale of sub-sectors the appropriate balances and designs can be made.

4 The Delta Network The Delta Metropolis has a poly-nuclear structure. It exists of a number of cities and towns around a fairly green and open centre. The number of inhabitants of the individual cities within the Delta Metropolis area is even for Amsterdam or Rotterdam below a million each and for other cities even less. To create a critical mass for a metropolitan environment in relation to labour, consumer and capital market, the individual cities have to function as one urban system. This means that it must be possible to travel quickly and easily between all the different urban areas so that the whole region will be a potential residential area for individual inhabitants or companies and all the inhabitants within the region make one potential labour market. This does ask for a substantial improvement of internal accessibility, more or less diminishing travel times by 50%. For such a drastic improvement an innovative change has to be brought about in the existing systems of passenger transport. Therefore the Delta Metropolis Association thinks that a totally new concept for passenger transport is necessary. In the present constellation of systems there is a strict separation of road and rail transport. Then, there is also the relation between the passenger transport systems on the one hand and urban development on the other. In the view of the Delta Metropolis Association, if configured in the right way, passenger transport and urban development can and must strengthen each other. figure 5: The Delta Network; existing rail and road networks on the level of the Delta Metropolis, and (potential) connectors

5 The Delta Network is still an ongoing study project in order to find solutions that can dramatically increase accessibility inside the Delta Metropolis, using innovations in the two issues mentioned above. As for the rail and road passenger transport systems, if those two systems are unified and therefore can function as one system, the capacity of the passenger transport system as a whole can increase and be much more flexible. To make this work it is essential to create links between modalities. So for the functioning of this multi-modal system the locations where to change from the one modality to the other, the so called connectors, are very important. When expanding urban area for housing and commercial zones it makes sense to use sites that are already accessible, such as sites nearby existing nodes of rail and road. The other way round, it only plausible to create well connected nodes of rail and road in the immediate vicinity of existing urban areas with high density. In both cases the connector makes it physically possible to change modality and use the various networks (like: feet, bike, bus, tram, car, train and plane). Obviously the connector itself is the ultimate part that makes the system work, because transferring must be quick, easy and comfortable. For indeed many passengers judge transport systems on these issues. The challenge now is to make the right selection of connectors and connections between them that make up a multi-modal passenger system to reduce travelling time within the Delta Metropolis. The Delta Metropolis Association suggest to start with these connectors. Measuring the degree of accessibility, connection value, in relation to the degree of urban density, location value, of connectors will reveal at which connectors the capacity is relatively under used (connection value > location value). It is profitable to optimise these connectors. The same can be done with potential connectors, nodes of rail and road without existing link. This way a assessment is made of individual connectors in on the level of the Delta Metropolis that will help to make the right selection of connectors and interconnections, rail and road: the Delta Network. Jan Willem Kooijmans Delta Metropolis Association Delta Metropolis Association, references Waterrijk, verkenning van een metropolitaan parksysteem (Water Realm, an exploratory on a metropolitan park system), May Naar een ontwerp voor de Deltametropool (Towards a design for the Delta Metropolis), November Rapportage Deltanet (Report on the Delta Network), February