Author(s)

W. Timmermans, R. P. H. Snep & V. Kuypers

Abstract

Within a special issue of Archis, a Dutch journal on architecture, different authors discussed the relation between architecture and ecology (Archis, 1999). The editors stated that it is necessary to \“investigate ecology as a vital dimension of tomorrow’s building task”, but that \“as long as ecology remains the preserve of moralisers and environmentalists, its capacity to influence society will be slight and consumers culture will continue as before”. In this paper we will discuss the relation between nature and the city. In our research we apply principles from landscape ecology and spatial planning in urban ecological studies. This specific approach of urban ecology is called ‘urban landscape ecology’. The paper starts with an introduction to the national nature policy of the Netherlands. Than the concept of urban landscape ecology is introduced and the Dutch Delta Metropolis is described. We describe six case-studies, combining urban landscape ecology, spatial planning and architecture into new concepts on urban green for nature, human and economy. Finally some remarks will be made about these approaches from the point of view of modernism and complexity. 1 National nature policy in the Netherlands The Netherlands have been completely man made (Koh, [7]). This fact has among others determined the culture of spatial planning: its tradition is very modernistic. Also the National Nature Policy has highly been influenced by modernism. It outlines exactly which area of the country has to be conserved as or transformed into a natural area. More than a 130 specific types of nature have been exactly defined and described.

Keywords