Pivot and Platform of Coordination: The Return of State Power and Its Role Reinvention in Dutch Spatial Planning
Abstract：
The role of state power in Dutch spatial planning has changed several times since the beginning of the 20th century. Dutch spatial planning, with the rise of neoliberalism in Europe, has adopted a relatively independent and decentralized network of actors, as well as a polycentric governance model, giving rise to severe housing crisis and controversy over the protection of the green heart. Challenges of climate change have led to new issues on adapting to a governance scenario towards overall spatial environmental sustainability, also drives new changes in spatial planning. From 2018, the Dutch central government has reorganized its spatial planning institutions, implemented NOVI and NOVEX between 2020 and 2022, and also relocated its state power to a more central position in spatial planning through publishing series of reports. The central government has shifted its role from a ‘regulator’ to a ‘mediator’. Following the logical framework of meta-governance, this paper analyses the new spatial planning responsibilities of the Dutch central government and the new shift of spatial planning governance tools in the new governance context from two dimensions, namely, the shift of the role of the mediation pivot and the expansion and integration of the coordination platform, with a view to providing references and lessons for the transformation of the government’s role in the new era of territorial spatial planning reform in China.