Policy
In 1999, government leaders from the Dutch Ministries of Culture, Housing & Environment, Agriculture, and Transport published the Nota Belvedere. This policy document intended to involve cultural history during land-use planning in the Netherlands. Cultural history is used here as a collective term for archaeology, monuments, and historical geography. "Preservation through development" is the Nota Belvedere’s motto. Cultural history should provide a source of inspiration for spatial development.
To show how cultural history can be integrated in spatial design, the government has launched the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie as a National Project. The waterline was chosen because of the complex spatial and administrative task (the collaboration between five departments, five provinces, 25 municipalities and five water boards).
Since 1999, the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie Project Office has created a spatial plan for the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie and consulted with many parties (the Line Committee report “PKIII-summary”). For planning purposes, the directive on spatial design has been implemented in the Nota Ruimte. The waterline is identified in this policy document as one of twenty National Landscapes and is part of the spatial superstructure of the Netherlands.
The four concerned ministries and provinces signed an administrative agreement to develop the Nieuwe Hollandse Waterlinie together. The provinces, together with the municipalities and water boards will translate the policy at the local level. Public and private parties will also be included in the process. The entire process will continue until around 2020, and will be carried out under the direction of the Line Committee and the four provinces of the waterline area.
Panorama Krayenhof
Within the framework of the spatial vision, Panorama Krayenhof, the historical New Dutch Waterline becomes a tangible element of the landscape through its main defence line, consisting of the higher-lying north–south line of forts, group shelters and bunkers. This 85-km long line runs from Muiden to the Biesbosch and gains prominence through large numbers of recreational routes along the line. To the west of the main defence line lies the more densely populated region that was being protected; to the east, the large, low-lying region, which could be inundated. This logical continuation of increasing the development to the west, while maintaining the openness to the east is emphasized in the policy document “het Linieperspectief”.
In order to transform the New Dutch Waterline into a recognizable spatial entity, present day functions (such as recreation, water management, agriculture, nature and transportation) will be added to the Dutch Waterline. The Panorama Krayenhoff shall be implemented within seven project envelopes by the four concerned provinces and supervised by the Line Committee.