Flexibility and commitment in planning

This book is about the ways in which two western European countries attempt to cope with the changing demands of urban development. In particular, it is con­ cerned with the differences in approach of the Dutch and English planning systems and the contrasting ways in which they are used to guide, promote and control development. The book results from a research study in which members of staff at Delft of Technology and Oxford Polytechnic compared local planning and University development in the Netherlands and England. The aim was to investigate ways in which development was promoted and controlled under different planning systems. The research was subsequently developed along two converging lines. One was an examination of over twenty case studies of plan making and the con­ trol of development in the cities of Leiden and Oxford. The other was a study of the two planning systems and the ways in which the respective approaches to planning were seen to relate closely to the contrasting legal and administrative systems and differences in development practice. The convergence of the two lines of enquiry produced a tension between empirical observations and theoretical supposition which led to a fruitful development of ideas about the nature of the two planning systems and how they promote and control develop­ ment.