Assessment and recommendations

Findings from the 2014 OECD Territorial Review of the Netherlands suggest that the country could be getting more out of its cities and urban areas. The rich, polycentric spatial structure of the Netherlands has contributed to high levels of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, yet Dutch cities have not benefited to the expected degree from agglomeration economies. In search of new tools and institutional responses to strengthen urban areas, the Dutch government has in recent years undertaken the development of a National Urban Agenda (Agenda Stad), in parallel to a series of broad institutional reforms. One such reform, which became effective in January 2015, was the abolition of the eight city-regions (stadsregio WGR+ regio), which had for decades managed a range of metropolitan-scale functions in the country’s largest urban areas. While different institutional configurations were envisaged to redistribute their competencies and corresponding resources, Rotterdam and The Hague joined forces with 21 smaller neighbouring cities to merge the 2 former city-regions of Rotterdam and The Hague (Stadsregio Rotterdam and Stadsgewest Haaglanden, respectively) to form the Metropolitan Region of Rotterdam-The Hague (Metropoolregio Rotterdam Den Haag, MRDH).