The province of Flevoland is considering the future design of its space. Due to the shortage of housing in the regions of Amsterdam and Zwolle, Flevoland is investigating the possibilities of building 100,000 new homes in the next 20-30 years, also taking into account economic development and infrastructure while maintaining a local and green environment. In addition, space is needed for generating sustainable energy, such as windmills and solar parks, expanding nature and for planting new forests to stop global warming. There should also be space reserved for recreation and growing food, since Flevoland has the best agricultural land in the Netherlands.

Question Flevoland: visualize the assignment 

How do these claims relate to each other? Is it a conflict, as the Volkskrant (a Dutch newspaper) described it at the end of last year, or can various claims reinforce one another in order to arrive at a sustainable, future-proof spatial design? To answer these questions, the Province of Flevoland will be working on a spatial strategy 2050 in the near future.

As part of this process, Flevoland wanted a complete and visual representation of the spatial assignment, including all its spatial claims that are being discussed. The map had to provide answers to questions such as: Where are new homes and infrastructure foreseen? Where is room for many hectares of new forest? Where will the solar and wind farms be planned and what economic activity does the province want to facilitate? 

Also, what happens if you overlay different claims? Does that fit? Where do opportunities arise to make connections between tasks and to combine ambitions? 

Approach VINU and PosadMaxwan

There were two crucial steps within the process of finding an answer to the question of the province of Flevoland correctly. Firstly, collecting the correct data and input for the space map. To this end, under the guidance of VINU and in close collaboration with the Flevoland Strategy and Policy department, a short and effective project-based process was completed with a number of work sessions. The second challenge included developing an user-friendly tool that helps strategists, policy makers and decision-makers with their strategic considerations. Therefore, PosadMaxwan translated the data into an interactive map material.

Result: interactive digital space map

As a result, we delivered an interactive digital space map and guided a strategic session for the Board of the Provincial Executive. The various space claims have been visualized on the map and can be combined with one another in an user-friendly manner by projecting them on top of each other. It has become an instrument that helps Flevoland with conducting the right discussions and can assist in doing further spatial analyses. In other words, it provides the Province of Flevoland with an useful instrument with which it can continue to work on its spatial strategy towards 2050.

Partner: VINU