posted on 2020-08-17, 14:01authored byMichiel Van-Meeteren
Peter Hall’s analysis of the Dutch Randstad, in his The World Cities (1966), generated the
archetype of the polycentric urban region (PUR). Although influential, Hall primarily amplified
1950s’ Dutch planning discourse. This paper analyses the PUR’s genesis, discussing the
economic modernization of the 1950s and the preceding decades of crisis and war. By
temporalizing Gieryn’s truth-spot theory, the paper constructs a prehistory of the PUR
through the biographical trajectories of Dutch geography and planning pioneers Louis van
Vuuren, Willem Steigenga, Christiaan van Paassen and Gerrit Jan van den Berg. Planning the
PUR is recast as a gentle modernization strategy, signalling new interpretations of
polycentricity’s contemporary utility.
This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Regional Studies on 13 Aug 2020, available online: https://doi.org/10.1080/00343404.2020.1800629