National Spatial Election Debate

The Future of Spatial Netherlands

On October 29, 2025, the Netherlands will elect a new parliament. What does this mean for the future of spatial planning in the Netherlands? Under the guidance of Marijke Roskam, one of the Netherlands' best moderators, the CDA (Henk Jumelet, no. 9), D66 (Hans Vijlbrief, no. 3), GL-PvdA (Habtamu de Hoop, no. 8), SP (Sandra Beckerman, no. 2), VVD (Renate den Hollander, no. 18) and PvdD (Martine van Schaik, no. 8)will debate. The venue will be the Forum, in the heart of Groningen, with an audience of 250.

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Topics

In the introductory round, politicians take positions on several pressing issues: the Netherlands' use of space as an agricultural powerhouse, housing in shrinking regions, locations for wind turbines, and pricing rush-hour driving.

Then we delve deeper:

• Which party will force a breakthrough in the housing crisis?
• Will defense gain priority over housing and climate in the allocation of space?

• Spatial planning is a long term discipline. What will the north of the Netherlands look like in fifty years and what kind of society will that bring?

Why you shouldn't miss this debate…!

In a country where every square meter counts, the demand for housing, mobility, and additional defense investments inevitably collides with the limits of our physical space. What choices do we make when housing, farming, nature, infrastructure, and security all compete for priority, and who ultimately decides what gets priority? The debate revolves around the question of whether we leave control to the market and contingent circumstances, or whether we use political courage and spatial vision to determine what the Netherlands of tomorrow will look like. Urban planner Ward Rauws (University of Groningen, Faculty of Spatial Sciences) takes you through this difficult issue in this video (in Dutch):