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Objective: To describe the major changes in mental health care for adults in the Netherlands during the past 25 years. Method: Scientific literature and official documents. Results: Phases of the reform process are the integration of ambulatory services in the early 1980s and the following implementation of community mental health centres (RIAGGs); the differentiation and extramuralization of mental hospitals; the differentiation within the field of living accommodations; and the final fusion process between these three into integrated regional mental health care organizations. Current issues in the development of services are, e.g. the ever growing demand for mental health care, special programmes for defined target populations, legislation and patient rights, rehabilitation and empowerment. Conclusion: The Dutch mental health care system has a low threshold and a comparatively good quality. There is a long-lasting and strong influence of user and family organizations on the content and quality of services. Recently important organizational changes are taking place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drawing on 17 months of ethnographic fieldwork in the Netherlands and Ghana, this paper combines 'return' mobilities literature and youth studies to analyse the role of leisure practices during 'homeland' visits in transnational youth's way of relating to Ghana when they are entering into adulthood. Using the notion of mobility trajectories, the paper shows that leisure practices facilitate young people's ability to establish and renew intimate transnational relationships with diasporic friends, and Ghana‐based same‐generation relatives and romantic partners. Differing from earlier stays in Ghana, young people expressed their emerging sense of independence by exploring alternative sides of the country with these peers, based on common interests and belonging to the same life‐cycle cohort. The findings add complexity to the notion of the 'homeland' as a monolithic place of reconnecting with family and roots by drawing attention to the intersection between young people's pathways to adulthood and transnational mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, many cities are still struggling to facilitate inclusive playgrounds. This paper contributes to our understanding of the everyday landscapes of disabled childhood, by investigating the play‐policy of Dutch municipalities via a mixed‐methods approach. Our online survey reveals that 90 per cent have a play‐policy, although the length and content of these documents vary extensively, and accessibility and inclusive play are often lacking. Additionally, we focus on the play‐policy of two municipalities in the east of the Netherlands. Interviews with civil servants, play professionals and families with disabled children show that municipalities willingly respond to parents' requests for playground changes. Though resulting in tailor‐made adjustments, this also configures disability as an individual problem. Parents and policy‐makers also highlight different expectations regarding playground adjustments and investments. The paper therefore calls for open communication to avoid disabled children being involuntarily absent in public space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In the Netherlands, all women aged 30–60 years are invited to participate in the national cervical cancer screening programme, which is aimed at early detection and treatment of precancerous lesions. One fourth of the Dutch population has a migration background, with Turkish and Moroccan immigrants being the largest immigrant populations. Turkish‐ and Moroccan‐Dutch women show lower screening participation rates and a higher incidence of cervical cancer, compared to native Dutch women. Since current information materials are not tailored to these women's needs, we developed a short culturally sensitive educational video to facilitate informed decision‐making for cervical cancer screening among Turkish‐ and Moroccan‐Dutch women. This article describes the development process of this video and the lessons learned. Methods: Using the Entertainment–Education communication strategy, we collaborated with an interdisciplinary team of Turkish‐ and Moroccan‐Dutch women, researchers, public health experts, and creative media professionals. We developed the video following the different stages of the Media Mapping model: Orientation, Crystallization, Design/Production, Implementation, and Dissemination. Each stage is described in the paper. Results: The video was developed in Moroccan‐Arabic, ‐Berber and Turkish, and emphasized three main themes: (1) more certainty about having cervical (pre)cancer and the possibility to prevent treatment, surgery, or premature death, and because of this, being there for the children, (2) according to the Islam, a woman should take good care of her health, and (3) anxiety, shame, and privacy. Conclusions: A short culturally sensitive educational video, delivered as part of a larger intervention together with the current information brochure, was developed based on theory and grounded in the needs of Turkish‐ and Moroccan‐Dutch women. The value and effectiveness of this intervention to facilitate informed cervical cancer screening decisions are evaluated in a randomised controlled trial. Patient or Public Contribution: We collaborated with Turkish‐ and Moroccan‐Dutch women during the development process of a short culturally sensitive educational video. Turkish‐ and Moroccan‐Dutch women were also invited to watch the raw footage to verify whether the content and presentation matched their needs and requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Conditional Reasoning Test for Aggression (CRT‐A) indirectly measures the implicit motive to aggress by engaging respondents in inductive reasoning tasks. Most research involving the CRT‐A has been based on the original English version of the test with most data being collected in the United States. The purpose of the current paper is to evaluate the psychometric properties of a Dutch translation of this test and to examine if it could be used to predict measures of integrity. In the first of two studies, we evaluated the psychometric properties and measurement equivalence of the CRT‐A across US and Dutch samples. In the second study, we examined validity evidence for the Dutch version of the CRT‐A. Results from Study 1 indicated that the test was mostly equivalent across cultures (i.e. limited differential item functioning was detected). Results from Study 2 demonstrated that the Dutch version of the CRT‐A was correlated with measures of behavioral integrity and provided incremental prediction of integrity over and above traditional self‐report measures of explicit personality traits. We discuss the implications for using CRTs across different cultures and languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the late medieval period, Holland experienced substantial socio‐economic change. While the region was largely undeveloped prior to 1200 CE, the period after was characterised by extensive urbanisation and flourishing international trade, changes that would have impacted many aspects of life. This paper investigates the effect of these changes on diet by comparing skeletal collections from the early/central medieval rural village of Blokhuizen (800–1200 CE) to the late medieval urban town of Alkmaar (1448–1572 CE) using a combination of the prevalence and location of carious lesions (nteeth = 3475) and stable carbon and nitrogen isotope data (n = 50). Results show that the urban Alkmaar population had a significantly higher caries frequency (7.4% vs. 16.1%), starting at a younger age. Moreover, Alkmaar had significantly more approximal caries. These results point to increased consumption of cariogenic products, such as sugars and starches, by the urban citizens. Dietary differences are also demonstrated by the stable isotope data. Alkmaar individuals have significantly enriched δ15N ratios and more variable δ13C ratios compared with rural Blokhuizen. The elevated δ15N values may be due to increased consumption of fish or animals such as omnivorous pigs and chickens. The combination of caries and isotopic data points to clear changes in diet suggesting that urban individuals in the late medieval period had a substantially different diet compared with early rural inhabitants from the same area. Specifically, an increase in market dependence, availability of international trade products, and the growth of commercial fishing in the late medieval period may have contributed to this dietary shift. Future research should include a late medieval rural population to better understand the effects of late medieval socio‐economic developments outside of the urban environment. This study demonstrates that the integration of palaeopathology and stable isotopic research provides a more complete understanding of dietary changes in medieval Holland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Outside of the dominant frame depicting World War II as a showdown between the Allied and Axis powers, the war also represented a critical juncture in the global battle between empire and nation. In Asia, the war allowed a "semi‐colonial" China to successfully reclaim its sovereignty from both its allies and enemies and compelled the Dutch to forfeit colonial rule in Indonesia and its prestige as a regional power. Moving beyond conventional dichotomies and great‐power bias, this paper analyses two portentous wartime controversies between China and the Netherlands, whose common goals as allies did not prevent clashes over diametrically opposed national pursuits. In exposing the conflicting nature of their respective nationalisms, these disputes elucidate the interplay of war, nationalism, and imperialism in East Asia as well as China's changing place in the emergent post‐war regional and global orders. The Dutch refusal to accept these shifting realities and underlying notions of national self‐determination presaged the traumatic trajectory of Indonesia's decolonisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding human geography's development requires looking beyond high‐profile academic journals. Alternative publication circuits are spaces of experimentation and play an important role in the discipline's intergenerational reproduction. This paper narrates the 35‐year trajectory of AGORA Magazine, a Dutch–Flemish popular‐scientific early‐career publication focusing on a broad array of socio‐spatial issues. Uncovering AGORA's history guided by a network analysis of co‐occurring authors, we develop two main arguments. First, the affiliation network extracted from AGORA's archive separates the magazine's history into five eras. These periods provide a window to understand the transformations of Dutch and Flemish human geography and related disciplines during the past decades, critically reflecting the zeitgeist of research topics, approaches and ideologies. Second, we probe the value of AGORA as nursery institution for early‐career scholars, establishing myriad inter‐university and transnational connections. We conclude by assessing the value of 'second league' native‐language publications in the context of ongoing internationalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gentrification is now a common feature of contemporary cities. The process has extended its spatial reach from urban cores into neighbourhoods previously deemed unlikely to gentrify. More recently, scholars have identified an intensifying suburbanisation of poverty reshaping socio‐spatial inequalities. In this paper we argue that it is increasingly urgent to integrate analyses of gentrification with those on the suburbanisation of poverty. The two processes are fundamentally related through the displacement and exclusion of disadvantaged populations. Drawing on Dutch full‐population register data for the 2005–2015 period, we empirically illustrate the existence of suburbanising poverty alongside urban gentrification in the urban regions of Amsterdam and Utrecht. We further show these are far from uniform processes, eschewing urban–suburban dichotomies. In addition, we find regional differences in the intensity and spatial reach of both gentrification and poverty suburbanisation. Spatial trends are more pronounced in the Amsterdam region, where low‐income households are pushed to the furthest parts of the region. By way of conclusion, we outline an agenda for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies residential segregation in the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area and makes three contributions to the recent debates on segregation. First, both ethnic and socio‐economic segregation are studied by comparing isolation index scores for both individual indicators and their interactions. Second, neighbourhoods are defined as scalable individualised units, which allows for comparisons across spatial scales. Third, the paper adopts a longitudinal approach by covering three different time points, which enables us to get a grip on segregation trends. The results indicate that there are notable differences in segregation levels and trends between the applied segregation indicators. Ethnic segregation remained largely stable over the 2003–14 period, whereas the indicators of socio‐economic segregation have slightly changed, but all in different directions. Only for tertiary education segregation has increased over the entire period. The Dutch welfare system, the well‐dispersed and socially‐mixed social housing sector and gentrification help to explain these developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marketplaces are regarded as quintessential public spaces, providing not only access to fresh produce but also functioning as important social infrastructures. However, many marketplaces closed down or changed fundamentally in response to the COVID‐19 coronavirus outbreak. In this paper, we reflect on the effects of the crisis on Dutch marketplaces from two interdependent analytical levels. From a ground level, we illustrate their 'temporary death' as public spaces and reflect on their changing social dynamics. From an organisational level, we analyse traders' responses to the institutional measures taken to combat the crisis. Combining pre‐corona, in‐situ research with (social) media analysis, we show how a variegated institutional landscape of market regulation emerged. Whereas some markets closed down, others remained open in a highly regulated manner; representing merely economic infrastructures. Our first reflections lead to new avenues to explore how the COVID‐19 crisis affects the everyday geographies of public space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing is central in the reproduction of social inequalities. Beyond divides across populations, trends point to increasingly unequal housing‐market dynamics across space. Nonetheless, little systematic evidence exists on the spatial inequality of housing values. In this paper we address this through a detailed investigation of house‐value developments in the Netherlands over time and space. We draw on national registers including longitudinal and geocoded data for the entire housing stock over the 2006–2018 period. Spatial polarisation is examined across different scales at the national, provincial, and urban level. We further investigate how housing‐market inequality trends vary over time, particularly between periods of economic boom and house‐price increases or, conversely, periods of downturn. Our analyses expose a substantial and widespread trend of spatial polarisation. Rising spatial inequality between neighbourhoods is clearly apparent at the national level, within all but one province, as well as for 44 of the 50 largest municipalities. The polarising trend appears structural and pervasive. While boom periods saw the strongest increases, inequality levels, remarkably, remained stable or even saw continued increases over the period of declining house prices. These patterns of spatial polarisation in house values have fundamental societal implications towards uneven wealth accumulation and in amplifying socio‐economic cleavages across populations and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper revisits the much-reported political confrontations that took place between Russia and the Netherlands during the 2013 Dutch-Russian 'year of friendship'. It shows how Dutch media constructed an image of the Netherlands and Russia as representatives of conflicting cultural traditions on account of their different attitudes towards LGBTI (Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Intersexual) rights. Advancing from Mouffe's observation that politics is inherently oppositional, this paper aims to nuance such a dichotomous imagery by showing distinct commonalities between Russian and Dutch cultural regimes. In fact, Russian discourses are historically rooted in Soviet conceptions of cultural geography, and appeal to similar associations of anti-colonial and anti-elitist resistance. However, Dutch and Russian popularised discourses of cultural difference should be recognised as one of several dualisms that Europe and the Netherlands have inherited from the Cold War. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gentrification is a process of social and spatial change, but it is also a changing process. This special issue aims to better understand new forms of gentrification, policies and experiences which have emerged since the year 2000. Specific emphasis has been given to the Netherlands, a country where the strong role of the state and more than two decades of pro-gentrification policy have created a unique context where gentrification is pursued, implemented and experienced in different ways than in the Anglo- Saxon world. Research into Dutch gentrification has led to new theoretical insights in the past and the papers in this special issue should present international readers with new and alternative perspectives towards contemporary gentrification, thereby contributing to a wider understanding of the 'geography of gentrification'. This introduction will examine new spatial and social manifestations of gentrification over the past decade, examine what binds them together as part of the gentrification process, introduce Dutch gentrification and outline the papers featured in this special issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Over the last 50 years, intense urbanisation has taken place in the Netherlands. This has resulted in the development of many polycentric urban regions, which consist of historic core centres, other historic centres as well as new urban centres (NUCs). Focusing on NUCs in Dutch city regions, this paper presents the results of a research project analysing the number and spatial structure of NUCs, examines their functional composition and explains the different types of centres that exist. The paper also analyses the level of centrality of the NUCs. The main finding is that functional composition is related to the type of area in which NUCs are built: district centres, villages, new towns, transition areas or university areas. With a character that is much narrower than that of core centres, the NUCs house a lower diversity of functions, fewer facilities serving an area larger than central districts, and a limited number of public transport modes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is more and more empirical evidence to show that highly skilled people are an important determinant of economic growth. Consequently, policy-makers are eager to keep their graduates in the region or attract graduates from elsewhere. It is also well known that people with a higher level of education exhibit high rates of spatial mobility. Much less is known about mobility patterns according to discipline and academic grade. Do the best people stay or leave, and does this vary according to discipline and type of region? This paper investigates the relationship between ability, field of study and spatial mobility using a micro-dataset on Dutch university and college graduates. The findings indicate that there are substantial net flows mainly towards the economic centre of the Netherlands, but that there are also flows between peripheral regions and to other countries. The paper finds that university graduates are more spatially mobile than vocational college level graduates and that when one looks at spatial behaviour according to discipline, there are also striking differences between graduates. This, however, does not necessarily mean that peripheral regions also lose their best graduates. For several disciplines, employers in the peripheral areas are able to retain the graduates with the highest grades, contrary to what the standard human capital framework predicts. However, the study finds that if graduates leave the region, those with the highest grades are more likely to move abroad. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Was the crisis of historicism an exclusively German affair? Or was it a “narrowly academic crisis,” as is sometimes assumed? Answering both questions in the negative, this paper argues that crises of historicism affected not merely intellectual elites, but even working-class people, not only in Germany, but also in the Netherlands. With an elaborated case study, the article shows that Dutch “neo-Calvinist” Protestants from the 1930s onward experienced their own crisis of historicism. For a variety of reasons, this religious subgroup came to experience a collapse of its “historicist” worldview. Following recent German scholarship, the paper argues that this historicism was not a matter of Rankean historical methods, but of “historical identifications,” or modes of identity formation in which historical narratives played crucial roles. Based on this Dutch case study, then, the article develops two arguments. In a quantitative mode, it argues that more and different people suffered from the crisis of historicism than is usually assumed. In addition, it offers a qualitative argument: that the crisis was located especially among groups that derived their identity from “historical identifications.” Those who suffered most from the crisis of historicism were those who understood themselves as embedded in narratives that connected past, present, and future in such a way as to offer identity in historical terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What is the changing and differentiated role played by faith-based organisations (FBOs), in fighting social distress and aiming for social justice in cities in the Netherlands? Based on a series of semi-structured interviews over a period of time and a desk study of FBOs, this paper draws on relations between urban governance and citizenship practices to tease out the implications for FBOs in politics of social justice. We argue that neoliberalisation: (1), opens spaces for the ‘reaching out’ and ‘de-privatising’ of FBOs into the urban public realm in new and sometimes contrasting ways; and (2), creates incentives for FBOs to professionalise and maximise efficiency, heralding a new entrepreneurial approach in the urban politics of social justice. Referring to the Oudewijken Pastoraat and the House of Hope in Rotterdam, we reveal striking differences in philosophy and methodology of faith responses to social distress. Changing governance of urban neighbourhoods rooted in professionalisation captures part of the explanation. We draw attention to the incremental and contested revalorising of faith actors as the informal, but increasingly professionalising, seat or underside of traditional social democratic welfare provision in the Netherlands. The paper concludes with a reflection on questions for new geographical inquiry on FBOs and cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Western countries, the scale of second home ownership increased enormously in the last decades. Yet, the outcomes of this development on spatial patterns and behaviour are unclear. In this paper we focus on two issues that arise from this trend: first, the impact of the residential environment of the primary dwelling on second home ownership and, second, the impact of second homes on travel. The paper is based on two empirical studies carried out in the Netherlands and in Germany. In the Netherlands, the owners of second homes frequently compensate for the lack of leisure opportunities at home or in close vicinity of their home in urbanised areas in which they primarily live. The same is true for allotment owners in Germany. However, Dutch non-mobile caravan owners and German owners of second homes do not follow any compensation strategies. In both countries the use of the private car is dominant although in Germany travel distances are larger than in the Netherlands. Based on a typology of second homeowners a sketch of future developments will be given. Some recommendations for housing and transportation policies will be formulated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Redlining’ is a form of place-based exclusion. It is widely documented in the US, but not in Europe. This paper focuses on a comparative analysis of redlining practices in the two largest cities of the Netherlands: Amsterdam and Rotterdam. It shows that redlining was common practice in Rotterdam in 1999. In 2001, no signs of redlining were found in Rotterdam. However,‘yellowlining’ (lower loan-to-value ratios) was still common in some parts of Rotterdam. In Amsterdam, no neighbourhoods were faced with redlining in either 1999 or 2001. However, in 1999 some neighbourhoods were yellowlined. This paper aims to get a better understanding of the nature and the institutional context of redlining in the Netherlands by explaining how the differences in redlining practices between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, and between 1999 and 2001, can be explained. The National Mortgage Guarantee as well as socio-historical, and housing and mortgage market differences and changes, are instrumental in explaining these differences in redlining practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT New transport infrastructure has a myriad of direct and indirect effects. The indirect effects on population and economic activity are most difficult to estimate. This paper introduces three different models to estimate the impacts of new infrastructure on labour supply and demand, and carefully explains how the interaction between the models and their outcomes should be handled. The methodology is applied to a possible magnetic levitation rail system from Schiphol across the Afsluitdijk to Groningen. Next, this benchmark is used to derive a qualitative assessment for alternative trajectories and slower type of new rail infrastructure, all across the Afsluitdijk. The paper concludes with a summary of the remarkable differences in outcomes with the official Maglev proposal that runs through the polders of the former Zuiderzee. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A traditional view of decision-making for evacuation planning is that, given an uncertain threat, there is a deterministic way of defining the best decision. In other words, there is a linear relation between threat, decision, and execution consequences. Alternatives and the impact of uncertainties are not taken into account. This study considers the 'top strategic decision-making' for mass evacuation owing to flooding in the Netherlands. It reveals that the top strategic decisionmaking process itself is probabilistic because of the decision-makers involved and their crisis managers (as advisers). The paper concludes that deterministic planning is not sufficient, and it recommends probabilistic planning that considers uncertainties in the decision-making process itself as well as other uncertainties, such as forecasts, citizens responses, and the capacity of infrastructure. This results in less optimistic, but more realistic, strategies and a need to pay attention to alternative strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the side activities of non-farmers in rural areas in the Netherlands and more specifically on their impact on rural development. Empirical evidence from 36 Dutch municipalities on three key aspects was examined: economy, social and physical environment. The findings indicate that although side activities do not have a large direct impact on the local economy and employment, their contribution in terms of local collaboration and promoting rural tourism is highly valued. Furthermore, side activities have an important role in building and strengthening social capital in rural communities. Where their impacts on physical environment is concerned, side activities are not perceived to damage or alter rural morphology but are considered a reinforcement of the character of rural areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

On 30 May 2008, the Government of the Netherlands informed the national parliament about the effectiveness of preventive evacuation of coastal and river areas in case of flooding. Analysis of a case study showed that it is impossible to evacuate coastal areas preventively within a 48-hour time span preceding a worst credible scenario flood caused by a storm surge. This fact illustrates the need for alternative evacuation strategies, such as vertical evacuation (evacuating to safe havens, inside the flood zone) or shelter-in-place (hiding), to reduce loss of life and the impact of the evacuation. This paper defines these strategies and demonstrates, by returning to the case study used by the Dutch government, that they require different measures, methods of approach, and crisis management processes. In addition, it addresses the need for flexible and scalable preparation so that after detecting and understanding the threat, authorities and citizens can make decisions about different evacuation strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the mechanisms of trait selection at the scale of plant communities is a crucial step toward predicting community assembly. Although it is commonly assumed that disturbance and resource availability constrain separate suites of traits, representing the regenerative and established phases, respectively, a quantification and test of this accepted hypothesis is still lacking due to limitations of traditional statistical techniques. In this paper we quantify, using structural equation modeling (SEM), the relative contributions of disturbance and resource availability to the selection of suites of traits at the community scale. Our model specifies and reflects previously obtained ecological insights, taking disturbance and nutrient availability as central drivers affecting leaf, allometric, seed, and phenology traits in 156 (semi-) natural plant communities throughout The Netherlands. The common hypothesis positing that disturbance and resource availability each affect a set of mutually independent traits was not consistent with the data. Instead, our final model shows that most traits are strongly affected by both drivers. In addition, trait-trait constraints are more important in community assembly than environmental drivers in half of the cases. Both aspects of trait selection are crucial for correctly predicting ecosystem processes and community assembly, and they provide new insights into hitherto underappreciated ecological interactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last ten years, the aesthetic qualities of rural areas have become a growing concern among Dutch policy-makers as well as among the general public. Especially the ribbon-like development of industrial estates along the main motorways attracts attention. In August 2008 the Minister of the Environment and Spatial Planning proposed the designation of nine so-called national motorway-panoramas to safeguard a number of the most characteristic views from the motorways. These panoramas are situated where motorways cross the National Landscapes that were designated some years earlier. They strengthen the case of the national landscapes, but at the same time illustrate the weakness of this type of area proving it insufficient to stop developments. This paper focuses on the national landscapes and gives a critical overview of the aims and limitations of this concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed at investigating the effects of work-related norm violations (i.e., violations of interpersonal and work regulation norms) and individuals' general beliefs about the world (i.e., social axioms: reward for application, social cynicism) on feelings of shame and guilt in Turkey and in the Netherlands. An experimental study involving 103 Turkish and 111 Dutch participants showed that work norm violations elicited feelings of guilt and shame differently in Turkey and the Netherlands. Specifically, interpersonal norm violation in Turkey elicited feelings of shame and guilt more strongly than did violation of a work regulation norm, whereas no differential effects were found in the Netherlands. As expected, violation of a work regulation norm elicited feelings of shame and guilt more strongly in the Netherlands than in Turkey, whereas violation of an interpersonal norm elicited feelings of shame and guilt more strongly in Turkey than in the Netherlands. The findings provide further evidence for the moderating effects of social axioms: in both countries, participants high in social cynicism felt less ashamed when they violated a work regulation norm than did those low in social cynicism. Our findings are relevant for understanding the underlying mechanisms of norm violations at work, thereby offering a new avenue for investigating cultural differences in the workplace. The latter may be of particular relevance in times of globalization and diversity in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scale-enlargement processes have made people more conscious of the identity of their region. Professionals, or those actors involved professionally in the development of a region, also recognise this impact on popular perception and they use characteristics of regions to fulfil their goals. They play an important role in employing the identity of a region. The extent to which this occurs varies between regions, which mean that some regions have stronger identities than others. In this paper evidence from two case studies in the Netherlands, Waterland and the Noordoostpolder, is used to explore why these differences occur. By counting the occurrence of names of regions, which are thought to be the most important symbols of a region's identity, insight is gained in the embeddedness of a region in social perception. Representations of regions commodified by professionals show that these actors influence the embeddedness of regions and as such regional differences; so professionals have a great impact on the strength of a region's identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas the global networking of cities is commonly understood from a fiscal-economical and technological perspective explaining world economy and globalisation structures, this paper discusses another viewpoint of city networking in which the exchange of knowledge on urban management and policy-making is examined. It reviews the policy context and practice of Dutch cities in North-South city networking and their role in international development co-operation through the sharing of municipal knowledge and expertise with partner cities in developing countries. Against the background of shifts in development thinking leading to increased acknowledgement of the role of cities in development co-operation, past and current policies at the national as well as the municipal level are considered that shape the framework for Dutch city networking with the ‘global South’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Please cite this paper as: van Dillen J, Mesman J, Zwart J, Bloemenkamp K, van Roosmalen J. Introducing maternal morbidity audit in the Netherlands. BJOG 2010;117:416–421. Objective To describe the panel audit process and to identify substandard care in selected women from a nationwide prospective cohort study into severe acute maternal morbidity (SAMM) in the Netherlands. Design Prospective audit of selected women with SAMM. Setting Eight audit meetings held throughout the Netherlands. Population All pregnant women in the Netherlands. Methods Before each meeting, SAMM details of selected women were sent to all panel members for individual assessment by completing an audit form. During a subsequent plenary meeting, findings were discussed and substandard care factors as judged by the majority of assessors were scored. Main outcome measures Incidence of substandard care and recommendations for improving the quality of care. Results Substandard care was identified in 53 of 67 women (79%). Specific recommendations were formulated concerning the procedure of audit and concerning local as well as national management guidelines. Conclusion Our findings reflect SAMM in the Netherlands and substandard care is present in four out of five women. Ongoing audit of women with SAMM is promoted both at local and national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Dutch market for industrial estates is dominated by municipalities who have always felt responsible for supplying sufficient industrial sites at all times. As a result, a number of undesired market outcomes have occurred in this market, including oversupply of land and a high rate of deteriorating industrial estates. Policy interventions have been announced that must improve market outcomes. This paper analyses those undesired market outcomes and compares them with development processes in other European countries. We will argue that the effectiveness of the present set of interventions – all meant to adjust the present institutional order – can be improved, when they are accompanied by interventions meant to restructure this institutional order. The latter set of interventions, based on recent Coasian planning literature, includes the pricing of externalities, reduction of the rights of municipalities to develop industrial estates and a change of the conditions in industrial properties tenancy contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Netherlands has de facto always been a country of immigration. Yet, it does not consider itself as such. One out of five inhabitants in the Netherland has an immigrant background or has been born in a family in which one of the parents is an immigrant. Yet, large numbers of indigenous Dutch find it hard to acknowledge this fact. Likewise, the reception of newcomers has been rather awkward and sometimes in contradiction with the widely celebrated image of the Netherlands as the heartland of tolerance and multiculturalism. Also, many complaints can be heard about the supposedly ‘tardy’ progress of immigrants' incorporation. This paper, providing an overview of immigration into the Netherlands, suggests that immigration is always a painful process, but also that immigrants eventually find their way into the mainstream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Can we tell where an offender lives from where he or she commits crimes? Journey-to-crime estimation is a tool that uses crime locations to tell us where to search for a serial offender's home. In this paper, we test a new method: empirical Bayes journey-to-crime estimation. It differs from previous methods because it utilises an ‘origin–destination’ rule in addition to the ‘distance decay’ rule that prior methods have used. In the new method, the profiler not only asks ‘what distances did previous offenders travel between their home and the crime scenes?’ but also ‘where did previous offenders live who offended at the locations included in the crime series I investigate right now?’. The new method could not only improve predictive accuracy, it could also reduce the traditional distinction between marauding and commuting offenders. Utilising the CrimeStat software, we apply the new method to 62 serial burglars in The Hague, The Netherlands, and show that the new method has higher predictive accuracy than methods that only exploit a distance decay rule. The new method not only improves the accuracy of predicting the homes of commuters—offenders who live outside their offending area—it also improves the search for marauders—offenders who live inside their offending area. After presenting an example of the application of the technique for prediction of a specific burglar, we discuss the limitations of the method and offer some suggestions for its future development. Copyright © 2009 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to open the ‘black box’ of knowledge spillovers by testing the extent to which social interactions between firms in a region positively contribute to firm performance. Specifically, we examine the Marshall-Jacobs controversy, a debate over whether these spillovers occur across firms operating in similar or dissimilar fields. Our empirical examination of the debate relies on a dataset that is constructed from three sources: firm-level data of 1,881 high-tech firms in all 40 Dutch regions, regional economic data and network data constructed from the membership registrations of all business associations in a sample of 11 regions. The results show that the total amount of regional network activity has no effect on individual firm performance; however, participation in local business networks does support firm employment growth. With regards to the Marshall-Jacobs controversy, the results show that having local links to other high-tech firms is conducive to a firm's employment growth, while links to other types of firms provided no such lift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

‘Ommeland’ is an old Dutch word that refers to the land around a town or city: a peri-urban area. It is an important spatial category: the peri-urban areas of the 24 most central cities in the Netherlands, excluding the cities themselves, house almost 40 per cent of the national population. In Dutch spatial policy, however, the peri-urban area as the intermediate category between city and rural area has often been ignored. The concept of urban networks seems to contribute to the neglect of peri-urban areas in spatial policy. However, at the same time the urban network theory that states that the hierarchy between places is disappearing raises new questions about the position of peri-urban areas. Therefore, in this paper we investigate the position of peri-urban areas in the Netherlands by looking at travel patterns to and from peri-urban areas. By doing so, we obtain better insight into the relations between peri-urban and other areas and into the position of peri-urban areas in the Netherlands. We found different types of peri-urban areas. In general, peri-urban areas are still subordinate to the central city, but in some peri-urban areas relation patterns are more diversified, both to and from other central cities and to other places in the peri-urban areas. These peri-urban areas can be seen as part of the urban network. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is commonly believed that the widespread use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) facilitates the fragmentation of daily activities across times and spaces. However, a clear conceptualisation of what fragmentation is and how it can be measured empirically has been lacking. As a consequence, hardly any empirical evidence has been provided for these notions. The goal of this paper is twofold: (1) to propose a theoretical and methodological framework for identifying and measuring activity fragmentation; and (2) to assess temporal fragmentation empirically and consider its associations with ICT usage while controlling for sociodemographic variables, residential context, day of the week, activity pattern characteristics and some attitudinal variables. Activity fragmentation is defined as a process whereby a certain activity is divided into several smaller pieces, which are performed at different times and/or locations. The proposed theoretical and methodological framework covers three main dimensions of fragmentation: the number of fragments; the distribution of the sizes of fragments; and the temporal configuration of fragments. Based on travel diary data from the Netherlands the analytical results are insightful and promising. The framework is not only capable of detecting temporal activity fragmentation for various trip purposes, but there are also indications of a positive relation between ICT usage and temporal fragmentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explores how rural and urban adolescents use the Internet as a tool for communication in their social environment. It aims to analyse the differences in the use of the Internet to overcome environmental constraints between urban and rural adolescents. In this paper, environmental constraints are defined in two ways: (1) The lack of contacts that a person may have in his/her local environment and (2) The distance between the contacts that prevents him/her from having face-to-face social interaction. The empirical part of the research is a questionnaire-based survey of two samples of pre-university high school pupils in Den Bosch and Winterswijk in the Netherlands. The outcomes of the research show that pupils in the urban area find more emotional support in their physical environment than pupils from the rural area and that they also receive more emotional support via the Internet than their rural counterparts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Open space preservation is an important aim of spatial planning. In the Netherlands, the recreational, ecological and historic values of open spaces between cities, the buffer zones, are recognised and thus receive ample attention from policy-makers. This paper focuses on Midden-Delfland, an open area in the metropolitan western part of the country. A specific combination of policy instruments and government regulation has made the preservation of open space in this area very successful even compared to other buffer zones. A quantitative analysis of the land-use changes and a more qualitative review of the applied policy instruments are presented here in an attempt to explain this success. The analysis can help planners in finding ways to effectively protect contested open areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the question to what extent the degree of urbanisation influences the time spent in paid work by men and women in the Netherlands. The effects of the residential context have been estimated separately for women and men and for different household contexts, after accounting for age, age differences between partners, educational level and differences between partners in educational level. Data from the Netherlands Kinship Panel Study and Tobit regression analyses have been used. The hypotheses are based on human capital theory, gender inequality theory, time space geography, and ideas concerning lifestyle orientations. The results indicate that in strongly urbanised areas women work more hours than women living elsewhere, whereas men in strongly urbanised areas work fewer hours. The impact of the residential context is strongest for women and men who have a partner and children. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we empirically examined two explanatory mechanisms for educational inequality: cultural reproduction and relative risk aversion, using survey data taken from secondary school pupils in Amsterdam. Cultural reproduction theory seeks to explain class variations in schooling by cultural differences between social classes. Relative risk aversion theory argues that educational inequalities can be understood by between-class variation in the necessity of pursuing education at branching points in order to avoid downward mobility. We showed that class variations in early demonstrated ability are for a substantial part cultural: cultural capital – measured by parental involvement in highbrow culture – affected school performance at the primary and secondary level. However, relative risk aversion – operationalized by being concerned with downward mobility – strongly affects schooling ambitions, whereas cultural capital had no effect. Thus, we conclude that ‘primary effects’ of social origin on schooling outcomes are manifested through cultural capital and not through relative risk aversion (in addition to other potential sources of class variations such as genetics). Relative risk aversion, and not cultural capital, affects schooling ambitions, which is relevant for our understanding of secondary effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper shows the trends in the prevalence of overweight (body mass index [BMI] ≥ 25 kg m−2) and obesity (BMI ≥ 30 kg m−2) in the Netherlands. Overweight (obesity) prevalence in adult males increased from 37% (4%) in 1981 to 51% (10%) in 2004, and in adult females from 30% (6%) in 1981 to 42% (12%) in 2004, according to self-reported data. In boys and girls, obesity prevalence doubled or even tripled from 1980 to 1997, and again from 1997 to 2002–2004 a two- or threefold increase was seen for almost all ages. According to the most recent data, overweight (obesity) prevalence figures range, depending on age, from 9.2% to 17.3% (2.5–4.3%) in boys, and from 14.6% to 24.6% (2.3–6.5%) in girls. There is a lack of data on the national prevalence of overweight and obesity based on measured height and weight and on prevalences in different subgroups of the population. Regular national representative health examination surveys that measure height and weight are needed to assess the prevalence of overweight and obesity and its distribution over subgroups in the population, and to properly direct and evaluate prevention activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale, aims and objective Evidence on the cost-effectiveness of health interventions in the development of practice guidelines has become of interest in many countries. Challenges are the quality of economic data, the use of cost-effectiveness criteria, and the consensus process. Our paper aims to assess the quality and use of economic information in the formulation of consensus guidelines in a Dutch pilot programme and to recommend improvements. Methods Retrospective qualitative review of economic evaluations and formulated recommendations, using a checklist based on international standards. Results The national programme to support the development of guidelines with economic analysis in multidisciplinary consensus groups run from 1998 to 2002. It has included 31 medical guidelines, addressing 23 conditions across seven International Classification of Diseases (ICD)-disease groups. Experts in health technology assessment have participated in the guidelines groups. Economic information in all guidelines varies by all criteria in the level of evidence used. Information on quality-adjusted life years gained is limited as is statistical analysis in most studies. Highest cost-effectiveness ratios reported are between &U20AC;20 000 and &U20AC;30 000. However, there is no uniformity in the definitions of acceptable cost-effectiveness ratios. Conclusions Economic recommendations can be included in guidelines. Interaction between clinicians and health economists promotes a balance between medical and economic arguments. Among panellists there appears to be agreement on the level of the cost-effectiveness ratios that is acceptable. It is recommended that economic analysis is used to strengthen the evidence-base of guidelines. An evidence-grading system should include the quality of economic evaluation. Roles of policymakers and providers need to be defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is well known that home ownership has an impeding effect on migration. However, the strong increase in home ownership in the Netherlands since the Second World War has not led to a decrease in migration. In this paper three factors are identified which may counterbalance the expected negative effect of increasing home ownership on migration. First, the composition of the population of homeowners has changed towards younger, more mobile households. Second, home ownership has become more common, possibly leading to greater dynamics within the owner-occupied segment of the housing market. And third, macro factors such as economic growth may have led to more migration. Using the Housing Demand Surveys and logistic regression analysis, we investigated to what extent the effect of home ownership on migration changed in the Netherlands during the 1980s and 1990s. We find – contrary to what we expected – that during the research period the negative effect of home ownership on migration seems to have strengthened somewhat. Within the research period, however, this negative effect was compensated by a general rise in migration for both owning and renting households, possibly attributable to macro factors affecting migration, such as economic growth and changes in the housing market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are two classical and opposite perspectives on the effects of information and communication technology (ICT) on spatial economic development: dispersal or concentration. In this paper we analyse the dynamics in the spatial pattern of the ICT using industries in the period 1991–2002. We conclude that particularly the urban centres and the areas just outside of these centres had a loss of their share in the ICT-related employment and that the more rural areas are catching up. There is not a general dispersal of ICT-related employment over non-central areas though, but rather an emergence of new agglomeration areas at both the urban fringe and non-central locations within the urban system. ICT use as such does lead to spatial developments different from general spatial changes: not in general trends but particularly in a much larger magnitude of the dynamics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper addresses spatial patterns of innovation and partnership in innovation processes in the Netherlands, building on the Netherlands’ part of the Community Innovation Survey, conducted by Statistics Netherlands. Innovation is analysed from a system perspective, addressing both input factors (education levels of human resources and R&D), throughput factors (partnership with regionally, nationally and internationally based partners) and output factors (results in terms of the launching of new products on the market and/or the implementation of new processes in production). Our descriptive analyses at detailed spatial levels (four-digit postal code areas) provide indications that the relation between input factors and results of innovation processes is highly differentiated across regions. Furthermore, international connectivity seems to be strongly connected to the results of innovation processes, whereas the relation between regional clustering and innovative output appears rather weak. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The purpose of this study is to acquire a better understanding of why certain production and distribution facilities remain in Western Europe, in spite of economic globalisation. This paper focuses on companies located in the Netherlands but acting on an international scale. The issue is not addressed at a sectoral, regional, or even more aggregate level-of-analysis. Instead, the firm is the unit-of-analysis, which is why exploratory cases were conducted. The notion of strategic role (Ferdows 1989, 1997) is applied to assess internal motives for staying. The effect of external factors on individual facilities that differ with respect to these internal motives are also looked at. The findings suggest that facilities of high strategic importance within the multinational enterprise to which they belong have high expectations of the political/legal and macroeconomic environment. Furthermore, facilities preceding the major decoupling point in a supply chain seem to be more locationally stable than activities subsequent to this point. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper looks at the recent developments in the field of medical quality assurance in Belgium and the Netherlands. It takes the viewpoint that there is a strong relationship between regulation and quality assurance on the one hand and the health care environment on the other hand. The reasons for the differences between the two countries, which are conspicuous, will be explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We investigate econometrically whether cultural diversity at the workplace boosts innovation. Our longitudinal linked employer-employee data combines two innovation surveys, with Dutch administrative, tax and regional data. We analyse the determinants of a firm's product and process innovations with respect to the firm's internal resources, employee composition and regional agglomeration externalities. We reconfirm the findings of several other recent studies showing a positive partial correlation between innovation and cultural diversity in pooled cross-sectional data; in some cases even when accounting for reverse causation. However, no statistically significant traces of benefit for innovation from cultural diversity remain after introducing firm fixed effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]