Beyond the borders of the province’s dense urban areas, South Holland is largely composed of vast rural landscapes: the coastal zone with its rolling dunes, the peat meadows of the Green heart, and South Holland’s Islands, which populate the south-westernmost corner of the province.   A nuanced account  can be made of the diversity of these landscapes;  their immense scale elucidates the  polarization of the province into expansive rural regions and dense urban areas.

These rural regions often depend on the urban areas of the Randstad, which simultaneously infringe upon and bolster the surrounding landscape in a paradoxical relationship: urban sprawl threatens the longevity of natural landscapes while the socio-economic prosperity of rural areas is intrinsically tied to the cities.  It follows that these landscapes are increasingly viewed as a burdensome areas  where development inevitably leads  to conflict and deliberate investment is of no avail.

The strategy that is presented here is one that provides an opportunity for a change in the status quo. This plan strives to illustrate that the vast landscapes of South Holland have rural, ecologic, and economic assets that can be of benefit to the province as a whole.

This development strategy comprises of a number of solutions that either solve specific dilemmas, or utilize resources in such a way as to mitigate or eliminate problems at the source.   The necessary transport of fresh water becomes one with new settings for recreation and nature; salinification and the resulting need to flush polders with fresh water forms the basis for new landscapes and alternative forms of agriculture.