Changing public space

9.2 Development of Dutch city squares
The quotation opening this chapter captures the central notion of the thesis: changing society
vis-à-vis changing public space. Metaphorically, the notion implies that public space is not static
but is rather part of the urban organism of the city that, like the human organism, evolves on a
daily basis. As such, the current characteristics of public space are related to the characteristics
of society – both at the time of origin and today. To put the recent redevelopment of Dutch
city squares in perspective, it is therefore necessary to acquire knowledge of present as well as
past developments. To start off with the latter, we have formulated our first research question as
follows: How have the design and management of Dutch city squares evolved through history? In this
section, we compare the theoretical framework offered in Chapter 2 to our empirical results.
The study commenced with a historical overview of the Dutch city square based on a
literature review. It showed that squares have been designed for various purposes: the ancient
Greek agora where people were taught and debated societal issues; the multifunctional medieval
market places; and the imposing Renaissance, Baroque, and Neoclassic squares used to display
power. Most Dutch city squares originate from the Middle Ages and have functioned as market
place. Unlike in countries such as France and Spain, only a limited number of new squares were
constructed during the 17th and 18th century in the Netherlands. This lapse has been related
to some specific socio-cultural characteristics such as the Dutch Calvinist ethos that induced
people to display wealth indoors rather than in public space. Only few squares were constructed
in the 19th and early 20th century. As a result of urban crowding, cities were simply too densely
populated to create large open spaces. The main exceptions were squares in front of newly built
train stations at the edge of city centres. During the second half of the 20th century, many squares
were transformed into parking lots in an attempt to keep the city centre accessible. This was the
result of new planning processes that were highly influenced by the modernist philosophy of
the CIAM movement, which also led to large clearances in the historic structure of cities. The
process was reversed in recent decades when it was realised that the increase of car traffic choked
the cities instead. Many city squares are now redesigned, pedestrianised, and carefully managed
to offer safe and animating spaces to the current consumption-oriented society.
The historical overview of the eight research objects shows that some of them can be seen
as archetypes of the development described above. The Oude Markt in Enschede, for example,
gradually developed as medieval market place in the 13th century. It was dominated by traffic in
the 1960s and 1970s, but meanwhile the square has been repaved and turned into a commercial
café square where terraces dominate the space. The Markt in ’s-Hertogenbosch has gone through
a similar development. The first accounts of this central square date from 1279. Until today, it
has served as multifunctional market place. However, from the 1950s to the 1970s the Markt also
functioned as parking lot on non-market days. This was reversed in 1979 when the central square
was partly pedestrianised. It is currently going through another makeover, which is expected to
be completed in November 2008.
Considering the fact that many Dutch city squares originate from the Middle Ages, it
is rather striking that six out of our eight research objects only date back to the 20th century.
The explanation is that the fine-grained medieval structure of the case-study cities Rotterdam,
Dordrecht, Enschede, and ’s-Hertogenbosch was severly damaged during the Second World
War or due to the large-scale CIAM-inspired demolition activities in the 1960s. As a result,
new public spaces emerged. The Schouwburgplein, Beursplein and Van Oldebarneveltplaats
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