Council for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM-raad)
Raad voor de volkshuisvesting, de ruimtelijke ordening en het milieubeheer
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Raad voor de volkshuisvesting, de ruimtelijke ordening en het milieubeheer (VROM-raad) Visitor's address: Oranjebuitensingel 6 2511 VE The Hague Postal Address: P.O.Box 30949, IPC 105 NL-2500 GX The Hague The Netherlands Tel. +31 70 339 1505 Fax: +31 70 339 1970 vromraad@minvrom.nl www.vromraad.nl |
As from 1 September, RLG will have a common office with
the VROMraad at this address:
Nieuwe Uitleg 1 The Netherlands
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Establishment and Mission
Council Members and Staff Members
Current and Future Activities
Present Priority Fields
- How to become a society, which uses its resources in a sustainable way?
- What impact will national and international developments have on the policy of the Ministry of VROM?;
- How to achieve reconciliation between economy and ecology?
- Which new management concepts and instruments can be deployed to support the Ministry's environmental policy?
Priorities for 2009 are advices on 'Sustainable development of cities' and 'Financing environmental quality.'
Future Priority Fields
At the end of 2009 the VROM-raad will finish.
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Background and Mission
Establishment
The Dutch Council for Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM-raad) was founded in 1997, following a restructuring of the previous system of advisory councils.
The Framework Act Advisory Bodies and the VROM-raad Act are the legal basis that determines procedures, task and working methods of the council and its secretariat.
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Mission
The VROM-raad advises the government and parliament on strategic choices for the medium and long-term strategic choices. Its advisory reports address policy issues related to sustainable and quality of the living environment.
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Council Members
The multi-stakeholder council has 15 Council Members Their term lasts for four years and they were last appointed in January 2005. Re-appointment is possible.
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Chairman |
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| Members Prof. Peter Boelhouwer |
Scientific Director of the OTB Research Institute
for Housing, Urban and Mobility Studies |
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Karin van Dreven |
Director of ‘Woonplus Schiedam’ housing association |
| Prof. Annemieke Roobeek | Professor of Strategy and Changemanagement at the Nyenrode Business University |
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Prof. Maarten Hajer |
Professor of Political Science at the University of Amsterdam |
| Prof. Willem Vermeend |
Professor of European Fiscal Economics Maastricht |
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Prof. Niels Koeman |
Professor of Environmental Law at the University of Amsterdam |
| Prof. Hans Mommaas | Professor of Leisure Studies and Director of Telos, Brabant Institute for Sustainable Development at Tilburg University |
| Prof. Arnold Reijndorp | Independent researcher and
consultant at the cutting edge of urbanism, social developments and
cultural trends in the urban field Professor of Socio-Economic and Spatial Developments in Urban Areas at the University of Amsterdam |
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Annemiek Rijckenberg |
Independent adviser on urban development Project Leader for Habiforum (Experimental field practical programme Renewed Space Use) Advisor of Deltametropool association |
| Rudi Stroink |
Chairman and Director TCN |
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Marja van der Tas |
Independent Adviser |
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Sylvo Thijsen |
CEO and Chairman of the Board of Grontmij N.V |
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Prof. Pieter Tordoir |
Independent adviser and Professor in Economic Geography and Planning at the University of Amsterdam |
| Nellie Verbugt | Independent adviser on
spatial planning, urban management and public affairs Chairman of the advisory group for the Netherlands Institute for Spatial Research |
| Prof. Bastiaan Zoeteman | Professor of Sustainability Policy at Tilburg
University Chairman of the Netherlands Commission on Genetic Modification (COGEM) Chairman of the Institute for Globalisation and Sustainable Development |
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Staff Members
The VROM-council has approximately 18 staff members. Bram van de Klundert is the Secretary-General/Director.
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Work Style
Tasks of the Council
The VROM-raad advises the Government and parliament on strategic choices for the medium and long-term. The explanatory memorandum accompanying the VROM-council Act anticipated that requests for advice would largely be confined to four areas:
- The physical environment: the surroundings in which societal activities unfold. The issues here are those of quantity, quality and planning as well as identifying the variables – e.g. energy, biodiversity and space - that are crucial to realising a society that manages its resources in a sustainable way.
- The changing socio-cultural processes (such as sustainable consumption, demography, lifestyles, perceived quality of the living environment) and international developments (European integration, globalisation and North-South relations) which influence housing, spatial planning and environmental policy.
- The relationship between economy and ecology.
- Instruments and policy concepts (such as management techniques, optimisation, coherence, societal support, voluntary agreements and direct regulation, concepts for planning and large project planning).
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Substructure and Working Groups
- Spatial quality;
- Living in space and time: cultural development and housing;
- The housing market;
- The new region: traditional regions like municipalities and provinces are no longer the logical scale for spatial, ecological and social processes. how to manage new and permanently changing forms of regional cooperation;
- City and identity;
- National Spatial Framework;
- Public space;
- Land policy;
- Applying environmental standards in land use planning.
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Council Meetings
The Council meets every three weeks.
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Type of Advice
VROM-raad writes advisory reports on demand of the Dutch Government or parliament concerning strategic choices related to sustainability and quality of the living environment. The four areas of advice are described in the issue 'Tasks of the Council'.
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Activities in the EEAC Network
The VROM-raad was involved in the early years of the network and became member when membership was introduced in 1997.
It is an active member in the Working Group Governance and an observer to Working Groups Biodiversity, Energy and Sustainable Development.
It co-hosted, together with the Dutch RLG and RMNO, the 5th Annual Conference 1997 on Self Regulation within Society in Vinkeveen.
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List of Selected Publications
You can search for the full list of policy advice in the EEAC Search Engine which also includes the titles in English of publications available in original language only.
- Changing Coalitions, to an effective regional planning (October 2008);
- Recommendations for the development and implementation of European law and policy on housing, spatial planning and the environment in the Netherlands (March 2008);
- Every Journey has its price, A policy strategy for cutting transport CO2 emissions (January 2008)
- Sustainable development of marine potential A vision on an integrated maritime policy in Europe and the Netherlands (May 2007)
- Give space, take space. Examples to improve the implementation of spatial planning policy, (March 2006);
- Environment and the art of the good living, (October 2005);
- Energy transition, a climate for new opportunities, (December 2004).
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Environment and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils, Den
Haag. All Rights Reserved.
Last updated on 20 April 2009