[Original title: Plattelandsvernieuwing en cultuur. Interactieve planontwikkeling in de Beemster]

Summary

In the Beemster, the first large-scale polder in Holland (1612), a process of rural development has been taking place over the last few years. Starting from scratch, a small group of Beemster citizens has realised two projects. The projects have contributed to all kinds of other projects and a vision for the future of the Beemster polder has been developed. The vision is inspired by the richness of cultural history in the area, starting with its beautiful landscape design that is a 17th-century monument in the grand manner; in addition, the monument also is a modern agricultural area. From now on, further developments in the Beemster will be taken on by a foundation for rural development in collaboration with public authorities and other organisations as well as local entrepreneurs and citizens.

Through the years, the initiators have collaborated with independent process managers in designing the course of various projects and in encouraging developments in desired directions.

As the case of rural development in the Beemster is a perfect example of cultural heritage being an inspiration for future development, we have examined this example to generate notions about what roles can be played by culture and cultural heritage in policy-making for rural areas in general. The analysis was based on the view that a participatory approach in regional planning processes may provide those plans with additional quality. A plan developed in dialogue with local citizens, farmers and other entrepreneurs as well as NGO's is important to all those involved while generating much more action than a plan made by a consulting agency.

The roles of culture and cultural heritage in regional planning processes are summarised in the following recommendations:

1. Make plans for a region in dialogue with a considerable number of people involved.
2. Produce policies that further developments - do not just protect cultural heritage, but transform it into an inspiration for development.
3. Design plans as a cultural expression, aimed at "the local market place": citizens, farmers and other entrepreneurs, civil servants, politicians, NGO's.
4. Bring together experts (expert knowledge) and locals (experiential knowledge) in meetings where they can exchange their views while jointly developing new ones, thus producing new kinds of elements that represent a fundamental enrichment of regional plans.
5. Always use cultural heritage both as a dimension that can make people feel more closely related with their region and as an inspiring framework for innovation.

The twentieth century has been a time of large-scale projects in rural areas, especially in the Netherlands. Most of them have been expert-designed projects that are an expression of twentieth-century civilisation. In that sense, they constitute cultural heritage, whether we like it or not: they represent both us and our times. If we wish to realise higher-quality future interventions we will have to organise them - by creating a context in which expert knowledge and experience come together, by setting up meetings where experts can make welcome contributions to argumentation rather than dominating discussions.