Urban Development: The Past 30 Years and the Next 30 Years of Breda

Why 30? Simply because this is the period since the major municipal reorganisation. Perhaps a somewhat premature conclusion, but Breda will rarely have changed as much as it has over the past three decades. Numerous remarkable developments and events have profoundly influenced the cityscape and its population—and, consequently, the character of the city.

Writer and storyteller Walter Van de Calseyde has summarised many of these urban developments in five trends.

If the past 30 years were already exciting, the next 30 will be even more so. A comprehensive ‘re-urbanisation’ is on the agenda: different systems for energy, mobility and digitalisation; different ways of working, living and enjoying leisure time. A different city centre, the modernisation of run-down urban districts, and the redevelopment of major transformation sites. Breda’s identity will change. How do we preserve the city’s own values, and how do we add new contemporary values to them?

Urban planner Hans Thoolen outlines a number of national trends, discusses Breda’s current vision for the future, and identifies several points that he considers crucial.