Demography, infrastructure and soil (Data sets and maps)
Abstract
This project contributes to the debate about the urbanization process around the North Sea on the basis of new created GIS data sets and maps of demography, infrastructure and soil. The data set covers the North Sea Region (Great Britain, The Netherlands, Belgium and parts of France, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Germany) and is made up of GIS vector-files consisting of three parts:
1. Population numbers of approximately 100 cities with the highest population, for reference years 1300, 1500, 1700, 1850, 1900, 1950, 1990 and 2015;
2. Main roads, railways and watercourses for reference years 1500, 1900 and 2015;
3. Soil types for reference years 1500, 1900 and 2015.
The data sets have been compiled on the basis of existing European data sets and literature, supplemented with further literature and data research. Together the data sets provide a more detailed insight into the urbanization process around the North Sea from 1300 to 2015.
Project
The last chapter of R. Rutte & J.E. Abrahamse (eds.), Atlas of the Dutch Urban Landscape. A Millennium of Spatial Development (2016) is devoted to urbanization in The Netherlands from a European perspective. For this chapter, an attempt has been made to map long-term urbanization processes in Europe based on an analysis of the population numbers of the largest urban settlements. This resulted in a data set from which eight maps (200, 1000, 1300, 1500, 1700, 1800, 1900 and 2000) were generated, which provide insight into the most important changes in the urbanization pattern in Europe.
The authors of the Atlas of the Dutch urban landscape now have the ambition – as part of the 'North Sea Research and Mapping project' of the Chair History of Architecture & Urban Planning at Delft University of Technology’s Faculty of Architecture – to further develop and refine this data set for the North Sea Region. By supplementing the demographic data and then combining it with data on the landscape (soil) and main roads, railways and water infrastructure, the authors want to gain a more detailed insight into the urbanization process around the North Sea. In doing so, they aim to contribute to the international debate on the urban hierarchy in Europe.
- Mil, Y. van & Rutte, R. (2020). Ranking cities around the North Sea: demography, infrastructure and soil. DANS. https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-zzg-9vkq;
- Mil, Y. van & Rutte, R. (2020). Ranking cities around the North Sea. 4TU.ResearchData. https://doi.org/10.4121/uuid:975097be-f863-484a-9807-20ec70166305.
The result of mapping and ranking population numbers in eight survey years. Source: DANS https://doi.org/10.17026/dans-zzg-9vkq and 4TU https://doi.org/10.4121/uuid:975097be-f863-484a-9807-20ec70166305. Map: Yvonne van Mil.
Project partners:
Yvonne van Mil (TU Delft, Chair History of Architecture & Urban Planning, Department of Architecture)
Reinout Rutte (TU Delft, Chair History of Architecture & Urban Planning, Department of Architecture)