OverHolland 21

Water management and cultural heritage in the Netherlands are inextricably linked. This edition of ‘OverHolland’ looks at the area known as the Randstad, where the water system is almost entirely below sea level. It is regarded as the main driver of the Dutch economy, being the most urbanised and most densely populated part of the country. A comprehensive map published by Willem Hendricus Hoekwater in 1901 was an important source of inspiration for the joint study of the genesis of the Randstad’s water system conducted by the Cultural Heritage Agency and the Faculty of Architecture at TU Delft that forms the core of this edition and its detailed cartographic reconstructions.