The arguments for such a polder are:

• There is a need in the future for 50.000 to 100.000 hectares of land for agriculture and recreation, and maybe for houses, and business.
• A new polder for the Dutch coast will help to protect the country from the sea, it will brake the waves of the strong current that comes from the canal to the north.
• Dutch companies successfully reclaim land in Dubai and Singapore; why not do it here too?

Indeed, several friends of me work or have worked on the palms in Dubai. But is that a good reason to want it here too? On the other hand: It would be a tremendously cool project!

Before we get all too excited there are off course arguments against a new polder in the North Sea. They include ecological concerns, the question if it would not interfere with gas- and oil interests and the heavy ship-traffic. And additionally there is the question if it is acceptable to spoil (a part) of the current coast.

Strange about the plan is that initiator Joop Atsma suggests that if the new polder could answer the demand for agriculture and leisure, there would be more space around the current inhabited areas for housing and business. But; will people accept that their green surroundings are being urbanized? I am afraid people are too much in love with the status quo to do so. The time that ‘progress’ was an argument is over. These are conservative times. So I would argue for the urbanization of the new polder. Build a new city.

Hundred islands in the IJmeer forming a tulip (Image: Eikongraphia)

A side note: The first drawing of the Trump Hotel on the trunk of Palm Jumeirah in Dubai showed a building shaped like a… tulip. Sort of. Later W.S. Atkins redesigned the tower into a razor-sharp arch. The monorail runs through it. Nice one!

First design for the Trump Hotel, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai

W.S. Atkins - Trump Hotel, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai (Copyright W.S. Atkins) (click-2-enlarge)

W.S. Atkins - Trump Hotel, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai (Copyright W.S. Atkins)