Situated between the Randstad, Flanders, the major cities of Noord-Brabant, and Zeeland, the municipality of Roosendaal – comprising the city itself along with a number of neighbouring villages and their surroundings – is in an ideal location to be an important hub in the southwest of the Netherlands. This location, along with its low density, make it an ideal place for urban densification and the construction of much-needed housing in the region. City officials also have the ambition for Roosendaal to grow: an increase in population to around 100,000 has become an unofficial goal that they believe would help the city to support more culture and leisure opportunities and attract more investment. Despite all of this, the total population has remained stagnant at around 77,000 for a decade, with young people especially moving elsewhere, leaving an ageing population behind them. How can the municipality turn this situation around?

The resulting plan starts with a redefinition of Roosendaal’s patterns of land use, expressed in the form of a “barcode” with changing percentages. The plan gives much more space to housing, culture, nature, water, and renewable energy production, by layering functions and by making use of the many leftover spaces found all over the city. This urban intensification is paired with the goal of no net increase in the area designated to infrastructure; new infrastructure should be compensated by a reduction in scale elsewhere. To make a walkable and cyclable future for Roosendaal, the plan pieces together a network of existing roadways, footpaths, and dikes to serve as key routes for the future.