19 December 2021
Converting farmland is key to ending the Dutch housing shortage

Homes instead of meadows

"Incoming government to solve housing crisis by speeding up construction," Dutch newspapers headlined earlier this week. Such political ambitions can be expected of a brand-new cabinet, but unfortunately, they often fail within months if not weeks after coming into office. In order to be able to build on a truly large scale, a fundamental change is needed in the public debate about land, in the view of Maastricht University researchers Nils Kok and Piet Eichholtz.