The Role of Urban Quality in the Planning of International Business Locations: The Case of Amsterdam Zuidas

Urban quality is increasingly considered important for long-term urban competitiveness. Diversity, in a broad sense, is an essential aspect of this. However, in the development of large-scale international business locations, urban quality may easily suffer from efficiency requirements. Based on an extensive case study of the Zuidas project in Amsterdam, this paper addresses the questions as to how urban quality, and in particular diversity, is taken into account in the planning of large-scale international business locations, which actors are responsible and to what extent they base their actions on a distinct long-term perspective on urban quality. It is concluded that even in such a prestigious, quality-oriented project the role of urban quality is not necessarily guaranteed; the paper therefore advocates a more flexible and open development process.