Will ICT Change Spatial Patterns and Mobility in The Netherlands? The ICT Monitor Will Tell Us! When considering Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and society, what is the perspective for national strategic policy-making on spatial-economic planning and mobility? What is the future of geographical space in an information society? How are spatial-economic patterns changing through ICT? How might mobility change because of this, and will it change? Although there has been much speculation already and many experts have presented their vision, there is still a widely recognised lack of empirical and coherent data to support the different views, especially with regard to the impact on land use. And the future of spatial patterns is of major importance to strategic planning in transport. Three Ministries in the Netherlands, (Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Spatial Planning and Housing and the Ministry of Economic Affairs), together with consultant TNO Inro, have combined their efforts to study the impact of ICT on the spatial behaviour of businesses and households. ICT has an impact on all these three policy areas, and the combined views from different policy angles would improve the quality of the work and enable an exchange of ideas between departments. A study was carried out to determine the feasibility of a monitoring instrument that measures the relationship between ICT, land use (spatial patterns) transport (or mobility). The study showed that a cohesive and well-defined monitoring instrument is feasible and will be able to answer many of the existing questions. A blueprint for a quantitatively oriented and periodical monitor is developed. (Author/publisher)
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