Accessibility of the Dutch office parks : the role of location policy.

Accessibility of the Dutch office parks : the role of location policy. Road-transport is an important source of congestion in the cities. Office parks, which are recognised with their high intensity of labour and visitors, contribute to road-based commuter and business transport. Consequently, their accessibility by environmentally friendly means of transport is crucial for the environment and economy. The aim of this paper is to analyse the role of location policy in The Netherlands in determining the extent of office parks’ accessibility by environmentally friendly means of transport. Initially, leading location policy principles relevant for the accessibility of office parks are examined. Selected policy principles coincide with each other in their explicitly or implicitly stated underlying goal: preventing suburbanisation. Secondly, implementation of these principles are analysed in the light of three selected criteria: Urban versus rural areas; inner city versus peripheral locations; and presence of parking policy. Common to these criteria is that they provide insight for the spatial distribution of office parks and use of public transport as environmentally friendly alternative. Preliminary results indicate that majority of the office parks are located in the urban areas in The Netherlands. Secondly, distribution of the office parks within the urban areas displays a nearly equal representation between the inner city and peripheral locations. However, this trend is expected to change at the expense of inner city office parks. Finally, presence of parking policy does not provide sufficient results for improving accessibility. Combination of these results leads one to conclude that demand for accessibility by car, which is a strong location factor in the eyes of office based companies, is dealt with a (rather) flexible approach by the governmental organisations. In that, national policy goal of keeping the economic vitality and competitiveness of the regions and cities plays a determinant role. (Author/publisher)