Ecole nationale supérieure du paysage de Versailles
Laboratoire de recherches
Actes des séminaires
«Etapes de recherches en paysage»
Numéro
3, décembre 2000
Ron Von-Oers :
«Landscape as Guiding Element in the Design and Planning
of Dutch Colonial Settlements (1600 - 1800) p; The Case of Cape-Town
(South Africa)».
Abstract
During the period of Dutch overseas expansion (1600-1800) two trading companies,
the Dutch East India Company (VOC) and the Dutch West India Company (WIC),
founded a large number of cities.
These overseas settlements show many resemblances in set-up and lay out.
In particular, similarities exist in the chosen location and functional
organisation of the newly established settlement, which aimed to maximise
the possibilities offered by the surrounding landscape.
Unlike Spanish colonisers, for instance, who by using a fixed model with
a rigid grid structure largely disregarded the existing terrain, the Dutch
favoured flexibility to fully utilize the natural features of the landscape
in the needs of the newly founded city.
This paper discusses the determinant role of landscape in the planning of
Dutch settlements overseas from 1600 to 1800. It first sets out to explain
how in general natural elements, traditionally an integral part of the planning
process in the Netherlands, were utilised to guide the establishment of
colonial cities.
In the second part of the article the argument is further developed and
illustrated through the case study of Cape Town in South Africa. The settlement's
foundation and development from 1652 onwards is described and analysed utilising
seventeenth and eighteenth century Dutch maps as primary sources. It underlines
the importance of the surrounding landscape and the large vegetable garden
of the Dutch East India Company in guiding the planning, design and development
of the city for the next 150 years.
Finally, the conclusion considers the implications of this particular planning
process for contemporary urban conservation, planning and design. Pointers
to further research involving the integration of natural and cultural landscapes
in and around Cape Town are appended.
Keywords : Landscape, overseas settlements, South Africa, Cape Town, Netherland.