Polders can be found in coastal and alluvial lowlands all over the world. In these reclaimed areas water levels are artificially controlled so people can live and work there. This often centuries-old interaction between man and water has produced a rich variety of polder landscapes with their own cultural identity and spatial, functional, and ecological characteristics. These landscapes are under threat due to climate and economic change along levelling tendencies of globalization.

This book addresses polder landscapes as cultural expressions rather than only as results of water engineering – while providing backgrounds, overview maps, descriptions of iconic polders as a means to understand the similarities and differences of these particular landscapes. The book aims to raise awareness of these flood-prone lowland landscapes, their cultural identity and their problematic situation of intensive cultivation and habitation, while providing clues for future development.

Polders can be found in coastal and alluvial lowlands all over the world. In these reclaimed areas water levels are artificially controlled so people can live and work there. This often centuries-old interaction between man and water has produced a rich variety of polder landscapes with their own cultural identity and spatial, functional, and ecological characteristics. These landscapes are under threat due to climate and economic change along levelling tendencies of globalization.

This book addresses polder landscapes as cultural expressions rather than only as results of water engineering – while providing backgrounds, overview maps, descriptions of iconic polders as a means to understand the similarities and differences of these particular landscapes. The book aims to raise awareness of these flood-prone lowland landscapes, their cultural identity and their problematic situation of intensive cultivation and habitation, while providing clues for future development.