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Abstract: The article traces the evolution of the research interests of Dieleman, an academic who combined the development of analytical models with explorations of the policy implications of the changing structure of housing markets. During his long career as a professor of geography, he championed international cooperation in research and played a major role in disseminating the results of Dutch academic studies to an international audience. His own work was concentrated on the analysis of residential mobility. But much of that work also revealed his interest in applying scholarly insights to policy issues. Throughout his career he showed a deep commitment to improving the functioning of the social rented sector in the Dutch housing market. After reviewing some of Dieleman’s major contributions to the understanding of the housing market, the article follows in his footsteps by analyzing the current use of social rented housing. In this way, this article provides an update on his field of interest based on recent survey data that underlines the validity of his insights.

Many Western European countriesturned into welfare states in the 1950s, wherebyhousing became a tool of income redistribution,largely through the construction of a largesubsidized rental stock. In Northwestern Europe,over 60 percent of the present stock was built after1945. The states' response to housing shortages wasgeared to increasing social equity; a huge financialeffort was needed to accommodate the rapidly growingnumber of households. Since the early 1970s,governments have been trying to increase theeconomic efficiency of their housing systems withoutcompromising social equity. Consequently, the focusof housing policy shifted from blanket regulation totargeted support for households in need. Morefundamental changes lie ahead, as governments nowgive priority to economic development goals. Thisarticle outlines the role that housing policy canplay in Europe's economic development. Whereashousing policy generally follows the economy, thatlink could also work the other way around. As localgovernments compete for economic growth, a promisingstrategy is to improve local housing conditions.

Van Weesep, J. 1988. Urban change, urban planning and urban research: a Dutch perspective. Norsk geogr. Tidsskr. Vol. 42, 13-23. Oslo. ISSN 0029-1951.Urban change can be brought about by developments in the contexts of cities or by the preferences and activities of inhabitants. When planners and local politicians intervene to modify the direction of the change, their actions may either help solve problems or aggravate them because of their limited insight in the process of change. This article outlines current problems in Dutch cities and reviews how urban policy has failed to deal adequately with the problems. A major new research initiative, designed to build a research infrastructure and to generate better understanding of urban change, is described.

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A brief description of the public housing system in the Netherlands provides the context for a preliminary and partial evaluation of the effects of the program of selling public rental housing to sitting tenants. In recent years, the program was virtually dead, but the Dutch government is now attempting to revive it. The evaluation is concerned with the financial effects and especially with the consequences of past sales for the continued functioning of housing associations, the operators of public housing complexes. The empirical basis of the study includes conversations with spokesmen for the associations and a pilot study among buyers of public housing units. Despite current unpopularity of the program among tenants and housing associations, the sales volume is expected to rise: to deal with their increasing financial problems, the associations will be forced to sell property.

Implementing Housing Policy. Peter Malpass and Robin Means (eds) Buckingham: Open University Press, 1993, pp 194, £12.99.Housing Policy in the 1990s. Johnston Birchall (ed) London: Routledge, 1992, pp 193, £12.99.Housing Policy and Action. Peter Malpass, Matthew Warburton, Glen Bramley and Gavin Smart (eds) Bristol: SAUS, 1993, pp 115, £9.75.Built to Last? Reflections on British Housing Policy. Carol Grant (ed). London: Roof, 1992, pp 177 £7.95 (paperback)Dislodging the Welfare State? Housing and Privatization in Four European Nations. Lennart J. Lundqvist, Delft: Delft University Press. 1992. 144 pp.The Crisis of London. A. Thornley (ed) London: Routledge, 1992. pp 213. £40 (hardback), £9.99 (paperback).Hovels to High Rise. State Housing in Europe Since 1850. Anne Power. London and New York: Routledge, 1993. pp 434, £45.00 (hardback), £15.99 (paperback)Government and Housing. W. van Vliet and J. van Weesep (eds).Developments in Seven Countries. (1990). Volume 36, Urban Affairs Annual Reviews. Sage Publications, 1990. pp. 293 16.95Housing Strategies in Europe, 1880-1930, C. Pooley (ed). Leicester University Press, 1992, £49.95Housing Finance in the UK: An Introduction. Kenneth Gibb and Moira Munro, London: Macmillan Education Ltd, 1991. pp 266. £11.99 (paperback).

The condominium is a recent innovation in the U.S. Around 1960 it was simultaneously introduced in Florida and California. Special interest groups actively promoted condominiums at meetings of the construction and real estate industries as well as in their trade journals. These industries were taught about the development process. Eventually the public was made aware of the advantages of condominium ownership. At the same time, a drive to have the condominium recognised in federal and state statutes was successful. But winning acceptance for the condominium was an uphill battle, and only after 1970, when additional legislation dealt with widely publicised abuses, did the condominium become an acceptable form of real property ownership and attain maturity.

In spite of many years of active government intervention in the housing system of the Netherlands, an equitable distribution of housing resources is far from achieved. Instead, recent studies have highlighted growing inequities, documenting the plight of certain categories of households, while others remain comfortably housed. To redress this situation, the housing policy focus should be shifted from new construction to management of the existing stock. But redistribution policies are notoriously unpopular; few such programmes have been implemented and none has helped to avoid the current problems. In this paper some of the recent developments of the Dutch housing system are described to promote an understanding of the issues that now have to be dealt with to head off major social tensions in the near future.

In the Netherlands, the production of housing and the allocation of vacant dwellings both are largely controlled by public agencies. The system of government control was developed to deal with the acute housing shortage, brought about by World War II, within the framework of the economic recovery program. Unfortunately, the postwar proliferation of policies and the huge public expenditures have not solved the persistent housing crisis. In fact, recent policy changes to limit public spending have only aggravated the situation. A number of developments in the housing market, such as the widespread conversion of rental units to owner-occupied dwellings and the mushrooming squatter movement, are indicative of how individuals react within the policy framework on both the supply and demand sides, providing households with access to dwellings while circumventing the official allocation procedures. Though these developments offer a solution to the housing problem at the individual level, they contribute to a loss of control over the housing system.

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