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For people living on soft soils near or below sea level in the pre-modern period, flood protection increasingly became a major challenge. This article analyses the organisation of flood protection along the southern shores of the North Sea, from the late Middle Ages to the eighteenth century. One of the main problems was that usually only those communities directly on the coast were charged with maintaining sea defences, while flooding increasingly affected a much wider hinterland. Attempts to spread the costs to include communities situated further from the shore came up against significant political and economic barriers. Nevertheless, in several places the responsibility for flood protection was successfully and permanently transferred to areas that included the hinterland. Very large water districts sometimes emerged, dramatically increasing the number of land users liable to pay for dike maintenance. The article identifies four conditions that were necessary to achieve these radical institutional changes.

Reply. The New History of Water ManagementWaterstaat in stedenland is a scholarly monograph that aims to be a ‘green and contextual history of water management’. The authors focus on long-term developments with regard to managing the quantity and quality of water, the landscape, the economy and institutions while using a multidisciplinary approach. This broad history of the Dutch Rijnland area spans almost a thousand years (ca. 900-1856). At the heart of the study are questions that are relevant for environmental historians. The man-made and natural causes, and consequences, of various changes in the relationship between mankind and water are described in detail. The authors expand upon this position further in their ‘Reply’ and explore the effectiveness of the peat policies within the framework of the tensions between government and market forces. Recommendations for future research areas are also provided. This response is part of the discussion forum 'Waterstaat in stedenland' (Milja van Tielhof and Petra J. E. M. van Dam).