F.C.A. Veraart

Transnational (Dis)Connection in Localizing Personal Computing in the Netherlands, 1975–1990

Examining the diffusion and domestication of computer technologies in Dutch households and schools during the 1980s and 1990s, this chapter shows that the process was not a simple story of adoption of American models. Instead, many Dutch actors adapted computer technologies to their own local needs, habits, and cultural settings. For one, actors developed different views about the relations between Dutch users and North American suppliers. This chapter identifies different types of producer-user relations and the varying ways in which Dutch users and North American suppliers viewed their relationships. Dutch computer hobbyist considered themselves equal partners with their trans atlantic counterparts and the coproducers of the computer technologies. This relationship involved production of technologies for local markets and lowering of corporate boundaries by a “computer Esperanto” to facilitate software exchange. By contrast, governmental computer literacy programs tried to de-link from US producers. When introducing computers in schools, policies favored national computer industries. Local practices of cracking and copying of software, showed how computer users found themselves at safe distance from legal procedures by U.S. Commercial companies against their “illegal” copying. In computer users’ view, their practice did not harm the wealthy foreign manufactures across theAtlantic. The chapter shows how in these interactions views of American producers implicitly and explicitly played a role.

Building Materials and Construction: Constructing a Quality of Life

Catastrophes and new societal ambitions energized the huge construction effort undertaken between 1910 and 1970. The floods of 1917 and 1953 led to enormous investments in coastal defences. The government also undertook major investments in the construction of roadways and other infrastructural works. New building codes, damage incurred during the Second World War and population growth incited new housing construction on a colossal scale. Demand for building materials grew apace.

The tensions between well-being and sustainability : well-being and sustainability around 2010

This chapter describes, first, the development of well-being between 1970 and 2010 from the perspective of the efforts of the societal midfield, the national government, and the business community. In the second place, the situation around 2010 is evaluated from the perspective of 1970 and a present-day perspective. From the perspective of 1970 material welfare and well-being have developed in a positive sense between 1970 and 2010. Problematic from this perspective is the increase in criminality and unemployment. In the Netherlands the crisis of nature and environment seems to be past its deepest point.

The turn of the tide : well-being and sustainability around 1970

Around 1970, welfare and economic growth became increasingly suspect. This chapter analyses and explains how this came about. It provides an inventory of the driving forces and institutional frameworks that shaped the development of well-being. In the period 1910–1970 the government energetically pursued the building of the welfare state. It was supported in this endeavour by a radically pillarised societal midfield. The economy was also under the tutelage of a dirigiste government. The six large Dutch multinationals generally supported the government’s ambitions regarding the development of well-being. Characteristic for this period was the development of new patterns of consumption and a linear economy. Thanks to the mutual alignment among government, midfield and private enterprise it seemed possible to make well-being.

The point of departure around 1970: overabundance and discontent

Around 1970 anti-authoritarian groups rose up against industrialisation and the development of welfare. They were the vanguard of a broader societal sentiment. At the end of the 1980s environmental problems were at the core of social and political debate Despite increasing worries the pattern of consumption barely changed. Contrasting the monitor for 1970 with that of 2010, this chapter sketches the growth of material welfare and the development of quality of life. Smoking, overweight and unemployment became the new societal challenges. The domestic consumption of energy continued to grow. In this period pressure on natural capital, both domestic and foreign, increased dramatically. The Netherlands continued to be dependent on foreign lands for important material flows – in some cases to an extreme extent. 80% of Dutch grain, for example, was still imported. These developments led to shifts in the sustainable development of the Netherlands to foreign countries. The following chapters analyse the societal dynamics in the in the chains of agriculture and foods (Chap. 18), construction and building materials (Chap. 19) and energy and plastics (Chap. 20)

The Situation Around 1910: A New Order

After tackling extreme poverty in the nineteenth century (see Chaps. 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11) the Netherlands faced new societal challenges around 1910: the food supply, public health care, public housing and labour issues. Water management also continued to be an important issue in well-being.

Agriculture and nutrition: the end of hunger

A robust supply of healthy food was the challenge in the domain of agriculture and foods in the twentieth century. Despite the agrarian successes of the nineteenth century (see Chap. 8), two world wars and the Great Depression had rendered food supply a persistent core element of government policy. Investments in agriculture like reclamations and land re-allocation transformed the landscape. Cooperation among the government, knowledge institutes and industry promoted mechanisation of agriculture. The use of artificial fertilisers and crop protection substances became widespread. Mixed farms transformed into specialized enterprises. The supply chains of agricultural products became longer and more complex.

Building Materials and Construction: Sustainability, Dependency and Foreign Suppliers

This chapter describes the extraction of mineral subsoil resources in a changing context of increasing internationalisation and domestic concern for nature and the environment. The cases are gravel and marl in the province of Limburg and the European inventory of strategic mineral resources. The period around 1970 formed the high point of Dutch building activities. The extraction and production of building materials had an increasing impact on the landscape (see Chap. 14). Bringing laws against excavations and spatial planning to bear, the government increased its control over the extraction activities. The new policy integrated the excavations in spatial planning and landscape goals.

Energy and plastics: toward a fossil land of milk and honey

Two energy transitions characterised the period 1910–1970: the rise and fall of a national mining industry and the shift from coal to oil and natural gas. Domestic coal made the Netherlands less dependent on foreign supplies. World wars and economic crises long inspired a lifestyle based on low energy consumption.

Agriculture and Foods: Overproduction and Overconsumption

In the period 1970–2010, environment, landscape and healthy nutrition were core issues in the supply chain of agriculture and foods. Concern for the environment put pressure on agriculture. Since the 1950s, agriculture had oriented itself to ever higher levels of production. This had seduced farmers into extreme specialisations with consequences for the environment, both domestically and elsewhere. In order to reveal these dynamics, this chapter follows developments in cattle husbandry. In the early 1980s, European measures to restrain overproduction and increasing concern about acidification and over-fertilisation destabilised the established agricultural world.