The Crisis- En Herstelwet (CHW) is a Dutch law, aimed at accelerating spatial projects throughout the country. Introduced in 2010 as a temporary act, the law stimulates major projects, which combines spatial and infrastructural tasks in the field of sustainability, energy and innovation. One of its main short-term goals is to give an economic impulse to the construction sector in times of crisis. Recently, it progressed as a permanent character towards a new law on the physical environment. 

Situation

• The global financial and economic crisis of 2008 had a huge impact on the Dutch building sector. 
• Projects were delayed, postponed or cancelled causing large-scale unemployment in the construction industry. 
• A threatening financial imbalance was posed on communities whose income was based on project development. The Dutch government was then forced to find a way to speed up spatial and infrastructural projects in order to stimulate the construction sector.
• The Dutch government had also struggled for several (pre-crisis) years to simplify and integrate certain laws and attached procedures.

Objectives

• Generate employment and stimulate sustainability, innovation and legislative innovation within the projects.
• Develop a new dynamic movement within existing situations, creating a new negotiation position for public parties involved in spatial developments.

Assets

• There was many high developed projects.
• The legal innovation did not begin at zero, due to earlier work on simplification and integrality.
• High sense of urgency throughout political parties and also within the society and major economic players.
• High political pressure on the simplifying (incl. cost-reduction) of the administration.

Strategy

• The Crisis and Recovery law was enforced so that new and enhanced procedures would encourage new developments and speed up existing procedures. 
• The combinination of three elements where short term measurement is used to stimulate a specific sector, with structural changes in the juristic context, in the same way the dutch arial development will be done in the future.
• Create space for innovation within existing projects - without starting from zero and renewing existing legal positions and deals.
• Using CHW as a test-case to learn from structural challenges.

Actions

• In September 2009, the Crisis and Recovery Law was submitted to the parliament.
• The CHW distinguished three types of projects that were introduced with intervals ranging from a month to a year (tranches).
• Special development areas- parties had more time to compensate dues, resulting from national laws . It was possible to ‘switch’ planned functions from existing territorial planning instruments. 
• Experiments- There was possibilities to implement successful approaches into the development of a new law consisting of spatial/territorial planning. 
• A new permit procedure for projects and area development combined the permits of sectors and laws into one. 
• Priority was given to some local and regional projects of ‘national interest’ under the condition that all parties committed themselves to the goals of the structural plan (Structuurvisie).

Effect

• CHW improved the mindset and co-operation between market and government, encouraging integral thinking.
• The procedural time was shortened drastically and the simplification of environmental laws.
• Rules were changed to generate better negotiated positions for public parties, stimulating the dynamics in several projects.
• There has been good acceptance for the iterative development of the law. CHW was used as a test case. Its evaluation has still to show more results.
• CHW has learned from the experiences of ‘development-paths’, and step-by step approaches, lessons were learned from a community of practice.

The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally owned corporation in the United States created by congressional charter in May 1933 to provide navigation, flood control, electricity generation, fertilizer manufacturing, and economic development in the Tennessee Valley, a region particularly affected by the Great Depression.

Situation

• After The Great Depression, the Tennessee Valley was in dire straits. Its populati on suffered from malaria and incomes were very low. Land had been farmed too hard for too long, resulting in the erosion of the soil.
• Crop yields and incomes had decreased considerably. The best  timber had been cut, while 10% of the valley’s forests were burnt each year.
• There was high unemployment rates in the Tenesse area.

Objectives

• Improve the gloomy economic situation in the Tennesse Valley that had been caused by The Great Depression.
• Achieve high standards of flood control, electricity and economic development in the Tenessee Valley.
• Redevelop the 40,000 sq miles of the Tennessee Valley, covering seven states.

Assets

• Cheap labour readily available.
• Vacant brownfields at the banks of the River Nervión.
• Variety of cultural, historic and cosmopolitan city cores in the Tennessee Valley region.
• Connection with the sea and the rural hinterland.
• A network of rivers with a good geological setting for building efficient dams.

Strategy

• The independent governmental agency TVA was set up, creati ng temporary job schemes.
• The local unemployed were hired as manual labour for temporary public work, conservation projects and programs.
• The proposed dams and hydroelectric stations were constructed, providing flood control and producing energy simultaneously.
• The hydroelectric stations provided flood control and energy to provide the cities with cheap electricity, stimmulating industrial development.
• “TVA must become a corporation clothed with the power of government but possessing  the flexibility and initiative of a private enterprise” (Franklin D. Roosevelt)

Actions

• 1930’s, dams were built and fertilizers were delivered to the farms. Programs were set up to show farmers how to improve crop yields and to replant forests.
• 1940’s, power plants are built. TVA provides the power for critical war industries and initiates a large hydropower construction program.
• 1950’s, TVA has completed 1050km navigations channels, spanning the length of the Tennessee river and has become the nation’s largest electricity supplier.
• 1960’s, TVA begins the construction of nuclear plants as a new source of economical power.
• 1970’s, TVA has become more competitive, improving its efficiency and productivity, while cutting costs.
• 1990’s, a new clean air strategy is enabled to reduce the pollutants. The first green power program has was founded in the Southeast.

Effect

• The region has not been subject to serious flooding since the establishment of the TVA.
• Electricity stayed at a low cost.
• TVA benefited in agriculture by encouraging conservation, reforestation, and agricultural research.
• The TVA public works generated employment and tourism for the region.
• The creation of the TVA marked the first time that an agency was directed to address the total resource development needs of a major region.
• Tennessee Valley has experienced regional economic development, rapidly modernizing the region’s economy and society.

In response to the Great Depression, the New Deal was a series of domestic economic programs enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1936. It involved presidential executive orders or laws passed by Congress during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. The New Deal changed the position and perception of the American Government. 

Situation

• After the Great depression hit (1929-1933), Americas manufacturing output decreased by one third.
• Prices fell by 20%, causing a deflation, making it incredibly difficult to repay debts.
• Unemployment in the U.S. increased from 4% to 25%. Additionally, one-third of all employed were downgraded to working part-time, at a lower wage.
• In total, almost 50% of the nations land had been unused.
• People had no trust in the economic and political power of US Government.
• The year 1932 held the promise of the newly elected President of the United States, Roosevelt, to lead the country out of crisis.

Objectives

• Immediate relief to help the unemployed and the poor after the Great Depression.
• Change the financial policy of the US.
• Regulate the financial market and establish social insurance through reform.
• President Roosevelt’s New Deal was based on government actions to improve America’s economy and unemployment rates.
• The New Deal was designed to encourage industrial recovery and implement financial regulation.

Assets

• The political will of a government led by a new president.
• High unemployment gave high urgency and cheap workforce.
• Roosevelt used public money and generated new public sources by introducing new taxes on income and alcohol.
• The US had an excess amount of poor quality land, that had been used inefficiently.

Strategy

• The combination of new rules, a new distribution of resources and money with a stronger performance of the government and a spatial-economic goal.
• The act called for industrial self-regulation and declared that codes of fair competition were to be drafted for the various industries. The government provided technical machinery for different industries to restore the economical system.
• The New Deal introduced laws such as the legal sale of beer and extra high taxes on the affluent society to finance the New Deal.
• The Government visibly held their responsibilities and took charge.

Actions

• The day after his inauguration, Roosevelt assembled a special session of Congress to declare a four-day bank holiday. On March 9 1933, he signed the Emergency Banking Act.
• In 1933, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) was established. HEP stations were built, flood control and soil conservation was introduced. Regional economic development was supported that would rapidly modernize the region’s economy and society.
• The Agricultural Adjustment Act (1933) paid subsidies to farmers, as restrictions were placed on farm production. The objective of the AAA was for a reduction in food production, which would, through a controlled shortage of food, raise the price for any given food item through supply and demand.
• The money for these subsidies was generated through a tax on companies that processed farm products.
• In 1933, The National Recovery Administration (NRA) was installed to encourage industrial recovery and help combat unemployment. The administration made agreements dealing with hours of work, rates of pay, and the fixing of prices.

Effect

• While the New Deal did not end the Depression, it did give the U.S the confidence that the government was making improvements.
• Many of the New Deal agencies found work for the unemployed.
• The biggest effect on society was the increase in the size and power of the national government. People trusted the government to act urgently when needed.
• It was the entry into the Second World War which led to the improvement of the American economy.

The Marshall Plan was an American program, which gave monetary support to help rebuild European economies after the World War II. The plan fostered the political, economical and military position of the United States. It also enforced the separation of Europe into two political blocks.

Situation

• Post World War II, a new power-balance was still to be found. Former allies were establishing themselves to secure power and influence in Europe.
• Large parts of the continent needed to be rebuilt and redeveloped. European economies were very poor and suffering harsh conditions.
• The question of how to approach post-war Germany still needed to be solved.

Objectives

• Strengthen the military, economical and political position of the United States.
• Prevent the spread of Soviet Communism.
• Rebuild a war-devastated region, remove trade barriers, modernize industry and make Europe prosperous again.
• Invest in western allie’s economies and gain new markets in the European sector.
• Massive export of US goods.

Assets

• The United States had 13 billion dollar budget to achieve their goal.
• A highly productive US industry and logistic powers on war-level.
• Europe was grateful for America’s participation during World War II and willingly accepted their offer to help rebuild Europe’s economies.
• Fear of Communism.

Strategy

• Strengthen old and new allies with strong interdependency.
• Combine the rebuilding of economies with new economic networks.
• Build up a military system with the necessary infrastructure against the soviet influence.
• Combine nationbuilding with political networks of the future.
• Initiate the ‘American Way of Life’ in Europe through various forms of various advertising on bilboards, television and radio programs. School exchange programs were also set up to depict this way of life.

Action

• June 5th 1947, George C. Marshall introduced the European Recovery Plan (ERP).
• In 1948, the first staples and credits were sent to support the devestated regions in Europe.
• In 1951, the ERP finished 6 months early after they succeeded to boost the European economies.
• Payments were kept by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development in a special counterpart fund which was used by the government for further investment projects.
• 60% of these funds had to be invested in industry and played a central role in the reindustrialization of Germany. In 1949–50, 40% of the investment of the German coal industry was made by these funds.
• The Marshall plan consisted of aid both in the form of grants and loans. Out of the total 1.2 billion USD, all monies were loan-aid.

Effect

• Industrial production increased by 35%.
• Agricultural production substantially surpassed pre-war levels.
• Western Europe embarked upon an unprecedented two decades of growth. Standards of living increased dramatically.
• Both parties in the Marshall Plan experienced economical growth.
• The term ‘equivalent of the Marshall Plan’ is now often used to describe a proposed large-scale rescue program.
• As a result of the strong bond created between the US and Europe, Communism failed to grow.