Delft: From Industrial City To Knowledge City. Local Economy Policy in Delft, The Netherlands

The changes in the economic structure in the city of Delft, The Netherlands, and the social-economic policy of the local government of Delft in the period 1970-2000 is the theme of this paper. Delft was traditionally an industrial town and had also since a long time a Technical University and Research Institutes. An explanation is given why it has taken a long time for the local government to develop a policy that responds to the de-industrialisation in Delft. In the nineties Delft profiled itself as a ‘Knowledge City’.