The term Randstad Holland is used to describe the agglomeration of cities in the south west of the Netherlands. In this Randstad there is no central city like London or Paris, but three large and several medium-sized cities. The horse shoe pattern of the agglomera­tion encloses an open area, the so­ called Green Heart of Holland which is mainly used for agricultural and re­creational purposes. Keeping this areaopen by preventing the dispersal of people and urban development into this area has become the basic princi­ple underlying physical planning in the Netherlands. The Third Report on Physical Planning (1976) proposed a number of growth-centres and growth­cities to which future urban develop­ment must be directed to combat the spontaneous settlement in the Green Heart. The implementation of thegrowth-centres/ cities policy takes place within the normal government framework while special financial sup­port is given by the central Govern­ment. Some similarities between the growth-centre/ cities policy of the Netherlands and the deconcentration points and industrial development points policy of South Africa can be identified.*This article is written in Afrikaans.