Abstract
This project examines urban development in Holland during a period of economic and demographic stagnation and decline in the Long Eighteenth Century (1680–1840), with a focus on the Batavian-French period (1795–1815). Through a comparative study of seven shrinking towns, the project analyses how property owners, building contractors and public authorities dealt, in spatial terms, with the economic and demographic decline and the deterioration of the urban landscape. New archival research reveals the spatial strategies of these actors and brings to light a vibrant building practice involving strategic demolition, reuse, greening and spatial stewardship, which has largely been overlooked until now.