Natural increase; Future motor of urban growth of Dutch cities?

All over the world, the number of people living in cities is growing rapidly. In the Netherlands as well, more and more people live in the four major cities. After decennia of decline, there is a vigorous population growth in four largest cities. In general, work and education related migration, coinciding with rural urban migration, is seen as the principal cause of urban growth. In that interpretation, urban growth is the result of economic growth. In the Netherlands, housing and spatial policy plays a very important role too in explaining urban decline and growth. This will be illustrated by a short summary of housing and spatial policy. Recently, a number of authors argue that urban growth is also affected by trends in causes mortality and fertility. In the Netherlands, there are also indications that natural increase becomes an ever growing motor of urban growth. In fact, three different trends seem to play a role simultaneously: declining foreign migration, increasing internal migration and natural growth. A positive internal migration have not been witnessed since a very long time. Different causes come to the fore, varying from economic crisis, the crisis of the housing market, the differences in size and composition of the urban population. Finally, future implications are illustratied by the Dutch regional forecast.