Research of the New Town Institute will cover past, present and future of new towns in the world. It aims to deepen insight in the new town phenomenon by studying theory and practice of new town development, the specific conditions and experiences of their initial development and their comparative social strengths and weaknesses as against existing cities and towns. The New Town Institute is especially interested in the role that public authorities, citizens, companies and special interest groups have to play in new town development.

Preliminary research agenda
In the second half of the 20th century, new towns are generally conceived as satellite towns of existing main cities to accommodate ongoing regional growth, while preventing an unsustainable intensification of the central city. These satellite towns may have quite different social effects on the central city. With ongoing immigration - always a main source of urban growth - the new settlers may concentrate in the main city, while the original inhabitants move to the new suburbs. The opposite may happen also: the new settlers will concentrate in the new satellite towns, while the original inhabitants stay in the central city. And segregation of new and old settlers may not happen at all, or be more related to specific age groups: young people moving into the city, families moving out and elderly people moving in again. What do we know about the causes and effects of different new town policies in this respect?

Historically, however, new towns also have been developed as a means to exploit virgin land by colonization and spontaneous or deliberate strategies to reinforce the economy of rural areas by urbanization. The Zuiderzeeproject in the Netherlands is an example in case. Could this type of new town policy still be useful in developing countries where rural economies will change in urban ones?

All during history, new towns have been developed as part of migration processes or general strategies, be they military, economical, social or all of these at the same time. Quite a few were abandoned again or experience decline just now, such as many former industrial towns all over the world. But many survive and several have grown into major cities. What were and are causes of failure and success?

New towns as planned cities are part of complex social decision processes of various public and private parties and of many individual households, companies and institutions. How are these decision processes managed and what kind of methods, models and simulation techniques are available to participants to improve their insight in and overview of the course of events?

All new towns that survive in due time will become normal. As the generation of the pioneers fades away, so does memory of those special circumstances at the start. Yet a culture of independence and enterprise may persist to become part of a local or even national identity. ‘Can do’ is the slogan of Almere. When, how and for what reasons do new towns become just normal ones? Do these more or less artificial communities have specific opportunities for being new or do they encounter special threats as soon as the special policy ends that gave them birth?