page_title: Randstad
section_title: Boundary issues
hierarchical_section_title: Randstad / Geography / Boundary issues
caption_attribution_description: Lange Elisabethstraat Mariaplaats, 3511 Utrecht, Netherlands
context_page_description: The Randstad is a megalopolis in the central-western Netherlands consisting primarily of the four largest Dutch cities and their surrounding areas. Among other things, it contains the Port of Rotterdam, the Port of Amsterdam, and Amsterdam Airport Schiphol. With a population of 8.2 million people it is one of the largest metropolitan regions in Europe, comparable in population size to the Milan metropolitan area or the San Francisco Bay Area, and covers an area of approximately 8,287 km². With a population density of 1,500/km² it also is one of the most important and densely populated economic areas in northwestern Europe. It encompasses both the Amsterdam metropolitan area and Rotterdam–The Hague metropolitan area.
  The Randstad's main cities are Almere, Amersfoort, Amsterdam, Delft, Dordrecht, Haarlem, Leiden, Rotterdam, The Hague, Utrecht, Zaanstad and Zoetermeer.
context_section_description: The Randstad's borders have never been officially specified. Some consider only the four most populous cities of the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht) part of it, others would say that areas such as Alkmaar (which represents itself as being part of it), Hoorn and Lelystad are also part of this conurbation.
  The publication "Randstad 2040", released by the Government of the Netherlands, reveals that the Noordvleugel (Amsterdam and Utrecht region) is already growing parallel to the A1, A2, and A4 motorways, as well as into the northern part of North Holland (Alkmaar and Hoorn region) and Flevoland (Almere and Lelystad region). There is also a trend shown that the Noordvleugel is expanding parallel to the A2 (Amsterdam towards Eindhoven) and A12 (Utrecht towards the WERV region, encompassing the cities of Wageningen, Ede, Rhenen and Veenendaal) motorways. This region is called the Zuidoostflank (English: Southeastside).
caption: Utrecht
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