Digitally exchangeable spatial plans in support of better goverence Drs. Ing. Yigall Schilp Program DURP (Digitally Exchangeable Spatial Plans) Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment, The Netherlands Email: yigall.schilp@minvrom.nl An important responsibility of government is to gain and keep the trust of the citizens. An open and active information-exchange between citizens and government should be the answer. This presentation provides an overview of current changes in the way government bodies in The Netherlands view communication with citizens and groups in society. Providing information and communication alone is not enough anymore. In the context of developments in information and communication technology and the higher expectations and involvement of citizens, improvements are required. Multiple programs have been initiated over recent years to create a more open and efficient form of governance. One of these programs is OL2000. A program to make frontoffices of local governments offer more integrated information so that the civilian can be serviced more efficiently. To do so a small part of the information given by those front offices are spatial zoning plans (bestemmingsplannen). In order to be more efficient there is an increasing need to have such plans available in digital form. This is where the program Digitally Exchangeable Spatial Plans (in Dutch Digtale Uitwisseling Ruimtelijke Plannen or DURP) steps in. DURP stimulates local, provincial and national governments to work with digital, exchangable, spatial plans. This can make the spatial planning proces more efficient and effective. It can make governance more transparant and open, which means that correct information will be more and more important and more easily accessible. It can also lead to a more efficient and effective way of governance. The DURP program is described, including the advantages it will bring for a improving governance in The Netherlands and some examples from the daily practice.