The problems associated with small villages are among the most difficult in Dutch physical planning, for they encompass the support of minimum social services in small towns and villages; the preservation of areas of ecological and scenic value; the acommodation of a growing population desirous of a home in the country or continued country living; and accommodation of radical changes in the social structure of small towns and villages caused by migration. Within the Netherlands there are currently three major phenomena which must be addressed independently and, preferably, on a regional basis. These phenomena include: the withering village (due, principally, to the decrease of working populations in agriculture and a general decline in the Dutch birth rate); the suburbanizing village (increasing populations due to proximity to urban centers and the desire of urban dwellers to live outside the urban center); urban migration to withering villages (due to increasing nostalgia for the country and nature). Planning for these phenomena must be handled differently, for the withering village needs sustaining facilities and organizations, while the suburbanizing town needs provisions which facilitate the expectations of the in-coming urbanites and those of the established rural population, and migration to withering villages must be viewed as a manifestation of social change. (JC)