W.M. Otto PhD was director of the IJsselmeerpolders Development Authority, in the Netherlands, from 1963 to 1967. His contribution to the first development of Flevoland, which had been newly reclaimed from the sea, was very important. So the name ‘starter motor of Flevoland’ is justified.

In this biography has been told how he led the designing and the first phase of the development of the new towns Lelystad and Almere. Will Otto was a tireless lobbyist for the interests of the former and the future population of Flevoland. A lot of them were originally inhabitants of Amsterdam.

Otto was at the same time ‘landdrost’ of the Southern IJsselmeerpolders Public Authority, in Lelystad as well as in Dronten. He exercised the duties and powers of the municipal council, the municipal executive and the mayor together. In practice Otto cooperated well with the advisory council, which had been elected by the citizens.

Otto also contributed to the land-use planning and the forestry policy in the Netherlands. His first job was forester in Dutch East Indies (1946-1950). Later he developed a vision on saving the tropical rainforest, especially in Indonesia. He initiated PROSEA (Plant Resources of South East Asia). This international project published 24 manuals, based on a database. This describes economically useful plants and trees in Southeast Asia.

This title is a translation of Will Otto (1919-2008), Startmotor van Flevoland, which appeared in 2017 in Dutch. The PDF of the original title is free for all as well, and can be found here: https://www.barkhuis.nl/product/will-otto-1919-2008/.