Hans Dirk de Vries Reilingh (Groningen, 22 August 1908 - Naarden, 18 April 2001) was a Dutch geographer and professor.
His friend, Hendrick van der Wielen (in 1930 promoted by Sebald Rudolf Steinmetz) asked him to teach c courses at Allardsoog, the first Volkshogeschool in the Netherlands.
The development in Denmark receives the most attention because this country was the home of volkhogeschool work of Nikolaj Frederik Severin Grundtvig and Christen Mikkelsen Kold.
Ten Veen had always developed more to a form of applied Sociology, but Reilingh emphatically studied social phenomenon in the spatial context.
In the fifties he continued to regularly publish works about issues of rural character as he researched the regional cultural situation in the province of North-Holland.
However, his scientific staff urged him to do more research in urban areas, more relevant to the particular problems of districts, neighbourhoods and inner cities.
The postwar housing shortage was for Reilingh and his staff (de Sociografische Werkgemeenschap (Sociographic Work Community)) a stimulus to investigate problems in neighborhoods.
One started with field studies of the living conditions in a number of neighbourhoods in the district Bos en Lommer.
There was an alderman Joop den Uyl appointed by a municipal commission who invited Reilingh to participate.
That was the beginning of an extensive research project under the leadership of Reilingh, Willem Heinemeyer and Michel van Hulten.