Wageningen University PhD position on assessing the sustainable management and design of the landscape and heritage of the colonies of benevolence

We offer a PhD position on assessing the sustainable management and design of the landscape and heritage of the colonies of benevolence. You will conduct a PhD research that revolves around the rethinking and redesigning of historical landscapes and built environments in the Dutch colonies of benevolence Wilhelminaoord, Frederiksoord and Willemsoord to examine the past and future of the Society of Benevolence as landowner, designer, care-taker, agricultural pioneer and entrepreneur. The colonies were founded in the early 19th century by the Society of Benevolence, that still has an active and important role in the spatial and social transitions of these villages and landscapes.

You will research the past, present and future of the society and the colonies through a landscape-based approach. You will conduct participatory research through design, with the local community in different Living Labs in the Dutch province of Drenthe. You will not only generate designs but you also test them with experts and the local community and you organize the meetings, sketching sessions and communication with them, together with the programme office for this project.

Participation, design and spatiality

At the base of this PhD lies a landscape-based approach to heritage, acknowledging the dynamic relationship between historic objects and their surrounding environment. Furthermore, it is increasingly recognized that heritage encompasses the past and continuing cultural practices that are closely related to these material remains. Heritage values thus pertain to built and non-built spaces in a landscape, and to their formal function and informal use, by residing communities and visitors alike. The planning and design context in which heritage professionals work is therefore increasingly multi-actor and multi-level in character.