Religious Heritage as Placemaker for Rural Cores: A toolbox with design implications for revitalization of rural shrinkage regions in the Netherlands by adressing vacant church heritage and the surrounding village core

One in five municipalities in the Netherlands is prognosed to experience population decline by 2050. Especially rural settlements will have difficulty facilitating this shrinkage and the negative effects involved. With a depriving variety of available facilities and an increase in vacancy, local communities are on the border of falling apart. At...