This thesis investigates the intersection of spatial justice, autonomy, and radical imaginaries within the Westland agro-industrial greenhouse cluster in the Netherlands. As a global hub of Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA), the region is celebrated for its innovation and productivity in addressing food security amid rapid urbanization and ecological crises. However, its productivity masks urgent socio-environmental challenges that are proliferated by the spatial configuration, including fossil fuel dependency, complex supply global chains, precarious migrant labour, and increasing automation, making the cluster vulnerable to systemic disruptions.

Combining socio-spatial and historical analysis, the work interrogates the region's socio-technical lock-in and its dialectical relationship with spatial injustices. Through interviews, media- and literature review, and scenario thinking, the study identifies and assesses "radical imaginaries"—alternative future visions for agriculture in Westland grounded in ecologism, autonomy, and commons-based values. The findings suggest that the socio-spatial and material practices associated with these imaginaries support spatial justice and autonomy. Drawing on this, the thesis presents policy recommendations for increasing spatial justice, including an inclusive participatory planning approach for the Westland municipality. Next to this, a speculative spatial project integrates insights from the researched imaginaries, commons-theory and agro-ecology to formulate a reconfiguration of the socio-spatial logic that allows for a diversity of nature-inclusive food landscape typologies.

Ultimately, the thesis contributes to the discourse on post-industrial agricultural futures, offering insights into the role of design as a mediator between nature and culture. Besides, by politicising spatial planning and design, the research contributes to a body of work advocating for democratic, resilient, and ecologically balanced agri-food systems.
... Read more

A transition is needed within the current agricultural sector. The intensive food production emits a significant amount of greenhouse gases, but also generates a nitrogen surplus. Consequently, biodiversity and soil quality have been decreasing dramatically in recent decades. One way of achieving a more sustainable food system is through regenerative agriculture, which is a nature-based practice where ecosystem services and soil health are central. This research aims to understand how the decentralisation of farming practices can aid a transition to regenerative agriculture in a socially just way. Through research by design, the concepts of decentralisation, regenerative agriculture and social justice were studied separately and layered on the project areas of different scales: Northwest Europe, South-Holland (NL) and Biesbosch National Park. The objective of this research is to develop a vision and strategy for these areas to achieve a socially just transition to regenerative agricultural practices. Based on literature, we propose a set of regenerative agriculture land-use typologies for Northwest Europe (i.e. nature buffer, food-forest, polyculture crop, polyculture crop-livestock mix, urban food parks). Next, we show how we can transition to these new land-uses, employing methods of spatial and systemic (administrative, fiscal, economic) decentralisation. Each transition is qualitatively assessed by its implications for social justice in local communities and its potential to improve soil quality of the region. On a local scale, for the Biesbosch area in the province of South-Holland, a strategy is proposed that is based on our vision for Northwest Europe. Through local strategic interventions and the empowerment of existing initiatives and cooperatives, we show that the proposed land-use patterns and decentralised food chain can mitigate biodiversity loss and foster local agri-food networks that provide food security in a sustainable way. ... Read more