The Achterhoek region of the Netherlands, with its sandy soils and elevated terrain, faces significant climate challenges, particularly droughts caused by changing weather patterns. Agriculture and nature in this area depend heavily on water, yet the intensification of industrial farming has disrupted the balance between these systems. This research addresses the question: “How can landscape architecture reintegrate water management, nature, and agriculture to enhance climate resilience, increase biodiversity, and secure a sustainable future for farmers?”
Through historical analysis, it is evident that traditional farming methods once maintained a natural balance between agriculture and the environment. However, industrialization has disrupted this harmony. By drawing inspiration from past systems like flowing meadows and cooperative farming communities (Marken), modern design strategies can help restore this balance. Projects such as Urtica de Vijfsprong and het Lankheet offer examples of how nature-inclusive approaches can improve biodiversity and drought resilience, while diversifying income sources for farmers.
A water-based design strategy is proposed, adapting land use to natural water levels to ensure long-term sustainability. This includes raising groundwater levels, reintegrating natural habitats into farmland, and encouraging cooperative farming models to enhance nutrient recycling and reduce costs. With these strategies, a blueprint is proposed for the region of Nettelhorst, transforming it into a model of sustainable agriculture, balancing the needs of nature, water management, and farming. Landscape architecture can play a crucial role in restoring this balance by addressing core issues and offering holistic, system-based solutions. ... Read more

The design of the Noordoostpolder not only included the placement of the villages, trees farms and land lots, but the social structures were also drawn out into detail. A strict selection was applied for those who wanted to have a chance of getting a farm. But did these two different factors – selection and architectural design – relate to each other in any way? Architecture always has a social aspect to it, since designs are made for the people. Social interactions were already studied in the 1930s as the Noordoostpolder is being developed, but did they influence the architecture in any way? Things were adjusted to make the designs of each design aspect more suitable for the new inhabitants. These things included more leisure space in greenery around villages, a design for Kraggenburg which was solely formed by social layers in the community and changes in the floorplans of the farmhouses to accommodate for the function of a farm. These changes were broad, however, and not adjusted to specific parameters that would follow from the selection. This was a very difficult task to achieve, due to the varying characters within the selection, the resistance by the Direction itself and the lack of knowledge about the candidates at the time of the design phase. ... Read more