This research explores how shrinking rural villages can strengthen their identity through public space, accessibility and multifunctional facilities. The research focuses on the village of Krabbendijke in Zeeland, where processes such as facility decline, increasing mobility dependency and the fragmentation of everyday life influence the social, functional and symbolical identity of the village. As discussed by Christiaanse (2023), shrinking rural regions are increasingly dealing with changing accessibility, disappearing facilities and transformations in everyday village life. Rather than approaching shrinkage only as a demographic or economic issue, this research investigates how these processes affect social interaction, public life and the experience of the village environment.

Through literature research, spatial analysis, fieldwork and research-by-design, the relationship between accessibility, facilities, public space and identity is analysed on multiple scales. The research identifies three interconnected forms of identity within shrinking villages: functional identity, social identity and symbolical identity. These identities are explored through themes such as local habits, historical values, landscape qualities, community spaces, spatial accessibility, functional structures and social interaction potential.

The research demonstrates that facilities function as more than functional services alone. They often act as social anchors, meeting places and symbolical carriers of village identity. Their disappearance therefore affects not only accessibility, but also collective memory, social interaction and public life. At the same time, the research concludes that the car remains an important part of rural life within Zeeland since there are lots of villages with limited accessibility. The challenge therefore lies in balancing accessibility and mobility with more socially active and walkable public spaces.

Through research-by-design, these findings are translated into a spatial vision for Krabbendijke, structured around four overarching strategies focused on multifunctionality, social interaction, intergenerational resilience and landscape identity. These strategies are tested through interventions on smaller scales within the village core, station area and connecting landscape structures. The design proposal illustrates how public space can strengthen the relationship between social, functional and symbolical identity by reconnecting facilities, daily routines, landscape and cultural structures to everyday village life.

Although the spatial outcomes are highly context-specific, the analytical framework and thematic approach developed throughout this research can also contribute to comparable shrinking rural regions within Zeeland and beyond.

Zeeland’s landscape is currently dominated by fossil fuel-based industries. Four big companies emit huge amounts of greenhouse gasses. As the energy transition progresses and stricter limitations to these polluters are set, they will have to drastically change their processes or phase out. Though necessary, this threatens the livelihood of these practically educated employees. To come to solutions that fit within a just transition, this research explores how spatial transformations can empower these workers.
The study uses spatial analysis, policy and plan review and stakeholder research to come to a vision of diversification of the labor market spaces and voices. This vision is worked out according to three spatial design principles: smart land use, multifunctionality, and evolving place identity. Smart land use prioritizes the redevelopment of brownfields and salinized farmland over using more unused land to develop. Multifunctionality means the use of large open spaces for more than one type of industry. An evolving place identity means that the future is built upon a past that is seen as a vital stepping stone instead of something to be ashamed of.
The results include the conclusion that for a just transition to take place, there is a need for worker-centered policies, retraining initiatives, and spatial strategies that allow individuals to choose their own pathway through the energy transition. This report presents a multisectoral and integrated strategy, working out the sectors of tourism, food production, and clean and green energy production. An expanded mobility network ties these changes together, allowing for better accessibility within and into Zeeland.
By positioning workers at the core of the transition, Zeeland can serve as an example for industrial regions navigating similar structural changes. A more diverse future will make Zeeland more resilient to both the current energy transition as well as other uncertainties and changes.