Flourishing Foodvalley

Abstract

This thesis explores the possibility of circularity to regenerate the degraded agricultural systems of the Foodvalley region. The Foodvalley is a regional network organization, consisting of eight municipalities situated partly in the province of Utrecht and partly the province of Gelderland. Circularity is used to describe a way in which resource consumption, distribution, and production are managed. It is focused on cycling and regeneration of resources to make sure they are used more efficiently, as well as reducing the use of finite resources. At the same time it will tackle environmental degradation and interrelated socio-economic problems. Adopting a circular approach makes sure society can live and thrive within planetary boundaries. Regenerative circular development in the agricultural sector is needed because currently most of the area’s development is on hold due to the region’s struggle with the effects of the nitrogen crisis. The interaction between the current, linear and monocultural, agricultural system and climate externalities are causing problems related to resource depletion and scarcity, overexploitation of land, and fragmentation and degradation of ecosystems.

This thesis explores the question: How to reconfigure the territory of the Foodvalley region, to facilitate regenerative circular developments, using a co - creation method?

A territorial approach regarding circular resource management is promoted. In which agri-food flows are considered in their social, ecological and spatial context and managed according to participatory transition management.

Incorporating the territory in circular development is especially important. The territory can be used to connect circular development strategies to ecosystem, landscape or territorial assets and it allows different international, national, regional and local goals to be linked in spatial organization (Forster et al., 2021).

Stakeholders influence the territory, through addressing key challenges, by pursuing different interest, exploring new opportunities, and by identifying appropriate policies and actions (Forster et al., 2021). Therefore, this thesis has developed a method which enables reconfiguration of the territory in a co – creative way.

The outcome is a circular agriculture pattern language which translates solution, that increase the regenerative capacity of the current socio-ecological metabolism, into easily understood blocks of knowledge. In this way, the complexity of a circular agri-food chain can be rendered more accessible and manageable. The pattern language can be used in design workshops to foster effective solution oriented dialogue between stakeholders. The results of the co-creation process can be used to create context-specific designs illustrating the spatial implications of a circular agricultural sector.