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
J.S. ten Hove (TU Delft - Architecture and the Built Environment)
Stefan Christiaan Spek – Mentor (TU Delft - Urban Design)
Gerdy Verschuure – Graduation committee member (TU Delft - Landscape Architecture)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
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 the same time, an increasing number of churches are left vacated and out of service while religious participation declines. This graduation project aims to revitalize the heart of villages with the church at the center to increase the livability and social cohesion. Connecting the local community with the heritage of churches and their role in society again. With a toolbox filled with design interventions as a final product and the implementation of this toolbox on three different project locations throughout the Netherlands, this thesis provides a first step to a beckoning new perspective on the identity of rural cores.