Connected Futures

Abstract

Zeeland offers significant opportunities for a sustainable energy transition. However, Zeeland is often treated as “the battery” of the Netherlands, supplying energy to more populated regions while receiving fewer resources in return. The province is also physically and socially disconnected, both from the rest of the country and internally, which results in a strong dependence on car-based mobility. This makes for the main spatial tensions of Zeeland’s future: accessibility, industrial activity, and its fragmented energy landscape.

This strategy addresses the question: How can endogenous renewable energy production in Zeeland be spatially structured to support sustainable industry and mobility transition across its communities? Our theoretical framework is grounded in socio-environmental spatial justice, with a focus on distributional, recognitional, and operational dimensions.

The proposed vision organizes renewable energy into clustered landscapes located near industrial sites, supported by an expansion of offshore wind to minimize landscape disruption. To improve accessibility and local energy production, an integrated hub system is introduced, combining shared mobility and public transport to connect dispersed villages with larger cities while embedding energy systems within mobility infrastructure. New forms of renewable energy, such as tidal and kinetic energy, are incorporated in existing infrastructure, and industries are encouraged to adopt more sustainable practices.

It is important to understand how landscapes, like the one in Zeeland, can adjust and contribute to the energy transition, without overpowering the landscape and respecting its communities. It teaches us how to not only view the energy transition as a technical challenge, but also a social one. The energy transition can contribute to increasing the accessibility of a disconnected area. This strategy can help designers understand how to include the voices of communities and stakeholders in designs.