Hornhuizen, Netherlands

Walkscapes: Revitalization of the Dutch Countryside

Can walking be a radical activity?

The interdisciplinary summer school Walkscapes sets out in the Dutch countryside, and challenges walking as a radical research practice to think critically about the spatial visions for its sustainable future and revitalization.

The countryside is rapidly transforming all around the world. The North of the Netherlands showcases an exciting case by providing a particular landscape with water-land relations, the interlinkages between urban and rural settlements, and agricultural production, and demonstrating typical challenges of climate change, sea level rise, biodiversity loss, and migration.

The Abe Bonnema chair of the Faculty of Arts will host Walkscapes at Wongema, a one-of-a-kind meeting location at the Northern edge of the Groningen region and the Wadden Sea World Heritage. The core of the summer school program revolves around multiple walks in the region, offering kaleidoscopic perspectives of the countryside and diverse experiences from pilgrim routes to mudflat hiking. Additionally, participants will gain insights through expert lectures to learn and local narratives. The program also includes daily hands-on workshops for translating observations and stories into spatial discoveries.

Over the course of one week, you will use walking as a method to understand, connect, and engage with the Dutch countryside. Walking will act as a catalyst for a total sensory immersion in experiencing the landscape, places, and pathways. You and your fellow participants will look at the past and present, collect, learn, and observe encounters, stories, phenomena, and conditions related to the region's heritage geography and local culture, and think, reflect, and discuss its spatial future.

Course leader

Zef Hemel (Faculty of Arts, RUG)
Gamze Saygi-Woering (Faculty of Arts, RUG)
Harry den Hartog (Faculty of Architecture and Built Environment, TU Delft)

Target group

This interdisciplinary summer school is developed for the final year bachelor students and postgraduate students at (research) master and PhD levels who are interested in sustainability, countryside, and spatiality. The target group includes but is not limited to, students from disciplines such as spatial planning, urbanism, architecture, history, heritage, landscape studies, and human geography.

It is expected that the participants have a sufficient command of the English language to actively participate in the discussions and to present their own work in English.

Course aim

After this course you will be able to:

1. Understand the spatial challenges related to sustainability in the countryside – outside the metropolitan regions

2. Recognize the values, qualities, and characteristics of the Dutch landscape

3. Discuss problems and potentials for revitalization at different spatial levels

Credits info

2 EC
Preliminary reading assignments: 8 hours
Walkshops and lectures: 40 hours
Presentations: 8 hours

Upon successfully completing the program, the Summer School offers a Certificate of Attendance that mentions the workload of 56 hours (28 hours corresponds to 1 ECTS). Students can apply for recognition of these credits to the relevant authorities in their home institutions; therefore, the final decision on awarding credits is at the discretion of their home institutions. We will be happy to provide any necessary information that might be requested in addition to the certificate of attendance.

Fee info

EUR 800: The fee covers registration, lectures, six nights accommodation, meals and soft drinks, and excursion costs. It does not cover travel costs to/from the Netherlands, local transport, and personal expenses.

The two different fees are based on selecting different room arrangements, i.e., in the shared “attic” or a double room (limited availability) at Wongema in Hornhuizen.
EUR 950: The fee covers registration, lectures, six nights accommodation, meals and soft drinks, and excursion costs. It does not cover travel costs to/from the Netherlands, local transport, and personal expenses.

The two different fees are based on selecting different room arrangements, i.e., in the shared “attic” or a double room (limited availability) at Wongema in Hornhuizen.