This book focuses on the design works of landscape architecture schools. It collects some materials from the exhibition “Embracing the Future of the Wadden Sea Landscapes. Voices and Imageries from Students and Educators,” which was held at the De Kanselarij in Leeuwarden as part of the 2023 Landscape Architecture Triennale. Students and educators from TU Delft, Amsterdam Academy of Architecture, Wageningen University, and Hanze Academy of Architecture presented design results and ideas on the future of the Wadden Sea coasts and landscapes, from the sea to the coast to the rural and urban inland areas.@en

The relationship between soil and water is at the center of interest now more than ever. Despite being a UNESCO World Heritage Site of extraordinary environmental value and beauty, the Wadden Sea, its territories, and its people now face an uncertain future while wrestling with latent climatic, economic-productive, and social crises. Subsidence increased by gas extraction and peat oxidation, soil erosion, saltwater intrusion, eutrophication, and agricultural water pollution testify to a territory in the throes of long-term repossession by the sea. Can we (co)design the Wadden Sea landscapes? How can we transform these emergencies into opportunities? Based upon applied research work in regional scenario-making and local design projects, the book attempts to imagine the present and future of the Wadden Sea and its hinterland adopting (co)designing approaches. Peatlands, agriculture, energy, and heritage all intersect to encourage economies and social inclusion projects where the landscapes of soil and water become the driving force to overcome the crises.@en

The relationship between soil and water is at the center of interest now more than ever. Despite being a UNESCO World Heritage Site of extraordinary environmental value and beauty, the Wadden Sea, its territories, and its people now face an uncertain future while wrestling with latent climatic, economic-productive, and social crises. Subsidence increased by gas extraction and peat oxidation, soil erosion, saltwater intrusion, eutrophication, and agricultural water pollution testify to a territory in the throes of long-term repossession by the sea. Can we (co)design the Wadden Sea landscapes? How can we transform these emergencies into opportunities? Based upon applied research work in regional scenario-making and local design projects, the book attempts to imagine the present and future of the Wadden Sea and its hinterland adopting (co)designing approaches. Peatlands, agriculture, energy, and heritage all intersect to encourage economies and social inclusion projects where the landscapes of soil and water become the driving force to overcome the crises.@en

Extreme weather events, droughts, floods, shifts in precipitation and temperature patterns, melting glaciers, sea-level rise, water salinization, and more generally, changes in the water cycle remind us that the climate crisis is mostly a water crisis. Perhaps even more serious is a crisis of imagination connected with thought and with creative, far-sighted action able to combine the visionary and the pragmatic. A response to these two crises can be provided by the disciplines of landscape architecture: these have always featured a plural, collective approach that comprises or originates from living systems and natural forces, on the involvement of human and nonhuman communities in the design process, and the inclusion of the time variable in future plans—without neglecting the necessary flexibility of creative and pragmatic thinking. How can landscape design and different forms of collaboration open new doors to face climate and water challenges? What hopes can spring from collective design in its broader meaning?

This book sets out notions and ideas on water landscapes and (co)designed practices, identifying what hopeful routes might be taken for the three states of aqueous landscapes in transition—liquid, solid, and gas. The chapters show different scales and levels of design and collaborative practices: from large and governmental projects to small bottom-up interventions; from creative collaboration among designers to traditional community design; from participatory processes to nature as a co-designer for tackling the climate crisis. People, animals, plants, water, ice, fog, clouds, wind, sand, and rocks—all contribute to the cosmos’ landscape symphony, and designing together can become a seed of hope to listen and embrace the Earth’s climate changes.@en

| Fog x Beach@en

1 | Great Green Wall@en