The Wadden Sea Region spans the Dutch, German, and Denmark coasts, creating one of the most culturally and environmentally rich areas, recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage in 2009 (Centre, U. W. H, 2009). The natural and cultural value of the heritage site possesses unique features and characteristics that are important to preserve for future generations. Like many other places in the world, the Wadden Sea region is facing significant uncertainty in the future. Climate change plays a vital role in planning such a vulnerable region. It is a complex landscape that has already been impacted by climate change and is awaiting big decisions and changes for its resilient future.

Due to its unique history, the Frisian landscape has developed into the largest dairy producer in the Netherlands. Years of scaling up and production growth created a situation in which the productive landscape conflicts with Friesland’s cultural and natural heritage and contributes to climate change. The Frisian agricultural practice puts immense pressure on the peat soils in the province, resulting in significant carbon emissions and is likely to contribute to water shortages in the future. “Peatlands are the largest terrestrial carbon store on earth, storing about 25% of global soil carbon, which is twice as much as forests” (UN Environment Programme, 2019). Peatlands have immense value both for the region’s natural and cultural development.

The graduation project looks into the past, present, and future of the agricultural landscape of Friesland. It aims to envision an alternative resilient future for its peatscapes, in which the productive properties of the landscape are not lost but strengthen the cultural and natural Frisian narrative of the future. The future scenarios are formed based on different outcomes related to agricultural practices, through which the most desired one is explored further. The thesis seeks an in-depth analysis of the productive landscape, resulting in a strategic design proposal for peat restoration and preservation. The strategies are implemented in close conversation with the local stakeholders on a regional and small scale-design. The alternative scenario involves strategies that strengthen ecological connectivity and cultural heritage while proposing acts for climate mitigation and adaptation. Further exploration on forming carbon banks, paludiculture corridors, and people nature is all part of the project for peat restoration and preservation for future generations.

The Wadden Sea is a unique and ecologically important coastal region
in the southeastern North Sea, stretching along the coasts of Denmark,
Germany, and the Netherlands. It is known for its vast tidal flats, salt
marshes, and barrier islands, forming a dynamic and constantly changing
landscape, creating rich biodiversity.

The Wadden Sea in the Netherlands is composed of the mainland
coastal areas and the Wadden Islands (such as Texel, Vlieland,
Terschelling, Ameland, and Schiermonnikoog). This area plays a crucial
role in protecting the land and supporting the people who live there. It
serves as a natural defense against storm surges and flooding, supports
local businesses through fishing and tourism, and provides a vital
ecosystem for numerous plant and animal species.

However, infrastructure development in the Wadden Sea area, including
offshore wind farms, shipping routes, and coastal engineering, has
impacted some ecosystems. The development is necessary for economic
growth, such as shipping infrastructure for tourism on the Wadden
Islands and offshore wind energy due to the energy crisis. These
developments will definitely shape the landscape in the coming years.
In the thesis, data on infrastructure and ecology was collected and
analyzed to find conflicts between them and how they affect the
landscape. This research formed the basis for the design phase. Then,
for the territorial scale, three strategies were put forward. Moreover, two
sites are chosen to demonstrate how these strategies can be applied to
site-specific design. Both sites share the idea of preserving and adapting
positive landscape features and restoring the natural process, achieving
minimal intervention.

The Wadden Sea region is characterized as a diverse and contradictory area. On the one hand, it stands as the largest intertidal area globally, supporting a rich and diverse flora and fauna habitat showcasing nature’s power and allure. On the other hand, it is a landscape shaped by human habitation and extensive transformations, including establishing numerous polders, reclaimed land, and imposing dikes. The region’s history reveals the enduring struggle of its inhabitants against the sea over the past millennium, leaving behind a valuable cultural heritage.

One particular area exemplifying this dichotomy is the Ems estuary, which represents the Wadden Sea’s most ecologically compromised section, often referred to as the “yellow river” of Europe. The industrial development occurring along the estuary, including activities like waterway deepening and riverbank embankment, has resulted in substantial alterations to the morphology, hydrology, and ecological composition of the area. The major challenges are the loss of brackish and freshwater marshes and the conflicting objectives of ecological preservation and further waterway deepening. Additionally, the area’s cultural significance often remains overlooked due to its designation as a natural heritage site. Consequently, the region lacks sufficient allure, resulting in a declining population and an inferior economic state compared to the southern Netherlands and the surrounding islands.

This master’s thesis addresses the crisis in the Ems estuary by focusing on the transformative potential of mud as a catalyst. Through a comprehensive study analyzing the status and role of mud and integrating various strategic options, the project explores opportunities for revitalizing the estuary. As the muddiest estuary within the Wadden Sea and the last naturally connected river in the Netherlands, mud plays a vital role in the overall estuarine system, significantly influencing the economy, ecology, and cultural memory formation. The thesis proposes a spatially dynamic transformation of the Ems estuary through small-scale design interventions and pilot projects by conducting research and analysis in these three domains.

The Po Valley is a floodplain, also known in the past as the “The Garden of Europe”. It owes its agricultural, industrial and cultural wealth to the rich system of resurgences and to the irrigation network connected to them.
Due to their suitability for agricultural activities, floodplains are preferred areas for human settlements. The fluvial landscape development was altered by the water and land management activities to create cultivable land, while simultaneously protecting communities from the risk of flooding events, which are still the most common natural disasters worldwide.
With the increasing urbanization and climate change, the territory (already densely populated and exploited for agricultural and industrial uses) is facing a difficult water shortage situation.
The focus of the research is the resurgence belt in the Po Basin, more precisely in the Piedmont region, and the understanding of the origin of the water system: the Alps and Apennine, the high plain, the resurgence belt and the low plain.
In the area of the resurgence belt, it is possible to control the mountain floods that flow downstream, causing the severe flooding phenomena that we are seeing more and more often in recent years. These traits also have the pre-eminent function of governing the waters of violent and sudden precipitations that the current rain disposal systems are unable to manage effectively. The slopes of the paths lead the waters towards wetlands and hold them for the time necessary and then gradually release them.
The resurgence belt, in addition to playing an important role in the natural water management and the ecological protection of vegetation and an fauna, is still fundamental today in the economic-agricultural context as it is the basis of the irrigation activities necessary to support production in many meadows and ricefields.
It constitutes a precious and unique natural heritage, which unfortunately has reduced in dimensions due to various factors: economic, social and environmental. It is clear that we will increasingly have to learn to live with the two extremes of long droughts and intense rainfall and consequent floods, which only a more natural territory and hydrographic network can cope with simultaneously.
By studying the area of the resurgence belt, the project seeks to imagine an alternative future for North Italy and explore a strategy to face the retreat of the resurgence belt and the water crisis. Furthermore, the project aims to imagine an alternative future for an area that is highly exploited by monoculture and has a linear economy, based on the consumption of fossil fuels and non-renewable resources.

As the world’s largest intertidal area, the Wadden Sea Region has been recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2009 .In addition to the scenic and ecological values, the Dutch Wadden Sea also serves as an infrastructure to safeguard the coastline of the mainland as a climate buffer, where it is good to live, work and recreate.
The Dutch Wadden sea is a dynamic landscape which is highly vulnerable to the future climate change, demographic changes, as well as the increase in recreation and tourism. The rising sea level and changing climate will lead to prolonged droughts and flooding, posing a water safety crisis to the area. As an indispensable infrastructure protecting the hinterlands, the Wadden Sea dikes define and fragment the features of the landscape. The Wadden Sea coast is also confronting declining populations and a mono-sector economy.
The graduation project seeks for the possible outcomes of the Wadden Sea Coast through in-depth research to analyze, synthesize and develop a strategic design proposal for a resilient and sustainable landscape infrastructure contributing to the whole system. This project sets up an agenda for exploring the prospective capabilities of design-oriented research and cartography. An in-depth research and analysis on the spatial and cultural landscape characteristics identifies the spatial dynamics and transformations undertaken in the Wadden Coast. The future scenarios and narratives are formed based on different climatic conditions. The design assignment is an adaptive landscape approach at multiple times and scales together with scenarios-making for an integral approach on climate crisis, as well as small-scale design interventions along the Dutch Wadden Coast.

The agricultural landscape in the Netherlands has changed drastically over the course of the last 70 years. After World War II, it was governmental policy that pushed the transition to intensive farming by giving out subsidies. These developments have also had an impact on the province of Friesland, where agriculture has a long history and is thereby embedded in the province’s landscape identity. However, years of scaling up have caused a loss of small-scale structures in the landscape. The result is not only the disappearance of a historic cultural landscape but also the rapid decline of a biodiversity. Fertilisers and pesticides are the two biggest polluters of Dutch surface water, both secondary effects of intensive agriculture. Today, the balance between ecology, the landscape and intensive agricultural practice is lost.

This thesis has two main objectives. First a study, to understand the agricultural developments that have taken place since World War II in the Netherlands and specifically Friesland. This study will examine the effects these developments have on ecology, social structures, and the cultural heritage found throughout Friesland. Secondly, a research-by-design assignment aims to find a solution to how a new balance between agriculture, ecology and the landscape can be found through design. Three strategies are developed which are emphasising cultural-historical structures, strengthening ecological values and working with the vernacular.
The strategies are implemented on a regional scale in Friesland and on a local scale in dialogue with a local farmer.

Through various scales, ecological corridors are strengthened in the area by introducing nature-friendly banks along waterways. These ecological corridors will connect routes on both land and water with cultural-historical structures in the area. In addition, a small-scale farmers’ nature network is implemented. On a local scale, a water-purifying helophyte field will be constructed which filters agricultural water run-off before it discharges into a local waterway.

This project can serve as a reference to how we can move towards a newfound balance between ecology, the landscape and agricultural practice in the Netherlands.