Nederland 2040 – Een land van regio’s

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Het Planbureau voor de Leefomgeving heeft in kader van Ruimtelijk Verkenning 2011 het rapport Nederland in 2040: een land van regio’s uitgebracht:

Nederland staat aan de vooravond van andere tijden: de jarenlange groei van bevolking, mobiliteit en werkgelegenheid gaat afvlakken. Dat betekent dat in de toekomst, met name na 2020, in een groot deel van ons land krimp even goed denkbaar is als groei. Het beleid zal hier op moeten inspelen met een kleinschaliger en flexibeler ruimtelijk beleid dat veel minder dan voorheen voorziet in grote investeringen en projecten voor de lange termijn.

Groei en krimp komen dus naast elkaar voor en met wisselende mate van zekerheid. In regio’s als het Rivierengebied, de Veluwe en delen van het Groene Hart zijn krimp en groei van bevolking, mobiliteit en werkgelegenheid beide goed denkbaar. In stedelijke regio’s als Almere, Groningen, Arnhem/Nijmegen en Utrecht zullen bevolking, werkgelegenheid en mobiliteit de komende tijd blijven groeien. Krimp treedt de komende periode vrij zeker op in regio’s aan de rand van Nederland, zoals Oost-Groningen en Midden-Limburg. Na 2020 is voor steeds meer regio’s zowel groei als krimp goed mogelijk. Na 2030 is dat zelfs in een groot deel van ons land het geval. Dat betekent mogelijk krimp in de huidige groeiregio’s maar op langere termijn zouden ook krimpregio’s van nu weer met stabilisatie of zelfs groei te maken kunnen krijgen.

Voor kennis rond  krimp, zie ook Van meer naar beter: kennisplein krimp.

Harvesting the fruits of labour

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Exactly two years after a film eveningorganised by Transition Town Vallei united some people of the neighborhood, the ‘forest garden’ in the Pomona neighborhood in Wageningen was officially opened by municipality Alderman Lex Hoefsloot on the 3rd of September. The implementation of the design made by the neighborhood (see previous blogs) was finished just in time. After planting many different fruit trees and bushes in March and April, numerous watering sessions during the dry spring and some rainy working days in May and June, we used the summer to build a few wooden structures such as a pergola, a tree- trunk bench and an information panel. Also…..the weeds kept appearing and we sowed grass which is regularly cut by one of the residents. Additional plants were planted too, offered by a resident who maintains them. In the week before opening, the community centre went into the garden with children to harvest the first apples. Not from the newly planted trees but from those trees we rescued from under the brambles. The apples were used by children in the weekly cooking class run by the centre to make apple pie. This was precisely how we envisaged the function and use of this ‘garden’ when we started writing the plan two years ago. I love it when a plan comes together. (pictures below; making fruit juice on the spot and garden excursion)

Surinam bami, Georgian beet-salad and Turkish baklava

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The allotment gardeners of De Koekelt have gathered for a potluck in De Koekelt on Saturday, third of September. Surinam, Turkish, Italian, Georgian, and Dutch gardeners prepared food with the vegetables of their garden which, all together, made a very tasty and varied lunch.
I am doing my thesis on De Koekelt, trying to find out how to strengthen sense of community and participation of the gardeners. De Koekelt is an allotment garden in Ede with gardeners of twelve different nationalities. By walking around one can recognize great differences between the gardens. Some grow more flowers, others more vegetables, some gardeners build a place to sit down and enjoy, while others use their space in the most efficient way to produce as much food as possible.
These differences are appreciated by the gardeners, but create friction as well: “Why do foreigners need to grow so many beans?” or “Why do Dutch women only grow flowers and weeds on their garden?”
With help from three gardeners, I organized the potluck, where the gardeners had a chance to appreciate the differences between themselves, by tasting the different meals each gardener proudly prepared from their own garden products. By eating together, they used the opportunity to speak with gardeners they usually never spoke with. For example, a Georgian woman and a Turkish man discovered that they used to be neighbours, since the villages they come from are both situated on the border of Georgia and Turkey.
The board of De Koekelt, who was sceptical about this activity (“do you really think the gardeners will do all this effort of cooking and bringing their own plates?”) was also present and enjoyed the gathering. They had experienced a sense of losing control, but they seemed to realize that gardeners initiative should be stimulated, not constrained. They saw how little organization is needed to bring the gardeners together, and although they initially objected against this activity, they concluded that this should be organized more often

Lise Alix, MSc-student Rural Sociology

Conference call – Agriculture in an Urbanizing Society (new deadlines)

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In June I published a post about the upcoming conference ‘Agriculture in an Urbanizing Society: International Conference on Multifunctional Agriculture and Urban-Rural Relations’, which included a call for Working Group proposals. The deadline for submitting Working Group proposals was 1 September 2011. This post is to announce that the deadline for submitting Working Group proposals has been postponed to 15 september 2011. If you would like to convene a working group but don’t have time to write a proposal, you can also express your interest by sending me an e-mail (han.wiskerke@wur.nl). Have a look at the conference website for an overview of the working group themes that have been proposed by the scientific committee. The deadline for abstracts will also be postponed by 2 weeks to 15 December 2011.

Brochure of Rural Sociology available!

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Finally, it is there! The brochure of our group, Rural Sociology. The brochure contains all necessary education information offered by our group. You will get inspired by the enthusiastic interviews held with students and former students! Have a look at the digital version here. Or ask for a hard copy by sending a message to els.hegger@wur.nl.