South West Fryslân

Landscape Development Concept

On commission for Projectbureau Plattelânsprojecten (countryside projects) South West Friesland, Strootman (design) and Novio Consult (process and communication) have prepared a landscape development concept for this National Landscape.

Location

Zuidwest Friesland

Principal

Gebiedsplatform Plattelandsprojecten Zuidwest Fryslân

Partners

Novio Consult

Surface Area

51.420 ha

Design Year

2009

Panoramic vistas, terps, lakes, dykes, rocky coasts, medieval villages and towns, and expansive pastures, mark the landscape of South West Friesland. Because of the special qualities of this landscape, the central government designated South West Friesland as a National Landscape in 2005. Like all landscapes, also National Landscapes are constantly changing. Many of these changes can contribute to the rural quality, on condition they are well matched to one another. On commission for Projectbureau Plattelânsprojecten (countryside projects) South West Friesland, Strootman (design) and Novio Consult (process and communication) have prepared a landscape development concept for this National Landscape. The concept has been developed in close cooperation with residents and stake holders and has been captured in a beautiful book.

Landscape developments such as scale enlargement in agriculture, recreational developments and housing construction, must be seen as opportunities to improve the quality of the area rather than as a threat. We therefore carefully charted the core qualities of the landscape. We then conducted case studies which included the expansion possibilities of towns, the design of urban peripheries, the expansion of waterways and the enhancement of the unique terp landscape. A starting point here is that the new developments are designed to strengthen the landscape.

The landscape development concept proposes that the peat and clay landscape will be kept open. Openness is an important quality of the landscape, which also benefits the wet grasslands, the farmland bird-species and the geese. The alternation of the open and closed sections of the ice-pushed ridges of Gaasterland will be enhanced in coherence with ecological objectives. The core quality of the coast is the strong contrast between land and water. The nature conservation objectives for the areas outside the dyke must reinforce this contrast.

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