Veenweide Atelier

The Veenweidegebied as an area for innovation
Green grassy meadows, with neat and straight ditches, cows and farms. This is the famous Frisian landscape, and a picture that many people cherish. For a long time, it seemed to work to our advantage to drain the top layer of the peatland and convert it into these industrial grasslands. It has allowed our agricultural sector to flourish. However, we have now reached a point where this previously innovative approach has become untenable. The Veenweidegebied, which covers 90,000 hectares in Fryslân, is also the largest natural CO₂ emitter in this region and is suffering continuous subsidence. For a healthy future, it is now important to rewet the dry peatlands and learn to embrace the natural dynamic of these wetlands again. We need to re-source.

Innovations need pioneers. People who think outside the box, who embrace uncertainty, and who can provide a surprising picture of the future. Designers and artists are particularly good at this. Veenweide Atelier is located in the heart of Fryslân, It Lege Midden (the low middle). The areas where the water level will rise the most in the coming years are our testing ground.

Eco-social design
Eco-social design is a process that results in a new, shared story about an area, but also produces outcomes that are measurable, tangible and feasible. The answers that follow from the design process are not immediately implemented on a large scale, but are made available and accessible on a manageable scale to all parties involved. The aim is to arrive at new, big ideas for the future through (physical) experiences of the design on a small scale (for example via a demo site or pilot).

Eco-social design seeks connections with all parties involved in an area: residents, knowledge institutes, governments, businesses and social organizations, and non-human actors. The ideas and designs are developed in joint collaboration. Step by step, they work towards a change that is beneficial for both those directly affected and the system as a whole.