Mid of November 2024 an international team of 38 students and 7 lecturers - including 13 participants of the IMLA programme - took part in a workshop about sustainable development of the Dutch Wadden Coast on the West Frisian island of Ameland.
This workshop was the kick-off project of a so-called 'Design Caroussel', which is organized as a series of four different BIP (Blended Intensive Programme) projects in the upcoming years, as cooperation of the following four university partners (each year with a changing responsibility and a different project focus):
- VHL / Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences, Velp (The Netherlands)
- EhB / Erasmus Brussels University of Applied Sciences and Arts (Belgium)
- Vilnius Tech / Vilnius Gediminas Technical University (Lithuania)
- HSWT / University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf (Germany)
The Wadden Coast project was initiated and organized by the VHL colleagues from the Netherlands: Adrian Noortman and Brechtje Horsten did a really great job!
In the weeks before the on-site phase in November, a series of introductory online lectures gave the participants a very good theoretical basis.
The workshop itself started on 10th of November and took mainly place on the island of Ameland. The workshop week included several excursions (both on the West Frisian mainland and on Ameland), presentations and explanations of local experts and - of course at the heart of it all - the project work in the teams.
This was the central question of the workshop assignment:
How can we adapt the Wadden Sea coastal area so it becomes a future-proof, resilient, and biodiverse landscape, building on the values that make up the richness of the Wadden Sea region?
Project area was the Dutch Wadden Coast between Harlingen and the Dollart bay at the border between The Netherlands and Germany. The students from the four universities were mixed up in 7 teams of 5-6 students, each team working on one part of this coastline.
All participants learnt a lot about
- the coastal system in general
- development of the Dutch Wadden coast
- landscapes of the Dutch Wadden coast
- ecology
- coastal villages
- human interventions
- effects of the climate change and sea level rise
- risks for agriculture
- dike systems (also with regard to the 'Living Dikes' research project)
- nature-based solutions
The final results of the working groups' analyses, visions and design proposals were presented on 14 of November in Marrum, with involvement of local stakeholders.
On 15 of November the workshop week ended at the Landscape Architecture Department of VHL (Van Hall Larenstein University of Applied Sciences) in Velp, with a guided campus walk and a nice farewell event.
In addition to the intensive professional exchange and learning, the participants also enjoyed the very nice social setting in the wonderful group accommodation on Ameland, with home-cooked meals and a lot of (also intercultural) exchange. Certainly some new friendships and good contacts were made here.
A special thanks goes to Adrian, Brechtje, all local experts and to all participating students and colleagues!
The BIP projects are funded via Erasmus+. Therefore, we would like to thank also our HSWT International Office for the great support.
We are very much looking forward to the next 'Design Caroussel' BIP project 'Voralpenland' which will be organized for autumn 2025 by the IMLA team of the HSWT (University of Applied Sciences Weihenstephan-Triesdorf) in Germany.