Are you interested in relations between the countryside and the city, spatial challenges and in particular the socio-cultural aspects within them? Then we are looking for you! The cluster Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning is looking for a PhD researcher in the field of 'spatial challenges and socio-cultural relations between rural and urban', with a focus on spatial relations between urban and rural areas and on the socio-cultural meanings of 'the countryside' for both urban and rural people.
The PhD position is part of the NWO-funded research programme 'Fertile Soils', in which interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary research is conducted into integral sustainability and improvement of the relationships between rural and urban areas. The project focuses in particular on the (spatial) matching of supply and demand and the (re)valuation of landscape services - such as drinking water, recreational space and biodiversity - in the region. Fertile Soils concentrates on five urban-rural regions: Zwolle, Groningen-Het Hogeland, Metropolitan Region Rotterdam The Hague, Urban Region Breda Tilburg and Amsterdam Metropolitan Region.
In recent years, there has been a lot of discussion about the interactions between urban and rural areas, because rural and urban residents would have different understandings of the current problems and the associated solutions, for example with regard to nitrogen, biodiversity, or housing. These discussions let to a perceived gap between city and countryside.
In these discussions, the diversity between and within rural and urban communities is often overlooked. We also know little about the socio-cultural appreciation of landscape services by the different types of 'consumers' and about the role that landscape services can play in strengthening regional identities and place meanings. Within Fertile Soils, a team of two PhDs and their supervisors from the University of Groningen and Wageningen University will investigate this theme.
The PhD research 'spatial challenges and socio-cultural relations between rural and urban' is being carried out by Wageningen University. Central to the research are spatial interventions in the field of urban-rural areas, how these planning processes are related to spatial interactions between urban and rural areas and appreciation of areas and landscapes.
Many rural dwellers visit nearby towns on a daily or weekly basis, while for many city dwellers, the surrounding countryside is mainly a backdrop for less frequent bike rides or walks in the woods. The aim is to explore how these interactions are part of planning processes and how solving spatial issues can contribute to the coherence between city and countryside. There is a specific focus on socio-cultural aspects such as identity and trust.
Your duties and responsibilities include: - setting up and carrying out the above-mentioned research, resulting in, among other things, a dissertation containing 3 to 4 international scientific publications, which will be defended in public;
- publishing and presenting the research and sub-research results in the Netherlands and at international scientific conferences;
- actively participating and contributing to the Fertile Soils project;
- maintaining and expanding contacts with internal and external partners;
You will work here The research is embedded within the cluster
Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning, and part of the Fertile Soils project which is led by dr. ir. Jasper de Vries. You will be supervised by dr. ir. Jasper de Vries and dr. ir. Marlies Meijer (LSP cluster) and prof. Tialda Haartsen (Rijksuniversiteit Groningen).