Are you interested in relations between the countryside and the city, spatial issues and their governance? Then we are looking for you! The Landscape Architecture and Spatial Planning cluster, together with the Department of Global and Local Governance of the University of Groningen/Campus Fryslân, is looking for a PhD researcher in the field of 'spatial strategies and governance for coherent urban-rural regions', with a focus on spatial relations between urban and rural areas and how governance strategies can strengthen this (trust) relationship.
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.
To facilitate productive relations between city and countryside in the light of landscape services (e.g. recreation space, food, drinking water and clean air), effective governance is of great importance. Despite existing laws and regulations and other formal and informal management instruments, a guiding role of government agencies and other parties remains a major challenge. Especially because trust between parties is often lacking and existing regulations are seen as a sign of distrust by the government in citizens.
For example, there is a lack of a clear demarcation of responsibilities between private and public actors, which is a major obstacle to a fair valuation of landscape services. Who should be responsible for what and how can they distribute responsibly? How are governments perceived and how do relationships between stakeholders play a role in this? Within this PhD project, these are questions that are being worked on. Specifically, the role of trust in this will be investigated.
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 prof. Caspar van den Berg (Fryslan Campus, Rijksuniversiteit Groningen).