Learning from Green Heart? - Reevaluate Green Wash Issues

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY POST GRADUATE WILLIAM KINNE FELLOWS TRAVELING PRIZES 2009 Hsueh-Hsien Hsieh + Sheng-Wei Shih

Learning from Green Heart?

Reevaluate Green Wash issues

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

POST GRADUATE WILLIAM KINNE FELLOWS TRAVELING PRIZES 2009

Hsueh-Hsien Hsieh + Sheng-Wei Shih

INDEX Introduction -Motivation -Why Green Heart?

-Issues -How to learn from the Green Heart?

Macro -Green Heart

Micro -Woerden -Gouda -Schoonhoven -Alphen aan den Rijn

Description of Sites -Schoonhoven -Gouda

Itinerary Budget Related Project Visit -Leidsche Rijn Park, de Meern -Noorderpark, Amsterdam -Harbour Park, Rotterdam

Contacts -Contacts & Advisors -Anticipated Contacts

References -Bibliography -Other References

Information Exchange

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Hsueh-Hsien Hsieh + Sheng-Wei Shih

Introduction

POST GRADUATE WILLIAM KINNE FELLOWS TRAVELING PRIZES 2009

Learning from Green Heart Reevaluate Green Wash Issues

Motivation In our urban design studies, we have learned that the environmental issues, such as climate change, sustainable buildings, flooding scenario, have become more and more important. These subjects are all related to the notion of being green. Although green issues have constantly been addressed, a clear criterion of being green still remains unclear. Our research proposal will focus on questioning the current definition of these green issues.

How green is green?

Does the balance between human settlement and nature really exist?

To explore this topic, we propose to use Green Heart, a protected land in Holland, as a laboratory for our research.

Why Green Heart Green Heart, the protected land where major Dutch cities lie around this area, is a largely open and rural region.

Before the Middle Age, it was mainly a marshy area with a small, boggy river. After hundreds years of human effort on landfill and draining water for reclaiming agriculture land, it is characterized by its rural lifestyle and waterscape.

Since 1960, the period when green issues were less frequently addressed, Holland started to restrict commercial and residential constructions in Green Heart for protecting its fragile man-made eco-system.

Currently, few projects very close to Green Heart have been approved to develop by the Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM). Construction on wetland or forest are conventionally labeled as a way ruining nature, but Holland is just reversing their planning policy from protecting nature to building “on� the nature. Why does the country change their traditional preservation policy when green issues have become a current trend around the world?

Have they found green issues problematic?

Are there unexpected effects which resulted from preservation policy?

This research can be a case study in addressing questions related to green issues because the shift of planning policy will have influence on the manmade eco-system of Green Heart.

Holland

Green Heart Area: 1600 km2.

Population: 6 million Land use : lakes, marshes, meadows , agriculture and peat production.

Amsterdam

Alphen aan den Rijn Woerden

Utrecht Hague Gouda

Schoonhoven

Legend Infrastructure Land Water

Rotterdam

+ 0

Village

-

Study area

Location of the Green Hart in the Netherlands

Ground Level

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Hsueh-Hsien Hsieh + Sheng-Wei Shih

POST GRADUATE WILLIAM KINNE FELLOWS TRAVELING PRIZES 2009

Introduction

Issues Even though Green Heart is a protected area, highways and railroads were built for allowing people to commute from one city to another. Since this development of transportation has different effects on small cities located in the area, we will investigate the current ecosystem of Green Heart via the perspective of land, water, and infrastructure.

In macro scale, we will analyze these layers to understand the overall planning policy of Green Heart. In micro scale, we will further study its different geographic conditions, types of landscape, and transportation to realize how small cities were emerged from the protected area.

By doing this comparative analysis through regional and local context, we will find evidence to help us evaluate how green Green Heart really is, and explore current planning projects, such as South Wing, to rethink where the balance between human settlement and the nature exists.

How to learn from the Green Heart Two major questions are the guidelines of our research

What are the criteria for us to judge a good green design?

What kind of role that landscape and urban design can play in integrating the manmade ecology and construction in both regional and local scale?

To observe the different lifestyles and ecosystem of Green Heart, we will take photograph and video recording to document the subtle change of landscape from cities to Green Heart. When taking the train and waterbus to visit different sites, we will truly experience different effects that the current manmade construction has made on nature.

In major cities, we will also interview with Maxwan and West 8 architect office to enhance our understanding of the projects they have in Green Heart. By incorporating our analytical skills developed at the school, our aim is to develop a different interpretation of green issues applicable to urban design study.

program housing, infrastructure, working & mixed-use areas, green open spaces, agriculture, water SOUTH WING SOUTH HOLLAND

project : "Ruimtelijke verbeeldingen" . photo Credit by Maxwan Photo from :http://www.maxwan.com/project/max126/image/1596/

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Hsueh-Hsien Hsieh + Sheng-Wei Shih

POST GRADUATE WILLIAM KINNE FELLOWS TRAVELING PRIZES 2009

Macro

Green Heart Holland, the country which 1/4 of the land is lower than sea level, has explored how to live with nature for hundreds of years. To live in a country where most of the land was original wet meadow, Holland has to strive to acquire lands from wetlands or water, while at the same time protect its natural environment. This geographic feature and historic background shapes the Green Heart and the conurbation named the Randstad (Rim city).

The Randstad consists of the 4 largest Dutch cities (Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht), and the surrounding areas, while Green Heart is the area with wet meadows and marshland, which is why most of the area are used for agriculture and peat production.

To protect its natural system and prevent urban sprawl, Holland has had strict regulation on building houses in Green Heart for forty years. What is ironic is the more effort they make on protecting this manmade nature, the more towns and cities emerge in Green Heart. Over the last 25 years, the number of houses in the restrictive areas has doubled, and 43% of new houses in Holland were built in Green Heart between 1989 and 1994, against 29% in the existing urban concentrations and 28% in suburban locations. [1] The original spatial planning policy on Green Heart was mainly based on environmental protection, but it turns out the opposite result.

Does the effort they had made for forty years really protect their nature?

What does green really mean when talking about environmental issues?

Are there more possible methodologies that we can analyze Green Heart other than raising the notion of protection?

1950

2000 Source from Werk Pro Gramma page 7, Atelier Zuidvleuge Marrt 2006

[1] Sybrand P. Tjallingii, Ecology on the edge: Landscape and ecology between town and country

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Hsueh-Hsien Hsieh + Sheng-Wei Shih

Micro

POST GRADUATE WILLIAM KINNE FELLOWS TRAVELING PRIZES 2009

Inside Green Heart, there are small cites and towns distributed around the area. We identify 4 sites to be studied in local scale. Each site has its unique geographic feature and different interrelationship among land, water, and infrastructure.

In addition, there are few more small towns and villages outside of these small cities. Based on its distinct conditions of transportation and landscape, types of land use also differ from one to another. We will use Schoonhoven and Gouda as examples to illustrate how we plan to study these inner cities and towns.

Amsterdam

Green Heart

Alphen aan den Rijn Woerden Utrecht

Hague

Gouda

Rotterdam

Land

Railroad

Water

Highway

Schoonhoven

Woerden – The city in the middle of Green Heart Will more cities emerge from Green Heart if Holland keeps the same spatial planning?

Land: residential and commercial Water: canal Infrastructure: railway, highway Gouda – Original marshland Is living on a lake ruining the nature or living with the nature?

What if this is the way human will have to live when most of the current land is submerged?

Land: agriculture Water: marsh, irrigation Infrastructure: Highway, canal Schoonhoven – Hub of waterway Why can waterscape only be served as recreation or transportation?

Should the waterfront stay protected or make it more accessible?

Land: residential Water: transportation, recreation Infrastructure: waterway

Alphen aan den Rijn – Eco park If there is a growing demeand on floriculture and eco-park, should we expand the manmade landscape by taking more marshland?

Land: residential and agriculture Water: transportation, recreation, irrigation Infrastructure: railway, highway

To

am erd Rott

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Hsueh-Hsien Hsieh + Sheng-Wei Shih

Schoonhoven

POST GRADUATE WILLIAM KINNE FELLOWS TRAVELING PRIZES 2009

Description of sites Situated on the Lek River, Schoonhoven is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland.

The city’s economy and cultural development strongly depends on the Lek River for its importance of waterways shipping commodity from Rotterdam to Germany. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the banks of the Lek River have been connected by a ferry service, which allows vehicles and pedestrians going across the river.

Since the remaining medieval entrance gate of Schoonhoven still functions as a water barrier today, our main issue in Schoonhoven is the regulation of Lek River. Before Industrial Revolution, Schoonhoven was the city where people made living from shipping, beer brewing, hemp growing, cattle breeding, fishing. The challenge in the city is if there is any remediation can be applied for the river.

Specific Objectives Question?

Why can waterscape only be served as recreation or transportation?

Should the waterfront stay protected or make it more accessible?

We will visit Municipality of Schoonhoven to meet with officials to learn how the municipality regulates the river at the present. We will also study the residential housings built along the riverbank to evaluate whether this is way to live with nature or nibble away the natural wetland.

B

A

Veerpont Schoonhoven, entrance gate of ferry

About Schoonhoven Area (2006)

Population (1,Jan,2007)

Total: 6.96 km2 Land: 6.34 km2 Water: 0.63 km2

Population: 12,195 Density: 1,924/km2 Source: CBS, Statline.

Waterfront Amsterdam

To Utrecht

D C

Schoonhoven A

Waterfront

Utrecht

Hague

B

Lek River Rotterdam

To Rotterdam

Schoonhoven

C

D

am erd Rott To

Photo by pdinger

At the river Lek near Lopik

Photo by tidav29

Typical landscape at site

Land: residential Water: transportation, recreation Infrastructure: waterway

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Hsueh-Hsien Hsieh + Sheng-Wei Shih

Gouda

POST GRADUATE WILLIAM KINNE FELLOWS TRAVELING PRIZES 2009

Description of sites Gouda is a city and municipality in the western Netherlands. It was originally marshland and covered with a peat forest, crossed by small creeks. By 1225, a canal was linked to the Gouwe and its estuary was transformed into a harbour. Because of its rail and highway connections, Gouda is also famous for its one day trip. The city is also one of the transportation hubs connecting the Hague and Rotterdam to Utrecht. About 3 km northeast of Gouda, there is a village named Sluipwijk surrounded by the lakes. On the north side of Gouda, there is village named Molenvliet living on agriculture.

Specific Objectives Question?

Is living on a lake ruining the nature or living with the nature?

What if this is the way human will have to live when most of the current land is submerged?

We will visit Municipality of Gouda and interview with officials to understand the role that the municipality plays in cooperating agriculture with village of Molenvliet. We will also document the residential housings built on the lake to evaluate whether this is a way to ruin the nature or is a potential attempt to live with nature.

About Gouda To

A

ht Utrec

Area (2006)

Population (1,Jan,2007)

Total: 18.10 km2 Land: 16.92 km2 Water: 1.19 km2

Population: 71,873 Density: 4,189/km2 Source: CBS, Statline.

B

Amsterdam

To Hague

Gouda Utrecht

C

To

Ro t

te

rd a

m

Hague

A. Agriculture on Marshland

Land: agriculture Water: marsh, irrigation Infrastructure: Highway, canal

Gouda

Rotterdam

B. Living on the water

C. Living on the water

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Hsueh-Hsien Hsieh + Sheng-Wei Shih

POST GRADUATE WILLIAM KINNE FELLOWS TRAVELING PRIZES 2009

Itinerary

Schedule Day plan: 15 days Amsterdam

Day 0

Leave New York (JFK)

Day 1

City Amsterdam Arrive Amsterdam (Schiphol Airport) Morning: take train / Schiphol Airport - Amsterdam Afternoon: Visit: landscape and urban design office. bike tour around Amsterdam

Day 2

City Amsterdam - Leiden - Alphen ann Den Rijn Morning: take train / Amsterdam - Leiden - Alphen ann Den Rijn.

Afternoon:bike tour around Alphen ann Den Rijn district

Day 3

City Alphen ann Den Rijn Morning: ride bike to Heempark and Zegerplas Lake Afternoon:Vogelpark Avifauna, (Avifauna Bird Park)

Day 4

City Alphen ann Den Rijn - Boskoop Morning: take train / Alphen ann Den Rijn - Boskoop Afternoon: bike tour around floricultural land in Boskoop

Day 5

City Alphen ann Den Rijn - Gouda Morning: take train / Alphen ann Den Rijn - Gouda Afternoon:bike tour around Gouda district

Day 6

City Gouda Morning: ride bike to Sluipwijk Afternoon: bike tour around Reeuwijk

Day 7

City Gouda Eco-tour in Gouda

Day 8

City Gouda - the Hague Morning: take train / Gouda - the Hague bike tour around Hague Afternoon:ride bike to Den Deijl

Day 9

City the Hague - Rotterdam Morning: Visit: Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and the Environment (VROM) Afternoon:take train / the Hague - Rotterdam bike tour around Rotterdam

Day10

City Rotterdam Morning: Harbour Park, Rotterdam Visit:West 8 Office Afternoon:Visit: Maxwan Architect (South Wing project) Visit:Atelier Zuidvleugel (South Wing project) take waterbus / Rotterdam - Schoonhoven

Day11

City Schoonhoven - Gelkenes - Nieuwpoort Morning: take water ferry / Schoonhoven - Gelkenes bike tour around Gelkenes and Nieuwpoort Afternoon:Eco-Tour

Day12

City Schoonhoven - Woerden Morning: take bus / Schoonhoven - Woerden Afternoon:bike tour around Woerden

Day13

City Diemerbroek - Papekop Morning: ride bike to Diemerbroek Afternoon:bike tour around Diemerbroek and Papekop

Day14

City Woerden - Utrecht - Amsterdam Morning: take train / Woerden - Utrecht Afternoon:Leidsche Rijn Park take train / Utrecht- Amsterdam

Day15

City Amsterdam Morning: take train / Amsterdam - Schiphol Airport Leave Amsterdam (Schiphol Airport)

Alphen aan den Rijn Woerden

Hague

Utrecht

Gouda

Rotterdam

Schoonhoven

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Hsueh-Hsien Hsieh + Sheng-Wei Shih

Budget

POST GRADUATE WILLIAM KINNE FELLOWS TRAVELING PRIZES 2009

From New York to Amsterdam

Holland

Flight Depart New York (JFK) Depart Amsterdam (Schiphol) Fare Summary: Round Trip

Arrive Amsterdam (Schiphol) Arrive New York (JFK) 2 Adults $ 1,566

Ground Transportation 2 Adults 2 Adults

Eurorail Global Pass Bike Rental

$ 1,034 $ 450

Waterbus Depart Rotterdam Fare Summary: 1 ride

Arrive Schoonhoven 2 Adults $ 100

Hotel Amsterdam Alphen_aan_den_Rijn Gouda Hague Rotterdam Schoonhoven Woerden

2 2 3 1 2 2 2

nights nights nights nights nights nights nights

2 2 2 2 2 2 2

Adults Adults Adults Adults Adults Adults Adults

$ $ $ $ $ $ $

300 200 300 150 300 200 200

2 Adults

$ 1,650

1 day trip of Eco-tour(Woerdan)

2 Adults

$ 200

Total

2 Adults

$ 5,000

Fare Summary: 14 nights

Eco-tour

Flight

15days

Train

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

POST GRADUATE WILLIAM KINNE FELLOWS TRAVELING PRIZES 2009

Hsueh-Hsien Hsieh + Sheng-Wei Shih

Related Project Visit

Leidsche Rijn Park de Meern, The Netherlands Design: West 8 Status: Accomplished

Noorderpark Amsterdam Amsterdam, The Netherlands Design: West 8 Status: Under Construction

Harbour Park Rotterdam, The Netherlands Design: Maxwan Status: Planning

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Hsueh-Hsien Hsieh + Sheng-Wei Shih

Contacts

POST GRADUATE WILLIAM KINNE FELLOWS TRAVELING PRIZES 2009

Contacts & Advisors Nadia Casabella Previous project leader research, Atelier Zuidvleugel Centre for Urban Research COSMOPOLIS - City, Culture & Society Vrije Universiteit Brussel room 6F329 Pleinlaan 2 1050 Brussels Tel: 02 629 31 85 GSM: 0485 078 670 nadia@atelierzuidvleugel.nl Email: nadia.casabella@vub.ac.be

Paul Gerretsen Principal, Atelier Zuidvleugel Zuid-Hollandplein 1 (A0.61) 2596 AW Den Haag (The Hague) Email: paul@atelierzuidvleugel.nl paul@gerretsen.demon.nl

Tel: +31 (0)70 441 83 05

Ir. Henk de zeeuw senior advisor, ETC-Urban Agriculture (ETC-UA) Kastanjelaan 5, 3833 AN Leusden, The Netherlands

Tel: +31 (0)33 432 60 00

Email: h.dezeeuw@etcnl.nl

Anticipated Contacts Reinoud Bakker Regional planner and landscape architect Province of Noord-Holland the Netherlands Provincie Noord-Holland, Postbus 123, 2000 MD Haarlem

Tel: +31 (0)23 514 3516

Email: bakkerr@noord-holland.nl

Adriaan Geuze Principal, West 8 urban design & landscape architecture Schiehaven 13M

3024 EC Rotterdam

The Netherlands

Tel. +31 (0) 10 485 5801

Rients Dijkstra Director, Maxwan Vlaardingweg 62, 3044CK Rotterdam, the Netherlands

Tel: +31 (0) 415 2999

Email: rientsd@maxwan.com

Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment (VROM) VROM is a political organisation operating under the leadership of two ministers.

One of the most important guidelines for VROM is Sustainable development; Managing the living environment, energy, raw material and nature in a way that will allow future generations to benefit from them optimally.

Rijnstraat 8, 2515 XP Den Haag (The Hague) ,The Netherlands Tel: + 31 (0)70 339 5050

Web: http://www.vrom.nl/

Email: info@vrom.nl

Groene Hart, Bureau Voor Toerisme This is a tourist information offices providing the service of eco-tours around Green Heart.

VVV Gouda, Markt 27, 2801 JJ Gouda, The Netherlands Tel: +31 182 511300 E-mail: info@vvvgouda.nl Web: www.vvvgouda.nl

VVV Schoonhoven, Stadhuisstraat 1, 2871 BR Schoonhoven, The Netherlands Tel: +31 182 385009

Web: www.vvvschoonhoven.nl

E-mail: info@vvvschoonhoven.nl

GRADUATE SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, PLANNING AND PRESERVATION COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY

Hsueh-Hsien Hsieh + Sheng-Wei Shih

POST GRADUATE WILLIAM KINNE FELLOWS TRAVELING PRIZES 2009

References

Bibliography – Nadia CasGreer, Jed, Greenwash: The Reality Behind Corporate Environmentalism, Apex Press, 1997 Gottfried, David, Greed to Green, WorldBuild Publishing, 2004 The "Randstad"; the urbanized zone of the Netherlands, Netherlands. Ministerie van Volkshuisvesting en Ruimtelijke Ordening. Afdeling Voorlichting, 1970 Margolis, Liat, Living Systems: Innovative Materials and Technologies for Landscape Architecture, Birkhäuser Basel, 2007 Lootsma, Bart, Adriaan Geuze : West 8 : landschapsarchitectuur = landscape architecture, Rotterdam Uitgeverij 010, 1995 Waldheim, Charles, The Landscape Urbanism Reader, Princeton Architectural Press, 2006 Lukez, Paul, Suburban Transformations, Princeton Architectural Press, 2007 Green, Bryn,Threatened Landscapes: Conserving Cultural Environments, Spon Press, 2001 Friedman,Thomas, Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution--and How It Can Renew America, Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2008

Other References – Tjallingii, Sybrand, Ecology on the edge: Landscape and ecology between town and country, Landscape and Urban Planning 48 (2000) 103-119 Kühn, Manfred, Greenbelt and Green Heart: separating and integrating landscapes in European city regions, Landscape and Urban Planning 64 (2003) 19–27 France, Robert, Green World, Gray Heart?: The Promise and the Reality of Landscape Architecture in Sustaining Nature, Harvard Design Magazine, Spring/Summer 2003, Number 18 van der Valk, Arnold and Faludi, Andreas, THE GREEN HEART AND THE DYNAMICS OF DOCTRINE Bakker, Reinoud, Towards an attractive and sustainable metropolis in the Dutch delta: Development scenario 2040 for Amsterdam metropolitan Area in an uniquely open and forthright process, Metropoolregio Amsterdam, http://www.metropoolregioamsterdam.nl/ Veen, Pieter, Green Hart Holland, Building with water: desigtrategies for sustainable developement of a Dutch landscapePieter, VISTA landscape and urban design, http://www.vista.nl/content/index2.html