A biography of the cultural landscape in the eastern Netherlands: theory and practice of acquisition and propagation of knowledge

For many years, archaeologists and historical geographers have been aware of a significant lacuna in research on the eastern Netherlands. Currently, urbanization, industrialization, water management measures and nature development projects have a growing impact on the landscape of this region. The Eastern Netherlands Project has two main objectives. The first is to construct a comprehensive image of the biography of the cultural landscape. Second, it is essential that knowledge be exchanged with policymakers, planners, landscape architects and the local population in order to ensure that the information gathered has an impact on the way cultural heritage values are dealt with in spatial planning. We focus principally on the experiences that have been gained with the implementation of the central concepts of the programme, namely biography of the landscape, interdisciplinarity and transdisciplinarity. Biography of the landscape is a concept that is open to many interpretations. This project emphasizes the dynamics of a landscape that has been affected by human interaction. Essentially this leads to a diachronic scientific description of the morphological aspects, namely objects, patterns and structures in the manmade environment. Interdisciplinarity is essential for research into the origins of the cultural landscape. Various kinds of expertise are needed to discover what developments caused the complex landscapes of the eastern Netherlands. Transdisciplinarity primarily concerns problems of a philosophical and communicative nature. What is the relationship between the knowledge of the ‘experts’ and the ‘common people’ and how does this affect future developments? Finally, this paper presents the final results from the three leading concepts, showing the new understanding gained from this research.