Circulation is a proposal to develop a sustainable water system embedded in a landscape development plan for the island of Goeree-Overflakkee in the province of Zeeland. It was the forthcoming opening of the Haringvliet sluices that led us to reflect on the landscape and water system of this island. This act will endanger the freshwater facilities particularly for agriculture. An additional factor was the island's formation, which has left numerous layers in the landscape - creeks, dyke embankments, parcelling of the polders - that are only barely discernible today.

The creeks are brought back into view and worked up into a system of collecting and draining off polder water. Surplus water from the winter period can be stored there to compensate for shortages in summer. A stable brackish and ecologically advantageous water system can be created by leaving the polder water as it in summer instead of flushing in through with fresh water contained by the Haringvliet lock sluices. Laying out a separate network of drainage ditches fed from the eastern part of the island where the waters of Haringvliet stay free of seawater, takes care of irrigation. The lowest parts of some polders are reserved for accepting potential flood water. This new water system is part of a landscape plan intended to bring the genesis of the island into greater prominence. The landscape development plan accentuates the hierarchy among types of embankments. It likewise makes the different polder types easier to distinguish between by varying the degree of open space.

Old landscape elements get new duties to perform in the scheme, thus safeguarding their continued existence. In the new constellation creeks, dykes and parcelling retell the story of the island's origins. This way the future of Goeree-Overflakkee as an agricultural island is assured, while beyond the dykes the natural estuary can be reinstated in greater freedom than has been the case.

Place of education: LU Wageningen
Specialization: landscape architecture
Tutors: Michaël van Buuren & Klaas Kerkstra