• Ioanna Virvidaki
  • Nomadic Territories. Reconceptualizing resilience in the Wadden Sea Region. The experiment of Texel.
– Wadden Sea Region, Texel Island
The pressure: Current neoliberal global tendencies together with the opportunistic mentality towards natural resources, decrease ecosystems capacity, manifesting a socio – economic development where “more is more”, with evident impacts on the territory.
The scope of this graduation thesis is to examine up to what extent nomadism as a way of life and human existence can inform spatial planning and landscape design concerning risk mitigation and adaptation to the uncertainty of the future, and eventually, reconceptualise the resilience framework within the spatial context of the Wadden Sea Region. The thesis starts with an inquiry around the very notion of nomadism, outlining the figure of the nomad in relation to the territory, as a habitat and as a field of knowledge. Nomadic territories are distinguished by co – habitation between human and nature systems accompanied by a synchronized performance of natural and anthropogenic agents. The nomad is fully embedded with the territory and its nature, meaning that he or she is not only aware but also part of the biophysical cycle. The ex ante of Sámi contributes to the establishment and definition of the nomadic paradigm and simultaneously supports the previous argument. A hypothesis transition moves the scope of the study from Sápmi to the Wadden Sea Region, aiming at testing how the nomadic paradigm could trigger a shift in the way sedentary civilization, currently based on permanence, stability and over – exploitation of ecosystems carrying capacity, values the landscape.
The analysis and diagnosis of the multifaceted pressures related to climate change and human activity in the Wadden Sea Region highlight the urgency for a new balance between economy and ecology, based on co – habitation and de – growth. A shift towards the nomadic paradigm, thus, seems extremely relevant. Following this, an evolutionarily adaptive strategic framework is developed and applied on Texel Island which becomes an “in situ” experiment. Here, the strategic actions turn into place specific (plug in) design interventions. The living lab of Texel is an iterative, robust, open innovation ecosystem, where water management, land use and human activity are reprogrammed through design, in a way that mitigates risk, enhances the island’s adaptive capacity, activates awareness and participation of permanent and temporary actors, towards a sustainable development that will set a (neo nomadic) example for the Wadden Sea Region as a whole. Rohkramer, T. Schulz, F. R. (2009) Space, Place and Identities Newcastle University History Compass 7/5: 1338–1349, 10.1111/j.1478-0542.2009.00627.x
The shift: The body within the bottle is the nomad “in co – habitation”, who acquires knowledge from his/her habitat, and therefore is not only aware of the way the territory performs, but also becomes part of it. The nomadic paradigm suggests an alternative territorialisation and, therefore, triggers a shift from normative to adaptive spatial planning.
The design: The depleting polder landscape pattern of Texel, gives its place to an adaptive landscape, alligned with the dynamic interchange between land and water, which reflects the “spatialization of the temporal” (Rohkramer, Schulz, 2009).
Nomadic territories: With the territory being perceived both as a habitat and as a field of knowledge, humans are not only aware of the systems performance and interrelation but they are also part of the biophysical cycle.
The living lab: The living lab of Texel is an iterative, robust, open innovation ecosystem, where water management, land use and human activity are reprogrammed through design, in a way that mitigates risk, enhances the island’s adaptive capacity, activates awareness and participation of actors, towards a sustainable development that will set an example for the broader territory.
Project Soundscape

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Lines of Inquiry

Crisis of representation

Flux, erasure, terraforming