Participation in the Dorschkamp area vision

Witteveen+Bos began drafting an area vision for the Dorschkamp area in Wageningen in the summer of 2020. This is a special and unique (forest) area on the edge of the Hoge Veluwe National Park, which features a rich cultural history and a huge diversity of recreational, landscape and ecological qualities. The area concept is the starting shot for the development into a high-quality and unique housing location.

The most important starting point for the development is that the existing core values must not be allowed to deteriorate, and that they should be strengthened wherever possible. At least 15 % of the homes to be built should also be social housing, and 15 % medium rental. This is a challenging task: the plan must be both affordable and have sufficient support. To this end, an intensive participation process was conducted with local residents, social organisations, landowners and policymakers in the spirit of the new Environment Act.

The first meeting between the Witteveen+Bos project teams and the municipality of Wageningen occurred in September 2020. The project team were guests at the Wagenings Wijngoed vineyard: an inspiring setting situated in the planning area. The project team members went into the area to photograph the Dorschkamp. Wishes, concerns, insights and opportunities were shared on the basis of these photos. Witteveen+Bos then conducted an ecological and landscape baseline survey, clarifying the core qualities.

The results of this study were presented at the Wagenings Wijngoed during the first participation meeting with the local community in September. Trends and developments for the area were discussed, based on a range of sketch maps.

The second and third participation meetings, in November and January respectively, were held digitally because of corona. Four alternatives were drawn up from the baseline measurements, to explore the developmental directions. These alternatives were presented to the local community and were discussed and assessed jointly during the second session. Guiding principles, preconditions and starting points were drawn up from this. An interactive design session was held at the third meeting, to assess the confrontation between the alternatives and design choices for developing the area. Ideas could be shared throughout the process on the municipality’s online participation platform, ‘De stem van Wageningen’ (the voice of Wageningen).