With approximately one building plot per three hectares, housing, intensive agriculture, industry, nature, water and recreation are becoming increasingly concentrated in the FoodValley, resulting in fragmentation and imbalance.

At the same time, the area offers plenty of opportunities. Agricultural estates becoming available, sustainable agriculture, nature development and new forms of housing can contribute to a more resilient area. The key lies not in yet more rules, but in reorganising local collaboration.

OverErven is about restoring (local) initiative and scope for action to the area. It offers a practical approach to creating breathing space once again. The government sets clear objectives and frameworks, but local communities determine for themselves how to translate these into their landscape. The area plan can then be legally enshrined. In this way, innovation, nature restoration and a sustainable economy are given the space to flourish together.

OverErven refers to three levels of scale and three layers of time: across the farmsteads, where healthy living environments are created; across the farmsteads, where connections and room for manoeuvre are organised on a larger scale; and ‘passing on’, meaning the transmission of a healthy living environment to future generations.

Together with H+N+S landscape architects and Wing, Witteveen+Bos brought together the spatial, ecological, social and economic challenges in an integrated and design-led manner. Witteveen+Bos also provided the financial analysis and justification for the area.

Local stakeholders, including healthcare institutions, farmers and residents, have enriched the vision with their local knowledge, practical experience and diverse perspectives on the future of the FoodValley. As a result, OverErven is not only an inspiring vision, but also a workable approach to health and happiness in the FoodValley.

The foundation for the solution lies in forming land-based communities: area-specific landscape cooperatives comprising farmers, citizens and country dwellers. Together, those involved draw up an area plan in which local initiatives and interests are linked to regional challenges. The ‘ground-based alliances’ carry out this work within ‘pioneering areas’ selected by the government. Pioneering areas are locations where space is created for new combinations of housing, agriculture, nature and landscape restoration.

In this form of collaboration, land values, costs, revenue and social benefits are fairly linked: one party’s profit thus helps to support the other’s development. This creates scope to relocate functions, voluntarily exchange land and jointly facilitate investments in the landscape, agriculture and the living environment. This creates the necessary flexibility to ensure that functions are situated in the right places.

The starting point for OverErven is the regional frameworks and the government’s designation of pioneer areas. Within these, farmers, citizens and other landowners voluntarily form a land alliance. They bring together their land holdings, ambitions and challenges and, together with residents and other stakeholders, develop these into an area plan.

This area plan is supplemented with a financial and planning framework. Changes in land value, investments, management and social performance are made transparent and collectively balanced. Through this collective approach, housing development, nature conservation, agricultural business development and landscape restoration, for example, can reinforce one another.

In the next step, the land partnership implements concrete measures. Long-term agreements on landscape management, agricultural nature conservation and recreational facilities ensure that the quality of the area is maintained. The area plan is periodically adapted to new initiatives and changing challenges. This creates both a learning organisation and an active, dynamic area, rather than a one-off, final vision.

*OverErven: breathing space for the FoodValley has been selected by the expert jury for the regional final of the Eo Wijers Competition 2025–2026 for the FoodValley region.