Beyond the Sport Fields, the Gardens of Dordwijk

MADE POSSIBLE BY CRA YOUNG INNOVATORS PROGRAMME


Every year College van Rijksadviseurs organises the “Young Innovators Program” to give several teams of architects, urbanists and landscape architects the opportunity to look beyond daily practices and come up with new perspectives in their professions. This year, Zuzana Jancovicova and I are selected to be part of the program together and are focusing on the topic of spatial justice. We are asked by the City of Dordrecht to work on Dordwijkzone, which they aspire to transform into a big city park that is ecologically healthy and socially inclusive. Making an attempt to define what ‘just space’ means is not straightforward as it might be influenced by our personal and professional backgrounds, and it might need to be adjusted as the way we understand the world changes. We define just space as the space where all social groups and life forms can exist and thrive together. We choose this definition because we want to highlight the social and ecological components of spatial justice. We argue that in our world today, it is not possible to achieve social justice without also achieving ecological justice and vice versa. In our research we learn from the writings of Susan Fainstein, Kate Raworth and Bruno Latour. We look for ways to translate the existing theory of spatial justice into spatial design solutions and strategies, in order to better understand our role as designers in increasing urban justice in today’s cities.  

Compass of spatial justice

“Beyond the Sport Fields, The Gardens of Dordwijk is a design-research on the topic of just city and its spatial implications for the transformation of Dordwijkzone (Dordrecht) into an urban park. We approach urban spatial justice from ecological and social perspectives, and based on this, define a set of parameters to move towards a more just city. The research indicates existing sports fields in Dordwijkzone as a threat to social and ecological justice, and therefore also a threat to the ambition of creating a park for all - people, animals and plants of Dordrecht. We aim to outline a method for developing sport landscapes as a healthy and inclusive part of the future park. To this end, we propose place-specific design principles that are based on fairness and diversity, and a complementary democratic management strategy. The project advocates for identifying a renewed narrative for sport - a new approach that relates physical activities to the characteristics of the landscape. We use the metaphor of ‘gardens’ as an instrument to design, as well as to create meaning and stimulate connection between the people of Dordrecht and their park. Making use of three typologies of gardens with distinguishing identities, we show how strengthening the unique qualities of landscape can lead to diverse and healthy spatial solutions, as much as honest and inclusive use of public space.


Future of Dordwijkzone as a just city park

Threats to social and ecological justice in Dordwijkzone





In collaboration with Zuzana Jančovičová.

*This project is originally developed in Dutch.

Download the project book here. (Available only in Dutch)

Discover other projects by the ‘Young Innovators’ of 2021 here. (Available only in Dutch)

Location                       

Dordrecht, Netherlands

Year                              

2021

Clients

College van Rijksadviseurs, Gemeente Dordrecht