Open Call: Future-proof rural area #1

The Creative Industries Fund NL wants to connect and strengthen spatial policy at all scale levels and is launching the new Spatial Design Voucher Scheme for this purpose. The scheme has a term of one year and is in line with the major tasks from the National Environmental Vision (NOVI). The Open Call Future-proof rural area #1 focuses on the relationship between city and country, but also on the future of our production landscapes. Submit your application no later than September 30, 2021!

Open Call Future-proof rural area #1

• budget € 500,000
• continuous submission from 1 July to 30 September 2021
• results will follow within six weeks after submission
• project start date within one month after granting
• project duration is 1 to 3 months
• €10,000 to €30,000 incl. VAT per innovation voucher
• about 25 proposals will be selected
• Positively assessed proposals submitted no later than 16 August will meet in week 36 for the start of the knowledge exchange process
• Positively assessed proposals submitted no later than 30 September will meet in week 42 for the start of the knowledge exchange process

Two-thirds of the Dutch land area is used by farmers, where mainly intensive agriculture and livestock farming are practiced. This focus on large-scale production means that the natural balance has become subordinate to the yields. Water management mainly serves agriculture, and drainage of vulnerable soil (such as in peat meadow areas) leads to further subsidence. Fertilisation causes an excess of nitrogen, causing plant and animal species to disappear.

The major national tasks such as the energy transition, climate adaptation and the need to reduce nitrogen offer opportunities to also consider the design of our large-scale production landscapes. Can we restore a natural balance that can reconcile sustainable production and natural values? Can agriculture also contribute to raw materials for, for example, the production of circular building materials for the major housing project that is in the pipeline, for example in the form of production forests? And can we – assuming that the Netherlands is a large park landscape where habitation and production coexist – achieve a more sustainable relationship between city and country?

In any case, what is certain is that the layout of the rural area of the future is a major design task that we should not let go of. Here are opportunities to create living and production environments that reinforce each other and can lead to sustainable models, not only in economic terms, but also in terms of spatial quality, health and quality of life.

Who is this call for?
Interested public or semi-public organisations, such as municipalities, provinces, water boards, housing corporations, care institutions and implementing organisations - but also regional partnerships between these parties - can submit an application for an innovation voucher together with spatial designers and researchers.

This call is aimed at innovators who want to collaborate in an investigative way with local and regional partners on opportunities and solutions to strengthen the vitality of cities and villages towards the future. These vouchers are intended to finance the costs of research by design into a concrete case or design question, with specific attention also being paid to the way in which collaboration takes place and results and insights are shared.

When a (semi) public organisation submits the application, this party must enclose a quote from the designer(s)/researcher(s) to be involved with its application. When designer(s)/researcher(s) submit the application, they must enclose with the application a declaration of intent from the public or semi-public organisation with which they will collaborate.

More information on the website of the Creative Industries Fund NL