Dutch Landscape: Theory, Method and Critical Thinking

The course addresses the structures, layers, and components of the Dutch landscape and combines the following knowledge fields: historical-geography, polder history, water management, morphology, landscape ecology (e.g., gradients, plant geography), environmental philosophy (visions to landscape and nature) and social geography. Different analytical techniques: cartography, photography, layer analysis, narratives, etc. will be used to reveal and represent the identity - which is: landscape forming processes and their topographic appearance - of a specific landscape. You learn how to critically evaluate your insights into the different aspects of landscapes in a descriptive well-illustrated document that takes the shape of a landscape biography. You need to elaborate on the outcome of the analyses as input for future transformations.

Presentation of a landscape as a living archive, in text and visually.

The theory course is awarded a grade that is a whole or half number between 1.0 and 10.0. Students pass the course with a 6.0 or higher. With a grade below 6.0: students who presented assessable work during the course are allowed to do a repair to change the grade into a ‘pass’. The repair is unsupervised and needs to be completed within two weeks after the end of the course. For students with a grade below 5.0 a repair is not advised, because the chance of success is low.

When the repair is unsuccessful, the student needs to follow the entire course again. In this case we offer students the opportunity to retake the course during the summer period to avoid substantial delay in the study, since the Landscape Architecture track offers all courses of MSc1 and MSc2 only once per year. The student needs to contact the course coordinator in June to start planning for tutoring during the summer break.