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Research The Groningen Research Institute for the Study of Culture (ICOG) Research Research centres Research Centre for Arts in Society Theme groups

Cultural Landscapes

The theme group Cultural Landscapes focuses on both fundamental as well as applied research in the field of historical and cultural landscape studies. Members of the group research varied themes, from the landscapes of the Wadden Sea and Zuiderzee to historical ecology as tool for spatial planning.

Project showcase

An example of research within this theme group is the project ‘Landscape, society and economy in the Pleistocene sandy areas of the Low Countries during the Middle Ages and Early Modern Period’. Using concepts and methods from the disciplines of landscape history, socio-economic history and the history of law comparative studies will be done of the influence of social and political institutions, legal relations and socio-economic structures on cultural landscape formation, and vice versa. Comparative studies of various microregions and regions in The Netherlands such as Drenthe, Twente, Salland, Achterhoek, Veluwe, Utrecht and Noord-Brabant should lead to a deeper understanding of the chronology and spatial variation of medieval landscape formation. At a later stage these studies can be compared and integrated with those in Flanders, Northern Germany and Western Denmark in order to develop multivariate models and new theories on the interrelations mentioned above.

Involved researchers
  • Theo Spek
  • Yme Kuiper
  • Jeroen Benders
  • Elyze Storms-Smeets
  • Vera Damayanti MSc
  • Diana Spiekhout MA
  • Jeroen Zomer
  • Martin van den Broeke (external PhD student)
  • Rita Radetzky (external PhD student)
  • Harm Smeenge (external PhD student)
  • Willem Vletter (external PhD student)
  • Bart Wever (external PhD student)
Co-operating partners

This theme group works in co-operation with the Groningen Institute for Archeology.

Last modified:19 January 2023 12.37 p.m.