Digging into inclusivity in a nature reserve with Staatsbosbeheer
Students from Studio Silva Systems investigated the different uses of Heeze-Leende nature reserve in collaboration with green heritage agency Staatsbosbeheer
BA students within the studio worked collectively on "Traces", an assignment based in Heeze-Lende that asked them to consider the research question: What different types of traces can be observed, how do these occur and what is their impact on the nature reserve?
"It starts with a concrete problem," explained Studio Silva Systems. "A lot of nature reserves are closed for ‘fast’ traffic, such as cyclists, bikers, scooters, mountain bikers, using fences and gates. As a result of these hard borders, people with reduced mobility (using wheelchairs or mobility scooters) cannot access these reserves. Can our students think of other solutions?"
"To make the question wider and more interesting as a research question within our BA-program: how can nature reserves be more inclusive where people, animals and plants/trees can grow, live and recreate next to each other?"
Students were invited to document different signs of human activity, animal presence or climate change, but were also asked to notice what "traces" might be absent, such as tracks from wheelchairs or scooters.
These "traces" were observed, documented and mapped to understand how nature reserves can be more inclusive and people, animals and plants can co-exist in symbiosis.
The assignment was documented in various forms such as sketches, models, recordings and will result in a series of prototypes, design manuals and events.
