How historical knowledge of Gelderland’s landscapes can help inform today’s decisions

03 October 2025 Research news item

When walking through the landscapes of Gelderland, one primarily sees the present. But to truly understand how the environment has been shaped, one must pay attention to decisions made in the past. That was the message of Elyze Storms-Smeets, Professor of Gelderland History at Radboud University, during her inaugural lecture on 2 October. In her address, she also advocated for inclusivity, emphasizing the importance of involving as many different groups of people as possible in landscape planning. “Participation is still too often treated as a box to tick rather than an opportunity for long-term collaboration.”

It may seem illogical: building houses in low-lying areas that used to be allowed to flood. Yet it happens regularly. “This is an example of ignoring deliberate landscape decisions from the past”, Storms-Smeets explains. “As a result, houses have been built in flood-prone areas. Lessons from history could have prevented that.”

The importance of collaboration

Storms-Smeets therefore calls for a conscious look at the past when developing landscape plans. “Especially now, because we are facing major challenges”, she says. She points to issues such as housing construction, agricultural and energy transitions, water safety, and infrastructure expansion. “These are developments that will once again reshape our landscape. It helps to consider the long-term trajectory that communities have followed over the centuries. In doing so, we learn how people made deliberate choices regarding their living environment. Their decisions from the past can offer us valuable insights today.”

Storms-Smeets also stresses the importance of not viewing landscapes solely in spatial-functional terms. “See them also as social and societal systems”, she says. “Take the area around the Baakse Beek in the Achterhoek, which has been struggling with drought for a long time. That’s the result of a decision made in the 1950s to drain water as quickly as possible. To find solutions now, the water authority is working with farmers, citizens, estate owners, land agents, tenants, and volunteers. Such collaborations are necessary to tackle big challenges.”

Representation of history

Collaboration is also essential for the preservation of (green) heritage and heritage participation, according to Storms-Smeets. “Because heritage belongs to everyone. That’s stated in the European Faro Convention, which the Netherlands has co-signed. The question is: is everyone involved in heritage? Does everyone feel heard? Do people see themselves reflected in how history and heritage are presented? Often, the answer is no. If we want more inclusivity — and we do — we need to broaden our view to include stories in which more groups of people can see themselves, which means engaging in inclusive historical practice.”

As an example, she cites heritage participation in public parks. “Often, it’s still the ‘usual suspects’ who have influence: usually white, highly educated, older men. As a result, you miss other groups, who now say they don’t feel connected to those parks because their stories aren’t being told there. For example, during conversations with my students and me, members of the Caribbean community in Arnhem said they missed their story. Despite the sensitive nature of the colonial past, they find it important that their history is still shared.”

According to Storms-Smeets, public spaces offer the possibility to tell multiple stories side by side. “In the same park where attention could be paid to the story of the Caribbean community, the history of the systematic exclusion of the Jewish community during the Second World War could also be acknowledged. These are layers that most people don’t even notice when they walk into a park. We don’t need to build a monument for every group, but it is important to think together about what these layers mean to people.”

As a landscape historian and historical geographer, she calls for conversations with as many people as possible and for their stories to be given a place within the landscape. “We still need to take a step forward here, because participation is still too often seen as a checklist item instead of a chance for lasting collaboration. As the lead of the regional research agenda, my goal is to help bring about that change. The key message is that landscapes and communities are intertwined, connected through time and space. A landscape tells us who lived there, but also how people shaped it. Landscapes and communities belong together: they cannot be viewed in isolation from one another.”

Contact information

Organizational unit: Faculty of Arts, Radboud Institute for Culture and History
Theme: History