History Matters: The Temporal and Social Dimension of Geodesign

Abstract

In geodesign practice, there is often little regard for the history and heritage of the places subject to design and planning. This is an unnecessary and costly omission. The history of regions and landscapes provides a long-term perspective that informs us of important long-standing processes, whereas heritage practices inform us about central social values to be considered when geodesigning. Incorporating these lead to more thoughtful and suited designs and interventions. Their general omission from geodesign practice is not due to theoretical constraints—the models in Steinitz’s framework indeed lend themselves to the incorporating of historical perspectives. The main problem appears to be designers and planners’ unfamiliarity with historical and heritage concepts and their preference for insights based on quantitative analysis. The chapter introduces the concepts of landscape history and heritage values and explains how these may fruitfully incorporated in geodesign theory and practice with the help of a Spatial Data Infrastructure, using the Dutch river delta as an exemplary case.