Sven StremkeWageningen University & Research | WUR · Landscape Architecture Chair Group
Sven Stremke
PhD MA Dipl.Ing.
About
115
Publications
66,991
Reads
How we measure 'reads'
A 'read' is counted each time someone views a publication summary (such as the title, abstract, and list of authors), clicks on a figure, or views or downloads the full-text. Learn more
1,265
Citations
Introduction
Sven Stremke is Professor for Landscape Architecture at Wageningen University holding a personal chair. His research focuses on the design of sustainable landscapes with special attention to decarbonization. Sven also directs the NRGlab - a laboratory devoted to energy landscapes. He initiated the Wageningen Energy Alliance and is scientific coordinator of Solar Research Programme at WUR.
Additional affiliations
February 2014 - present
Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions (AMS)
Position
- Principal Investigator
Description
- WUR Principal Investigator for Energy at the AMS
Publications
Publications (115)
Public participation in renewable energy projects is required in The Netherlands, as it is key to a socially just energy transition which embraces local and societal concerns. Participatory design processes can address the call for public participation and achieve qualitative aims stated in policy guidelines. However, todays permit procedures of lo...
The need to advance energy transition has arisen from the global challenge of climate change. Shifts to renewable energy sources, such as solar energy, are crucial for reducing carbon emissions and mitigating climate change. The use of agrivoltaics-the combination of food and renewable energy production with photovoltaic technology is gaining scien...
As renewable energy adoption accelerates, solar power plants are being installed at a higher-than-ever rate, frequently occupying agricultural lands. Agrivoltaic systems integrate crop cultivation and electricity production on the same land, providing a solution for the otherwise competing land use demands between energy generation and food product...
As renewable energy adoption accelerates, solar power plants are being installed at a higher-than-ever rate, frequently occupying agricultural lands. Agrivoltaic systems integrate crop cultivation and electricity production on the same land, providing a solution for the otherwise competing land use demands between energy generation and food product...
Climate crisis demands decarbonization of our energy supplies. The upscaling of renewable energy is accelerating around the world. Most renewable energy projects fail to realize values other than reducing greenhouse gas emissions and societal support is eroding. Many critics appropriate 'landscape' to oppose, postpone or reallocate climate action....
The current approach to developing renewable energy projects often faces local opposition and has been said to increase injustice. One way of addressing procedural justice is to include local stakeholders in the design process. However, it can be difficult for lay audiences to understand the technical complexities of solar power plants. We built a...
People often oppose the implementation of flood mitigation measures based on concerns about “spatial quality” (SQ). SQ can be an ambiguous concept, which can function as boundary object that unites stakeholders from various backgrounds. Yet, the ambiguity of SQ can also be misused to justify particular interests, result in unmet expectations and le...
Energy transition has a prominent role in 21st-century urban agendas. Worldwide, cities pursue the local implementation of international, national and regional agendas aiming at a sustainable energy transition. Landscape integration, multifunctionality and community participation are three of the key concepts here. These concepts are interpreted di...
Deze position paper is een coproductie van De Natuur en Milieufederaties (NMF’s) en Wageningen University & Research (WUR). Met het document richten we ons tot de landelijke politici, beleidsmakers en bestuurders die in staat zijn energieopwekking op land naar een hoger plan te tillen – en zo de Nederlandse klimaatdoelen veilig te stellen.
Although the need for climate adaptation and mitigation interventions in the urban realm has been widely acknowledged, comparative analyses of the extent to which such interventions combine the two sides of climate action are scarce. This study examines which climate-responsive design interventions can successfully facilitate climate adaptation and...
Reducing greenhouse gas emissions is a global challenge. Innovative agrivoltaic systems that combine agriculture and solar energy production is one set of the solutions to reduce these emissions. While circularity is a pressing issue in agriculture and landscape experience in solar energy production, these issues have received little attention in r...
The transition to a post-carbon future is in full swing. Across the globe, fossil fuels are giving way to renewable sources of energy, bringing energy provision closer to our homes than we were used to. The development of new energy landscapes, based on techno-economic choices, often meets with resistance. Is there a better way to bridge the growin...
The local implementation of renewable energy projects often faces opposition. The landscape transformation that comes with the transition to renewables is one of the key counter-arguments of local stakeholders. In this article, we examine the relation between research on ‘designing landscape transformations’ and ‘acceptance of renewable energy proj...
Development of ground-mounted solar power plants (SPP) is no longer limited to remote and low population density areas, but arrives in urban and rural landscapes where people live, work and recreate. Societal considerations are starting to change the physical appearance of SPPs, leading to so-called multifunctional SPPs. In addition to electricity...
Solar power plants transform the existing landscape. This landscape change raises concerns about visual impact, land use competition and the end-of-life stage of solar power plants. Existing research stresses the need to address these concerns, arguing for a combined spatial arrangement of solar power plant and landscape: solar landscape. Solar lan...
Local governments are addressing energy transition, one of the prominent sustainability goals in the urban agendas, yet they need to enhance capacity building, therefore engagement with sustainability science and adult learning programs for civil servants are frequently activated. Landscape architects are more frequently called to be boundary spann...
The transition to a low carbon future is an emerging challenge and requires the planning and designing of sustainable energy landscapes - landscapes that provide renewable energy while safeguarding the supply of other ecosystem services. The aim of this paper is to present the application of an ecosystem services trade-off assessment in the develop...
While the transition to renewable energy becomes a main driver of landscape change, few publications discuss the historical transformation of landscapes for the development of energy—commonly referred to as energy landscape. The research reported in this paper investigates the evolution of energy landscapes in the Western Netherlands—a region shape...
Urban metabolism studies have gained momentum in recent years as a means to assess the environmental performance of cities and to point to more resource-efficient strategies for urban development. Recent literature reviews report a growing number of applications of the industrial ecology model for material flow analysis in the design of the built e...
The transition to renewable energy is a powerful driver for large-scale landscape transformation. Environmental design is increasingly engaged in this transition, but little is known about purposefully designed renewable energy landscapes. To improve the design of large-scale energy landscapes we reviewed the literature on three innovative large-sc...
Understanding which factors influence urban metabolism is a prerequisite for designing policies and plans that effectuate sustainable resource management. A growing number of publications is concerned with these factors. Yet, this emerging field of research lacks a common framework that supports researchers in interpreting their findings, such as g...
The transition to renewable energy has started to affect landscapes in many countries, raising the interest of many disciplines. This research examines the involvement and contribution of landscape architects to energy-related projects. It compares the situation in The Netherlands with that in France making use of an online questionnaire. Results s...
The transition to renewable energy has started to affect landscapes in many countries, raising the interest of many disciplines. This research examines the involvement and contribution of landscape architects to energy-related projects. It compares the situation in The Netherlands with that in France making use of an online questionnaire. Results s...
PURPOSE: The purpose of this paper is to enlarge the body of knowledge on research through design (RtD) methods that can be employed by landscape architects and others working on (but not limited to) sustainable energy transition.
METHODOLOGY: A specific approach to RtD – qualitative landscape structure analysis (QLSA) – is introduced and illustra...
The article is a product of the COST RELY Action, it is a glossary: definitions related to renewable energy and landscape quality.
The transition to a low carbon future is starting to affect landscapes around the world. In order for this landscape
transformation to be sustainable, renewable energy technologies should not cause critical trade-offs between the
provision of energy and that of other ecosystem services such as food production. This literature review advances
the bo...
A key issue in implementing adaptation strategies at the landscape level is that landowners take measures on their land collectively. We explored the role of information in collective decision-making in a landscape planning process in the Baakse Beek region, the Netherlands. Information was provided on (a) the degree to which measures contribute to...
In opdracht van de ministeries van EZ, IenM en BZK is een Ruimtelijke Verkenning Energie en Klimaat (Ruimtelijke Verkenning) uitgevoerd naar de ruimtelijke aspecten van de Energietransitie. De verkenning is uitgevoerd door een collectief van ontwerpbureaus, kennisorganisaties en een universiteit, onder begeleiding van een interdepartementaal
team v...
The research presented here examined at which spatial and temporal resolution urban metabolism should be analysed to generate results that are useful for implementation of urban planning and design interventions aiming at optimization of resource flows. Moreover, it was researched whether a lack of data currently hampers analysing resource flows at...
One of the main drivers of landscape transformation has been our demand for energy. We refer to the results of such transformations as "energy landscapes". This paper examines the definition of energy landscapes within a conceptual framework, proposes a classification of energy landscapes, and describes the key characteristics of energy landscapes...
Renewable energy initiatives face opposition by local citizens, nature managers and others due to concerns over trade-offs between two groups of ecosystem services: provisioning (renewable energy supply) and cultural services (the right to the landscape). In order for any energy landscape to be considered sustainable,
interventions must not cause c...
The results of the National Perspective Energy and Space (NPER) project have been published. The book entitled 'Energie & Ruimte – Een Nationaal Perspectief' can be downloaded for free (in Dutch only). About the project: Four design companies, Deltametropool and Wageningen University collaborated to inform the Dutch discourse on sustainable energy...
Climate change, depletion of fossil fuels, and economic concerns are among the main drivers of sustainable energy transition. Over the past decade, several regions with low population density have successfully transited towards renewable energy (for example Sienna, Italy). In the Netherlands and other countries, more densely populated regions have...
The transition to a sustainable energy system has many, partly profound consequences for our society. This includes, among others, changes in our living environment and landscapes. In order to succeed with the transition, it is required to take into account the design of new energy landscapes and the ways they can be created.
All stakeholders are...
Sustainable urban resource management depends essentially on a sound understanding of a city's resource flows. One established method for analyzing the urban metabolism (UM) is the Eurostat material flow analysis (MFA). However, for a comprehensive assessment of the UM, this method has its limitations. It does not account for all relevant resource...
While the transition towards more sustainable energy systems is a pursuit across all scales, Sven Stremke argues that the regional scale is the most appropriate for the planning and design of sustainable “energy landscapes”—in which infrastructure manifests as the physical artifacts of this transition...
The transition to renewable energy (RE) is unavoidable for sustainable development. The fluctuation of oil prices, the uncertainty with regard to the stock of fossil fuels and the environmental impacts motivate this transition. Literature shows that the chance for success for transition increases when communities form Local civil society based Rene...
Since the beginning of the new millennium, the concept of “energy landscape” is being discussed by academia from the environmental design domain while more and more practitioners have been contributing to sustainable energy transition. Yet, there remains some ambiguity as to what exactly is meant with the notion of “energy landscape” and, most impo...
Energy transition is expected to make an important contribution to sustainable
development. Although it is argued that landscape design could foster energy transition,
there is scant empirical research on how practitioners approach this new challenge.
The research question central to this study is: To what extent and how is renewable energy
science...
Sustainable urban resource management gains importance due to ongoing urbanization. Cities increasingly show commitment to reduce their environmental pressure. Amsterdam, for instance, has the ambition to generate twenty percent more renewable energy per capita in 2020 than in 2013. To reach Amsterdam’s sustainability objectives, a detailed underst...
Making the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy seems inevitable. Because energy transition poses new challenges and opportunities to the discipline of landscape architecture, the questions addressed in this paper are: (1) what landscape architects can learn from successful energy transitions in Güssing, Jühnde and Samsø; and (2) to what ext...
This book, Atelier 2014-Utrecht, is a perspective on sensible use and optimisation of the green-blue structures in the City of Utrecht.
Dit ambitiedocument zet op basis van gefundeerd onderzoek uiteen hoeveel energie momenteel in de diverse sectoren wordt gebruikt, hoeveel daarop in de toekomst bespaard kan worden en hoeveel hernieuwbare energie in de diverse vormen acceptabel en ruimtelijk inpasbaar in de regio van Parkstad Limburg kan worden opgewekt. Het ambitiedocument biedt he...
De Stadsregio Parkstad Limburg oriënteert zich op de transitie van een bijna nog volledig fossiele energievoorziening in 2013 naar een duurzame en klimaatbestendige regio, waarbij de te behalen doelen voor wat betreft energiebesparing en opwekking van het aandeel duurzame energie en de CO2-reductie op zodanige wijze worden onderbouwd dat deze recht...
Considering ongoing, rapid urbanisation and the vast resource consumption of metropolitan areas around the world, it is important to integrate urban resource management with the design of our future cities. But how can resource management become an integral part of planning and designing urban landscapes
For some time now, the concept of “energy landscape” is discussed in academia while more and more practising landscape architects contribute to the siting, designing, and assessment of renewable energy technologies (see Stremke et al. 2012). Yet, there remains some ambiguity what exactly is meant with “energy landscape” and, most importantly, how t...
Since little fossil fuel remains to be dug-up from the earthly depths, in the near future we need to gather energy at the surface. Energy collected here, however, is much less dense, and the endeavour consequently will take up large amounts of space. The collection of energy thus becomes a matter of spatial planning, entering the realms of urbanism...
Urban planning for a renewable energy future requires the collaboration of different disciplines both in research and practice. In the present article, the planning of a renewable energy future is approached from a designer's perspective. A framework for analysis of the planning questions at hand is first proposed. The framework considers two level...
In this chapter the potential transformation of an area and the role networks can play is discussed. For a far-future transformation, the current situation as well as the near-future, already taken policy decisions, function as the starting point for the design. Network theory is subsequently used to identify the crucial nodes in the networks where...
Much has been said about the introduction of the automobile and the changes in the built environment as a consequence of this unprecedented form of individual and motorized transportation. At present, we are witnessing the emergence of another land use that will affect the appearance and spatial organization of the larger physical environment acros...
Climate change and resource depletion are driving the transition to renewable energy sources. Both the supply of renewables and the demand for energy are influenced by the physical environment and therefore concern spatial planning and landscape design. Envisioning the long-term development of alternative energy landscapes – that is sustainable ene...
Over the past five years, the method of energy potential mapping (EPM) has evolved from a cartoonish charting of climatic features with energy consequences to a detailed methodology for the development of spatial plans based on energy-effective foundations. By means of EPM the rudimentary features and properties of an area are analyzed, made discre...
The growing complexity of regional planning and design, in combination with increasing concerns about climate change and resource depletion, has revived the discussion on strategic thinking. Spatial planning and landscape architecture develop long-term visions to facilitate the gradual adaptation of the physical environment. Despite accomplishments...
How can designers deal with sustainable green infrastructure if they don’t take into account relevant scientific knowledge on, for example dissipative structure and self-organization? We do not claim to have the solution ready. Rather, we will revisit the concept of the landscape machine (Roncken et al. 2011) and converge architectural imagination...
Door te erkennen dat fossiele brandstoffen eindig zijn en het verbranden ervan van invloed is op ons klimaat, zijn we genoodzaakt om na te denken over het post-fossiele tijdperk. De huidige energievoorziening moet aangepast worden naar een zuinig systeem dat gebaseerd is op hernieuwbare bronnen. Maar hoe gaan we dat doen, en hoe ziet ons landschap...
Resource depletion and climate change motivate a transition to sustainable energy systems that make effective use of renewable sources. Whereas nature presents strategies to sustain on the basis of renewables, the Laws of Thermodynamics can help to increase efficiency in energy use. In previous papers we have identified a number of ecological and t...
Hoe ziet een omgeving eruit als er zo efficiënt mogelijk met energie wordt omgesprongen? Sven Stremke kan het je zeggen. Hij onwerpt duurzame energielandschappen.
Design and research in landscape design have yet to be balanced into a fine triad of theory, method and practice. Many practitioners worry that such academic seriousness may weaken the imaginative aspects of landscape design. Their trouble reveals a typical weakness in contemporary landscape architecture that somehow limits the understanding of des...
Depletion of fossil fuels and climate change necessitate a transition to sustainable energy systems that make efficient use of renewable energy sources. During recent decades, the Second Law of Thermodynamics has helped to increase energy efficiencies. More recently, the disciplines of building engineering, architecture and urban planning have begu...
This book is the concrete product of an academic exercise: the Master’s course ‘Designing and Planning Sustainable Energy Islands Atelier.’ It is the condensed result of three months’ work by six teachers and sixty students from the disciplines of landscape architecture, spatial planning and cultural geography at Wageningen University. These people...
In juni 2010 is voor de Agenda voor de Veenkoloniën het project Hotspot Veenkoloniën van start gegaan. Binnen dit project is het hoge ambitieniveau gesteld om als regio meer koolstofdioxide vast te leggen dan er uitgestoten wordt. Hiermee zal het gebied een bijzonder grote bijdrage gaan leveren in het tegengaan van klimaatveranderingen. Voor de Hot...
Het atelier Landscape Architecture and Planning van de WUR koppelde het onderzoeksthema Duurzame energielandschappen aan het voorbeeldproject van Mooi Nederland: ‘Beleef het op Goeree-Overflakkee!’. Duurzame energielandschappen in Zeeland, Denemarken en Zweden De samenwerking tussen het programma Mooi Nederland en Wageningen University is begonnen...