果冻传媒

Understanding landscapes of pain and resilience

The Traumascapes: Valuing, Negotiating and Sharing Sites of Trauma, Pain and Loss project explores how landscapes marked by historical and ecological trauma, such as those shaped by colonial violence, war, forced displacement, and environmental degradation, can be better understood and transformed through heritage and memory work. These include sites such as concentration camps, former plantations, and regions affected by resource extraction. Many of these places are either forgotten, contested, or insufficiently acknowledged in public memory.

The project aims to identify, reinterpret, and co-create new meanings for these sites, making them more inclusive and accessible. It also explores how non-human actors, such as landscapes, plants, animals, and ecosystems, carry and transmit trauma.

 In an era of climate crisis and social unrest, this research is both timely and urgent.

果冻传媒鈥檚 role: ecological traumascapes

Dr. Ikiz serves as a co-Principal Investigator and Work Package leader for the segment titled "The Past of Traumascapes". Her focus lies on ecological traumascapes, where human-induced environmental destruction鈥攕uch as deforestation, pollution, or mining鈥攈as left lasting scars on both ecosystems and communities. One of the key case studies will examine the Dutch Caribbean islands, where colonial deforestation and slavery have left enduring ecological and cultural legacies.

鈥淥ur work will bring an innovative more-than-human approach to heritage and environmental research.鈥� 鈥� says Dr. Ikiz. 鈥淭his means recognizing that not only human histories but also ecological actors, such as landscapes, plants, animals, water, soil, bear and transmit traces of trauma. This lens enables us to reevaluate what heritage means in the context of ecological collapse and how design and spatial interventions can contribute to ecological and social restoration."

As part of the project, the Department of the Built Environment will hire a PhD researcher to work under Dr. Ikiz鈥檚 supervision, in collaboration with Utrecht University. This presents an exciting opportunity for early-career scholars interested in inter- and transdisciplinary research at the intersection of ecology, heritage, and spatial design.

A  collaborative and interdisciplinary effort

The Traumascapes consortium is coordinated by Leiden University, with University of Amsterdam (UvA) as co-coordinator. The project brings together a wide range of institutions, including TU Delft, Radboud University, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam, Wageningen University & Research, and societal partners such as Herinneringscentrum Westerbork, Natuurmonumenten, and the Ministry of 果冻传媒, Culture and Science.

The project will run for six years and use a wide range of methods鈥攆rom archaeological surveys and archival research to emotional mapping and artistic interventions鈥攖o make traumascapes more visible, inclusive, and meaningful for future generations.