To See the world in a Soybean

Imagining a post-animal protein Dutch landscape

If we were to write a global history of the modern Netherlands, animal proteins would be the main theme. Despite the country's tiny size (41.865 km² ) the Netherlands is the second biggest exporter of meat and dairy of the world, just after the United States (9.830.000 km²). To achieve this mind boggling result we have ruthlessly reduced animals to their most basic protein producing functions, thereby creating a landscape that is utterly instrumental to what we perceive as our economic needs. 

But the costs of maintaining this position are extremely high. By now we have eaten away many times the surface of the Netherlands of rainforest in South America and South-East Asia through a supply chain of soy, palm oil, tapioca and corn for animal fodder. And we have also turned our own landscape against ourselves. The Netherlands has become a biodiversity desert of monocultural high energy crops for animal feed, dotted with mega-farms: ‘livestock facilities’ that hold hundreds of millions of chickens, pigs, cows and goats. This intensive animal farming not just causes the air and the water to be so poisoned with excess NO² from animal excrement, that European environmental law forbids us to build homes in the midst of a housing crisis, bus is also leaking viruses into their direct surroundings, forming immunological time-bombs for the world.

The Dutch have sacrificed biodiversity, air quality, animal welfare, immunological health and literally half of the entire land surface to the production of meat and dairy, despite it only contributing 1,5% and 75.000 jobs to the national economy (culture and media contribute 3,5% to GDP employ 331.000. ‘Our’ sector emits  616 mTon of CO² versus dairy and milk’s 17.500 mTon).

So why not just quit?

The immense costs of past choices are equaled by the abundance of possibilities that opens up if we would just make the small economic sacrifice of not producing meat and dairy anymore. Even if we would choose to replace the animal proteins with homegrown plant proteins, the abundance of space, biodiversity, clean air and natural beauty would overwhelm us. It would be a pleasure again to live next door to a farm, instead of risking asthma, zoonotic disease and an early death. The entire spatial planning logic of the Netherlands would be turned on its head. It is almost too much to imagine. That is why we invite you to join us on this journey!

Tutors

Lotte Embregts
Lotte Embregts is a Landscape Architect graduated at Wageningen University and working at Strootman Landschapsarchitecten in Amsterdam. She works primarily on strategic designs and research by design. Driven by a fascination for landscapes, ecology, agriculture, and water systems, her work focuses on improving natural systems and the qualities and diversity of landscapes. 

Joran Lammers
Joran conducts research about 'future system narrative design'  and teaches at the University of Leiden. With a background in landscape architecture, he focuses on futures in which a balance is sought between the consumption needs of people, such as food and energy, and the requirements of our living environment, including clean air, nature quality, and water quality. With a realistically optimistic perspective, he clarifies the complexity of our living environment and aims to stimulate a new form of progressive thinking.

Wouter Vanstiphout
Wouter Vanstiphout is part of the Dean Team of Independent School for the City and partner of Crimson Historians & Urbanists. He is an architectural historian and researcher who has written extensively on urbanism and spatial politics. From 2008 - 2010, he held the chair Design & Politics at the TU Delft and he was a member of the national advisory council on the environment and infrastructure from 2012 to 2016.

Michelle Provoost
Michelle Provoost is part of the Independent School for the City’s Dean Team, partner of Crimson Historians & Urbanists, and director of the International New Town Institute. She is an architectural historian specialised in urban planning history, postwar architecture and contemporary urban development.

Mike Emmerik
Mike Emmerik is the director of the Independent School for the City and partner at Crimson Historians & Urbanists. He is educated as an urban designer at the TU Delft and has over 10 years of experience on research and spatial planning projects around strategic urban development. Mike is also working with the Dutch Board of Government Advisors where he advises the national government and municipalities on spatial planning in the Netherlands.

Programme

Friday 22 May 2026
10:00 - 10:30 Welcome and Introduction by Mike Emmerik
11:00 - 12:30 Presentation Nederland Veganland by Joran Lammers and Lotte Embregts
12:30 - 13:30 Lunch break
13:30 - 14:30 1Presentation by Wouter Vanstiphout on the global perspective of food production.
14:30 - 16:00 Mapping exercise
16:00 - 17:00 Conversation about the insights of today

Saturday 23 May 2026
10:00 - 16:30 Bus excursion to Choro Koji Fermentation brewery and WIJdehorst Wassenaar

Wednesday 27 May 2026
20:00 - 22:00 Public Lecture by Jago van Bergen of van Bergen Kolpa Architecten on the Architecture of food

Friday 29 May 2026
13:30 - 15:00 Lecture by Dirk Sijmons on agriculture and the countryside. 
15:00 - 17:00 Conversation on insights and wrap-up

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This studio builds upon the research Nederland Veganland by Strootman Landschapsarchitecten (Berno Strootman, Lotte Embregts, Lisa Peters) and the centre for het Institute of Environmental Sciences Leiden (CML) (Joran Lammers, Jan Willem Erisman).