Kastanje – a project employing landscape to disclose cultural heritage

Abstract

Haspengouw is a landscape region in Belgium known for its cultural heritage. This heritage is being taken care of by a range of organizations, not only trying to preserve it, but also attempting to disclose it, each with their own approach. The Province of Limburg has been developing a strategy to synchronize these approaches, appointing a central role to the landscape. Thus far, four tools have been published supporting this strategy: a master plan, two action plans and a corporate identity. At this moment, the corporate identity is being implemented in seven locations. This paper introduces the tools and implementations and reflects upon the role that landscape plays in each one of them. The main point is that the explicit linking of landscape and heritage turns out to transform the heritage strategy into a co-design process, allowing those involved to understand the (spatial) logic of a given heritage site and work with it to disclose and preserve its heritage value.