Master

Thesis Topic:
Urban Agriculture and Ecosystem Services in Rotterdam, The Netherlands

Urban agriculture initiatives are a new niche of practices in European cities. Planners
consider urban agriculture projects as service providing units of the overall green
infrastructure of a city, but as practitioners argue, there is something special about
urban agriculture projects in Europe. In Rotterdam urban agriculture initiatives and
projects are seen as a new way to restore land to its agricultural past and in some cases,
to build on the innovative spirit of citizens. The urban agriculture initiatives however
are faced with skepticism from ecologists since they do not contribute significantly to
the biodiversity of the city if compared with other restored uses such as wetlands or
urban forests. The debate on the value of urban agriculture can be further heated up
when considering the social profiles and motives of those who initiate and those who
oppose such projects.

Taking a birds eye view on urban agriculture projects as special service providing
units in European cities, we seek to explore the ecosystem services of urban agriculture
projects and associate the ecosystem services and disservices to a multi-actor network
perspective. We invite an ambitious Master Thesis Student to undertake a master thesis
research responding to the following overarching research questions as part of a 5/7-
month research project:

- What are the ecosystem services of urban agriculture units in Rotterdam (addressed by
the TEEB framework)?
- What are the perceived or recognized ecosystem services of different actors about urban
agriculture units in Rotterdam?
- What are the policy and planning implications and challenges for urban agriculture
projects in Rotterdam and other European cities based on the ecosystem services analysis?

The research framework that is suggested to be applied is the TEEB approach and the
research master thesis will be connected with an on-going breakthrough research
project funded by NWO, Biodiversa FP7 titled URBES (www.theurbesproject.org). The
master thesis research is envisaged to be mainly exploratory combining desk research
and field research (in person interviews of selected stakeholders).

The master student is expected to conduct research independently and will be
supervised by Dr. Ir. Niki Frantzeskaki in consultation with Associate Prof. Derk
Loorbach.

Expected Knowledge of Master Thesis Candidate:
- Sustainability, urban sustainability and sustainability debates
- Basic knowledge on environmental science and planning
- Ability to work in an interdisciplinary way
- Dutch speaking and writing skills as well as proficiency in written and spoken
English

Interested master students are recommended to send a letter of interest explaining your
motivation and possible research take to: frantzeskaki@fsw.eur.nl

Deadline of applications: 15 March 2013