Regenerative Placemaking in the Metropolitan Region of Amsterdam

This article was written for Uncover magazine – From Global to Ground (10th edition). You can read the full magazine here. 

Author: Anouschka Trauschke is the SPRONG Transition Manager for Regenerative Placemaking at Inholland University of Applied Sciences and she is a social entrepreneur that co-founded Tours That Matter, which designs positive impact tours.

Regenerative placemaking
Regenerative placemaking (also referred to as regenerative tourism and leisure) is about creating a net positive impact on the destination. It doesn’t have one definition as this positive impact depends on the needs of the place. It’s a mindset shift on how to look at tourism, as a design approach, interconnected and locally rooted. An approach that has been explored deeply by InHolland University of Applied Sciences. 

Place is one of the key foundations of regeneration, working with and caring for the uniqueness of a certain area (Roos Gerritsma, 2025). 

Tourism and leisure as a force for good
Can the hospitality sector not only do less harm, but actually become a force for good? This SPRONG transition arena focuses on regenerative placemaking, to understand and develop the visitor economy in the Metropolitan Region in a way that enhances the quality of place and life. An approach that has been explored by the New Urban Tourism research group at InHolland University of Applied Sciences led by Professor Ko Koens. Rather than treating tourism separately, they focus on tourism as an integral part of the urban environment. This is done on different scales, involving a growing network of knowledge institutions, governments, businesses, residents and students through The Expertise Network Sustainable Urban Tourism (ENSUT). Activities range from international projects with European partner cities to hyper-local research in the living labs. Roos Gerritsma, Associate Professor of New Urban Tourism, is conducting research into how forms of placemaking, leisure and tourism can be developed in a living lab in Amsterdam North in the most regenerative way possible. Her PhD research focuses on the activation of regenerative urban tourism, designing practices and interventions through a lab setting in Amsterdam North. The SPRONG Hospitable Transitions programme takes the work of ENSUT further, by asking how we can systemically transform hospitality and tourism – through the approach of regenerative placemaking, while looking through a long-term, fundamental, and regional lens, and  aiming to create bridges between local experimentation and systemic change. 

What drives the front-runners 
There are many front-runners in the region adding value to place, yet defining who truly qualifies as a regenerative pioneer is a challenge. From campsites that restore biodiversity to hotels offering permanent space for community activities, farms where visitors pick their own food to tours that foster social awareness and cohesion. In conversations with many of these pioneers, the same drive kept coming up: working from a place of love and care for the people and nature around us. They share a strong connection to the places where they work, a long-term commitment, and processes of co-creation with local communities. Regenerative tourism is not a product; it is a journey of presence, curiosity, aiming always to give more than one takes.

The conceptual image Exploring Regenerative Tourism, created at  our request by Bord & Stift, reflects the design principles and practical elements of regeneration found in tourism and leisure across the Metropolitan Region Amsterdam. While the principles represent the why (the story and motivation of the owner) and the elements capture the what (values connected to place), the front-runners group will explore the how: regenerative entrepreneurship in practice.

Local interventions for regeneration 
Looking at the first mapping of pioneers taking a regenerative approach in tourism and leisure, there were three categories that stood out: regenerative agriculture, nature-inclusive landscapes and regenerative entrepreneurship. The first two are mainly ecological, aiming to restore nature and improve biodiversity, whereas regenerative entrepreneurship leans more towards social (and economic) motivation, focusing on people, communities, business models, and how value is created and shared. The urgency is especially highlighted in urban areas where we face many social challenges like polarisation, inequality, and loss of social cohesion. 

Take Zeeburgereiland, rapidly expanding and becoming increasingly urbanised. Camping Zeeburg, a steward-owned campsite is a green oasis for Amsterdammers, travellers and all living things. A place where your stay is not separate from its surroundings, but contributes to them. The campsite is entering a new phase as a foundation with a social mission: strengthening connection and local culture. It aims to develop interventions that build on the identity of the place and create space for collaboration between residents, guests, and local initiatives – think a neighbourhood festival, a mini-museum, or a story walk. 

Amsterdam North is also growing and changing at a rapid pace, and will continue to go through a major transition. The Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab is a living lab that has been around for years, using tourism and leisure activities to help people feel heard and more at home. Interventions such as tours, night markets, and a storytelling bench have been co-created and tested by lab students, with further development taking place in collaboration with local partners. The lab’s experiments provide a counterweight to social issues such as gentrification, loss of cohesion and belonging. 

Front-runners shaping the arena 
Besides the front-runners mentioned above, more have joined the arena; Buurthotel, Tours That Matter, The Pledge, Amsterdam&Partners, Molen de Breek, and de Ceuvel – organisations and initiatives that act as caretakers of visitors, residents and neighbourhoods, sharing the same mission to restore socials ecosystems and strengthen local identity. Their stories converge around a shared understanding of what reciprocity means within tourism and leisure.

“The real challenge lies not in what we want to add, but in how we weave our social mission so that it becomes a natural part of how we work every day.” (Director of Camping Zeeburg)

There is an ongoing challenge in embedding these social objectives into the daily practice of running a campsite, a hotel or a tour company, not as an add-on, but as an integral part of core operations and guest experience. Front-runners expressed a shared interest in exploring locally rooted scaling models, frameworks for co-creation with residents, and a visitor economy lab for experimentation. 

What’s happening next in the arena? 
For the upcoming year, the transition arena will co-create a programme to share knowledge, design interventions, and inspire a wider audience to act. Three elements will be included in this programme, but more will be added based on the needs of the group:

Communities of practice: building a front-runners group to collaborate and exchange tools, experiences, stories and solutions, together building an understanding of regenerative placemaking in practice. 

Inspiration programmes: co-creating inspirational programmes that can create understanding of regeneration in practice, as well as inspire a wider group of academics, students, businesses and policy-makers to act. 

Building best practices:  experiments and pilot projects on a hyper-local, local and even regional level, allowing us to learn by doing and increase impact. An important step in this process is sharing this knowledge, inspiration and these best practices in a playful and inviting way. Therefore, a Regenerative Tourism Festival will be organised in 2026. 

Sources
Gerritsma, Roos (2025). Activating a regenerative urban tourism approach: practices and interventions via a lab setting in Amsterdam North.

Photography
De Ceuvel & Vincent Kuyvenhoven