Geo Promotion Conference
March 6th, 2025

Foundation Geo Promotion

Connecting students to the working field!

Welcome to the website of Geo Promotion.

Foundation Geo Promotion annually organizes an event that gives the opportunity for students to explore the field of spatial sciences. Our main goal is to connect students to the working field. Your future has our interest. Geo Promotion has organized events concerning the topics of geography, spatial planning, water management, demographics and many more. On this website you can find more information about the upcoming event(s), our board, previous themes and how to get in contact with us.

Last year, we had a very succesful Geo Promotion edition!

You can view the pictures here and the aftermovie here!

This year's conference theme:

Raising Roofs, Planting Roots: When Urban Densification Meets Green Infrastructure

Can the housing crisis in the Netherlands truly be solved just by adding one extra street in every village? How do we account for the difference in housing demand between cities and rural areas? How do we densify, while also ensuring that built areas stay green and resilient?

Last year, Geo Promotion focuses on densification and greening: the Netherlands has an enormous housing shortage, while simultaneously, green infrastructures are under pressure, and climate change resilience is needed more than ever. During the conference we will discuss the demand for more housing and whether this can be combined with greening built-up areas, what challenges are involved and what possible solutions could look like.

This year's conference location:

Martiniplaza Groningen

As the organizers of the Geo Promotion Conference, we are thrilled to announce that this year’s event will be held at Martiniplaza, the biggest event location in the northern Netherlands. With all amenities in-house, Martiniplaza is the perfect venue for the Geo Promotion Conference, offering multiple workshop rooms, a plenary hall, and a comfortable atmosphere.

Host of the day

Prof. dr. ir. Terry van Dijk

Terry van Dijk (1975) is an Associate professor at the University of Groningen Faculty of Spatial sciences. Terry is mainly involved in teaching courses with a heavy emphasis on design. His main curiosity is how interactive design and visionary thinking can be a platform for a more engaged, better informed way of decision-making and high quality urban spaces than deliberation by words alone.
During his time as a Post Doc at Wageningen University, Van Dijk became a coordinator and senior researcher for an NWO-funded research programme “Re-inventing Landscape Planning in MetroLand”. This interdisciplinary research programme resulted in many publications on open space planning, in particular the edited volume “Regional Planning of Open Space” published by Routledge, London.
His extensive portfolio has led Van Dijk to become a well-rounded scholar with international experience in planning practice. Moreover, this year, Geo Promotion is collaborating with professor Terry van Dijk for Design Challenge! – a multi-day project where students from the university of Groningen work in teams to tackle a real-life spatial dilemma through design solutions.

Keynote speaker

Prof. dr. ir. Hennes de Ridder

Hennes de Ridder is a former professor emeritus Integral Design at the TU Delft university and has decades of experience in the work field as a project manager and researcher at international firms. Hennes de Ridder is specialised in sustainable buildings and building development. 

His talk will discuss the evolutionary process that is required in order to tackle the housing crisis and to combine it with smart green infrastructure. What will this process look like? Join the talk during the Geo Promotion conference to learn more!

Keynote speaker

Francien van Soest

Francien van Soest is specialised in spatial quality and landscapes: as a former professor at the faculty of spatial sciences, she has now put her knowledge to use as a leading architecture and landscape expert at the province of Groningen. She is in charge of a team of spatial designers that advise the province on large spatial issues.

The pressure on the different land uses is one of the biggest challenges for the regional government of the province of Groningen. Francien will discuss how the province deals with the pressure of different functions on the land use and how the province creates plans. She will further dive into her expertise and explain how they foster spatial quality and nature inclusive solutions in their projects.

Keynote speaker

Ir. (MSc) Nanco Dolman

Nanco Dolman is a lead expert in Water Resilient Cities at Deltares, the Netherlands, with wide experience in integrated (urban) water and spatial development projects. Nanco has worked in various water and adaptation strategies for delta cities in Thailand, the Netherlands, USA, Bangladesh and China.

Dolman has also been involved in several international ‘blue-green cities’ research studies, as an applied researcher and field expert, such as the EU Interreg NSR – CATCH project (2017–2022): ‘water sensitive Cities: the Answer To Challenges of extreme weather events’. From 2021 Nanco takes part in Redesigning Deltas (RDD): a research-by-design study which aims for a new Dutch condition in Delta Urbanism. One of the RDD designs is Rotterdam Sponge Water City 2100. Since 2020, Nanco has been a member of the editorial team for IWA’s Journal of Water and Climate Change.

On March 7th, Nanco will dive into the topic of Water-Sensitive and Sponge City concepts. He will cover the topic of the day from the ‘smart green-blue infrastructure’ perspective.

Panel Members 2024 Conference

Additionally to the keynote speakers, these following experts were of the panel discussion

Partners of the Geo Promotion Conference 2024

Click on the company logo to learn more about the company, and discover workshops, vacancies and more!

Apokrifi

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Sweco

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Witteveen+Bos

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Waterschap Noorderzijlvest

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Kadaster

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Weusthuis & Partners

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Buro Rondom

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Rijkswaterstaat

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Dura Vermeer

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Metafoor RO

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Jelmer

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Procap

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Geon

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YER

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Libau

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Arcadis

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Rho Adviseurs

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Gemeente Groningen

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Central Government Real Estate Agency

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Our history

Previous conference themes

From 0 to 100: Balancing multi-generational spatial needs

Previous Themes Geo Promotion Conference

Energize the future; spatial implementation of energy policies

Previous Themes Geo Promotion Conference

Van eigen bodem

Previous Themes Geo Promotion Conference

Reinventing the City – De kansen van herbestemming en transformatie

Previous Themes Geo Promotion Conference

Earlier Themes

Previous Themes Geo Promotion Conference

Inside the Inner City: How to Sustain Liveable Urban Centers

Previous Themes Geo Promotion Conference

Resetting our Spatial Environment: The Interplay between the Physical and Virtual world.

Previous Themes Geo Promotion Conference

The fair share: managing spatial differences

Previous Themes Geo Promotion Conference

Expect the Unexpected: Risk Management in Socio-Spatial Planning

Previous Themes Geo Promotion Conference

Participants

Conferences Hosted

The Board

39th Board of Foundation Geo Promotion

The board of Foundation Geo Promotion takes care of the organization of the yearly event. This team of students aspires to offer students with an interest in spatial sciences a fantastic day. This year the board of Foundation Geo Promotion consists of:

Chairman: Jurre Meijles

Secretary: Anne Pents

Treasurer: Jiska Post

Commissioner Internal Relations: Diana Stein

Commissioner External Relations: Jesper Leuwerink

Committee of Recommendations

We would like to introduce you to

General

The Geo Promotion Foundation was founded in 1986 by students of the Faculty of Spatial Sciences from the University of Groningen. Over the years Geo Promotion has organized several events such as symposia, seminars, and colloquials for the faculty. These activities all have a geographic, spatial, or real estate background.

Statutory Task

The foundation goes under the name Stichting Geo Promotion and is located in the city of Groningen.

The foundation aims to stimulate interest and involvement in the geographic and spatial sciences worldwide, thus providing more knowledge from the geographic scientific field.

KvK-number

41011610

Contact

Foundation Geo Promotion
Postbus 800
9700 AV Groningen
stichtinggeopromotion@gmail.com

 

Terms and conditions Geo Promotion Conference 2024