Blog: Joep Steijart
"Resilience Defines the People of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen"
My name is Joep Steijaert, and I have the honor of writing the next blog for OnbegrensdZeeuwsVlaanderen.
I do this with great pleasure, because I hold our beautiful region very dear. My roots are in Graauw. After studying Geography, Urban Planning, and Environment in Nijmegen and Amsterdam, I wanted to put my acquired knowledge to use in our own province of Zeeland. I got that chance at Juust, where I work on many wonderful projects at the intersection of space and mobility. In addition, I like to think about opportunities, and there are plenty of them in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen.
Even though I am still ‘flown out’ and currently living in Breda, there is a very strong connection with the region and especially with the people who shape it. That’s why I can still be found in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen several times a week. For work, for Rootzz Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, as a regional stakeholder of Grenspark Groot Saeftinghe, or for ZVL Friet.
The latter is nice to briefly highlight. When, during the corona crisis, we were left with a barn full of potatoes at our family farm, my two younger brothers didn’t sit back and wait—they got to work themselves, peeling and cutting the potatoes into fries. They founded the company ZVL Friet with the mission to put this beautiful Zeeuws-Vlaanderen product on the map. The shortest possible chain, from farmer to plate. In this way, we try to contribute to the region and think about its future. The same goes for Grenspark Groot Saeftinghe, where together with all the other regional stakeholders, we tackle cross-border challenges. This resilience defines the people of Zeeuws-Vlaanderen.
I think OnbegrensdZeeuwsVlaanderen is a wonderful initiative, because we need to be able to look beyond borders. In my view, the border is still too often seen as a barrier or a hard line. A simple exercise: turn the map of Zeeland upside down and you immediately get a different spatial perspective. Suddenly, Zeeuws-Vlaanderen is no longer a ‘remote corner’. Now Zeeland is right behind us and Zeeuws-Vlaanderen becomes the gateway to the entire hinterland of the Low Countries. In Zeeuws-Vlaanderen, the best of Zeeland and Flanders come together. I am proud of ZVL!
#ZVL #Onbegrensdzeeuwsvlaanderen #Space #Rootzz #GIS #ThinkingDifferently #Opportunities #Resilience #Fries
