From Place Grief to Wow! CoECI Grant Awarded

In 2024, our Lab Lead, Roos Gerritsma, and lecturer-researcher Esther Bouw from the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab (ULT Lab) conducted initial research and design work on the theme of place grief and ‘wow’. Building on this work, they developed a workshop on the topic together with Dominique Hes, an expert in regenerative placemaking from Australia.

During this period, we noticed considerable interest in the concept of place grief, as well as a clear need to further explore and integrate this theme into professional practice.

Thanks to a grant from CoECI – Centre of Expertise for Creative Innovation, we are now able to take the next step and further develop our work on place grief through the From Place Grief to Wow! project.

The project explores how feelings of loss and grief connected to changes in neighbourhoods and urban environments can be acknowledged and transformed into opportunities for engagement, imagination and positive change.

As part of the project, we are collaborating with, among others, Nadja van der Weide, researcher at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences (HvA), and textile artist Hanna Steenbergen.

More information about the project, its approach and collaborations can be found on the Inholland University of Applied Sciences website:

From Place Grief to Wow! – Research Project

A toolkit is also being developed by lecturer-researchers Esther Bouw and Eva James. The toolkit will be tested within the Leisure & Events Management programme and used as part of its Placemaking component, as well as within the Urban Leisure & Tourism Lab minor.

In addition, the toolkit will be made available open source, allowing other professionals, researchers and communities involved in urban transitions to benefit from the methods and insights developed through the project.

As part of her Professional Doctorate (PD) trajectory, our Lab Lead Roos Gerritsma will contribute to understanding and demonstrating the impact of the project.