Does preserving Amstelpark’s heritage support or hinder efforts to give all life a voice and work towards multispecies justice? And could a broader understanding of immaterial and living heritage and that moves beyond the divisions between culture and nature offer new ways of bringing heritage and the Zoöp together? Join us on the October 8th to explore these questions and celebrate one year of Zoöp Amstelpark.
On October 2025, Amstelpark became the first public Zoöp, a governance model that seeks to actively represent the interests of all living beings in decision-making. You can learn more about Zoöp here.
Amstelpark was originally designed for the international horticultural exhibition Floriade 1972. Much of the original structure of the exhibition remains in place, and in 2022 the park was granted monumental status.
The transition from horticultural exhibition site and monument to public Zoöp raises questions about how heritage and ecological transformation can coexist. Now, one year after, this special symposium will explore what it means for Amstelpark to be both a heritage site and a Zoöp, and whether these two designations can offer new perspectives on the ecological challenges of our time. During the symposium, speakers will consider what it means when a heritage site becomes a Zoöp (or when a Zoöp is also a heritage site).
The symposium, Living Heritage in and beyond Amstelpark, is organised by Zone2Source in collaboration with the Environmental Humanities Center Amsterdam and UvA Critical Heritage Ecologies. We will be there representing VU Amsterdam as a knowledge partner of Zoöp Amstelpark, alongside Yuverta MBO.
Does the desire to preserve the park's heritage support or hinder efforts to give all life a voice and work towards multispecies justice? And could a broader understanding of heritage — one that includes immaterial and living heritage and sees heritage as a process of collective meaning-making beyond divisions between culture and nature — offer new ways of bringing these two designations together?
The central question of the symposium is whether the heritage of Amstelpark, as the former location of the 1972 Floriade, can become a learning ground for the ecological issues of our time.
The symposium brings together researchers, landscape professionals, artists and participants in the Zoöp Amstelpark to reflect on the relationship between heritage, ecological change and multispecies perspectives.
Speakers include Imke van Hellemondt, Joost Emmerik, Elyze Storms-Smeets, Janna oud Ammerveld, Theun Karelse and Anne Jesuina de Andrade. The symposium is moderated by Marilena Mela of the Environmental Humanities Center at VU and Colin Sterling, whose work focuses on critical heritage ecologies at the University of Amsterdam.
For more information and the full symposium details, visit the Environmental Humanities Center Amsterdam.