The Council for the Living

The Council for the Living is a diverse group of people with expertise in different fields that are revelant for Zoöps, ecological regeneration and the development of a regenerative economy. The Council assist the Speakers for the Living with particular questions they may encounter in their work  in Zoöps. It is the Speaker for the Living that carries the responsibility towards a Zoöp, and the Council of the for the Living supports the Speakers with specific knowledge and experience, if requested.

The following people are currently working as Speakers for the Living:

Thijs de Zeeuw is Speaker for the Living at Zoöp De Ceuvel, city playground for innovation, experimentation and creativity in Amsterdam Noord. 

Thijs is a landscape architect and researcher. He designed several animal enclosures for the Royal Zoo of Amsterdam, ARTIS amongst which the enclosure for Asian elephants, the False gavial and a new lion enclosure. In the zoo, he developed a way of working from other than human perspectives. Thijs was co-founder of the Zoo of the Future, -ZOOOF- a speculative research-and-design project on novel forms of co-habitation. He is the founder of the NATURE OPTIMIST, a platform for the happy, opportunistic and untameable nature in and around us.

Bonnie Chopard is Speaker for the Living at Zoöp Kunstfort bij Vijfhuizen, heratige site and platform for contemporary art, operating at the intersection of military heritage, ecology and artistic experiment. 

Bonnie is an architect/landscape architect who is interested in building as little as possible. She thinks the regeneration of landscapes and ecosystems are far more needed. She has experience working in the corporate sector, with governments, and now as an entrepreneur. As a spatial consultant/landscape architect, she collaborates with regenerative farmers on food landscapes or passionate private initiators.

Jannemarie de Jonge is Speaker for the Living at Zoöp Bodemzicht Foundation, a regenerative demonstration farm. Their mission is to facilitate life in such a way that it results in an abundance of high quality and tasty food. 

Jannemarie is a Landscape Architect with a passion for creative collaboration and sustainability. She is a facilitator of planning and design charettes and transdisciplinary (re)search processes. She studied landscape architecture at Wageningen University. In 2020, she was appointed as the State Advisor for Physical Environment for a four-year term.

Maike van Stiphout is Speaker for the Living at Zoöp Nieuwe Instituut, museum for architecture, design and digital culture in Rotterdam and the first Zoöp in the world. 

Maike is an experienced landscape architect with a demonstrated history of working in the architecture and planning industry. She is skilled in nature inclusive design, sustainable development and cultural heritage. She studied Landscape Architecture at Wageningen University and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. In 1993, she founded the DS Landscape Architects bureau.