Water Management and Climate Adaptation

Due to its loca­tion in the delta of the riv­er Rhine, Rot­ter­dam is often referred to as Delta Metrop­o­lis. As impres­sive as that may sound, it also entails some chal­lenges. What to do with increas­ing pre­cip­i­ta­tion in a city that lies large­ly below sea lev­el, and where water comes from all direc­tions: from the sea, the riv­er, the ground and the sky? The most pop­u­lar key­word at the moment is meer­voudig ruimtege­bruik, i.e. mul­ti­cod­ing. This approach results in projects such as a pub­lic square that also serves as rain­wa­ter reten­tion facil­i­ty, or a veg­etable patch on the roof of an office block. For­mer­ly neglect­ed office dis­trict Zomer­hofk­warti­er has even been declared a test field for rain­wa­ter reten­tion projects.

On this tour you’ll expe­ri­ence sev­er­al bot­tom-up intia­tives for cli­mate change mit­i­ga­tion and rain­wa­ter reten­tion, high­light­ing exper­i­men­tal approach­es to spa­tial challenges.

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Tour Programme: Water Management and Climate Adaptation

  • Expla­na­tions about water man­age­ment in Rotterdam
  • Under­ground rain­wa­ter stor­age Kruis­plein

  • Trans­for­ma­tion of office build­ing Schieblok with urban farm­ing roof (ZUS, 2015)
  • Hof­bo­gen­park on a 2 km long rail­way viaduct (De Urban­is­ten, 2024–2025)
  • Rain­wa­ter reten­tion square Ben­themplein (De Urban­is­ten, 2013)
  • Rain(a)Way-tiles (Fien Dekkers, 2014) and smart rain bar­rels (Bas Sala)
  • Dak­park: Europe’s largest roof-park on top of a shop­ping mall, inte­grat­ed into a dike (Buro Sant en Co, 2014)

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