Situ­ated in the Rhine delta, Rot­ter­dam is often called the “delta metropolis”—a name that reflects both its loc­a­tion and the chal­lenges it faces.

In a city that lies mostly below sea level, man­aging water from all dir­ec­tions – sea, river, ground­wa­ter, and rain – is a con­stant con­cern. So, how does Rot­ter­dam handle the increas­ing precipitation?

One solu­tion is “meer­voud­ig ruimtegebruik,” or the multi-pur­pose use of pub­lic spaces. The idea is to com­bine essen­tial water reten­tion areas with valu­able urb­an assets.

A prime example is the Zomer­hofk­warti­er, a formerly neg­lected office dis­trict now serving as a test site for rain­wa­ter reten­tion pro­jects, focus­ing on de-seal­ing pub­lic areas.

Addi­tion­ally, Rot­ter­dam is revital­iz­ing its unused har­bor basins, integ­rat­ing homes, hotels, and offices into these large water­front spaces.