The Adapting city. Resilience through water design in Rotterdam

Abstract

The Netherlands is a fragile and vulnerable land; spatial planning is very important, just as important is the resilience of the system and its adaptation to climate change. Rotterdam is a delta city and, in a period of heavy climate change, it will experiment more extreme weather conditions, such as heavier rainstorms, longer periods of drought and more heat waves, as well as higher water levels in the river Meuse; so is important to know that it is a deep vulnerable city and need right strategies to overcome the problem and to be adapted to conseguences of climate change. Resilience has been under the attention of the municipality for about fifteen years. The results presented in these manuscript were developed through some academic course at TUDelft; the strategy is developed promoting a deep coperation between the water boards, urban developers, the City of Rotterdam and spatial administrators; other parties such as housing corporations, project developers and the inhabitants has an active role in trasforming the city; everyone is deeply involved in making the city waterproof. The strategy is characterized by some main innovation that could be recreated in other countries, such as the inclusion of resilience’s theme in all levels of government and in all urban planning instruments and in spatial and strategic development policies; the deep cooperation between all stakeholders and public administrations; and the role of urban design that is able to create a waterproof city, enhancing the quality of public space. Through a strong governance and the deep private-public cooperation, Rotterdam could be considered as the most safe city among Delta city. The manuscript wants to underline the urban actions that allowed to achieve this very important award, enforcing the role of urban design and plan in the creation of a resilient city