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. The results presented in these manuscript were developed through some academic course at TUDelft; the main aim is to arrive at shared ambitions for climate proof urban development and to make specific concrete agreements about this defining a strategy able to enforce urban beauty and absorb excess rainwater and improve urban resilience through the implementation of some adaptive measures linking this strategy to the whole urban governante of the city. There is the need to implement a conscious and smart urban governance and to undertake urban awareness actions that aim at the awareness of the communities, which becomes an active part in promoting urban resilience policies and in creating the sustainable city. 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