Long before climate change deniers began to campaign against science in the United States, Dutch engineers were preparing for apocalyptic, once-every-10,000-years storms. “For us, climate change is beyond ideology,” said Rotterdam’s mayor, Ahmed Aboutaleb. The Dutch Have Solutions to Rising Seas. The World Is Watching. NYT, June 2017.
As flood waters recede in Houston and the city begins to grapple with the overwhelming reality of rebuilding, community members, climate experts, city planners and architects have an unprecedented opportunity to re-Imagine Houston!
True, the completion of implementing the new municipality might lie many years down the road, but it’s an ideal time to take a look at how C-40 cities are applying innovation and creativity to tackle flooding from sea level rise and increased storm surges. Integral to most plans is the recognition of the importance of incorporating the ideas and needs of marginalized urban communities. (See Poor Texans are going to suffer the most in Harvey, thanks to state politics)
- Mexico City is reshaping their streets, designing attractive streetscapes which incorporate top notch drainage and green space
- Vancouver has new building bylaws to ensure new buildings in flood regions are sufficiently elevated to withstand projected sea level rise
- Copenhagen’s Cloudburst Management Plan incorporates a design of green streets and ‘pocet parks” which double as water retention basins (“The projects to protect against downpours are tightly interlinked with Copenhagen�s other key plans for sustainable, social and economic development.” (C40 Awards the 11 Best Cities of 2016 for Addressing Climate Change)
The flowerbeds of Tåsinge Plads fill with water during heavy rains, while sculptures collect water to nourish plantings. (David Buchmann)
As one of the first cities in the world, the City of Copenhagen has developed a comprehensive plan to manage future rainwater. The plan incorporates both traditional measures to lead drain water away through an expansion of the sewer network and 300 separate solutions set to run over the next 20 years. Part of the solutions involve the reconstruction of roads and parks, adjustments to lakes and streams, and expanding the capacity of cloudburst pipes
Rotterdam: The Dutch Solution
The South Holland city of Rotterdam has had no choice but to apply ingenuity to solve its flooding problems. Founded in 1270, most of the city, located on the North Sea within the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt river delta, is below sea level. From its inception, residents have been pumping water to build homes and farms. Climate change — the combination of sea level rise and increasing storms — render it the most threatened place in Europe.
“We can’t just keep building higher levees because we will end up living behind 10-meter walls,” said Harold van Waveren, a senior government adviser. “We need to give the rivers more places to flow. Protection against climate change is only as strong as the weakest link in the chain, and the chain in our case includes not just the big gates and dams at the sea but a whole philosophy of spatial planning, crisis management, children’s education, online apps and public spaces.”
The city’s adaptation to rising sea levels and increasing storm precipitation includes:
- large parking garages double as emergency reservoirs
- water-resistant buildings and floating structures
- urban space incorporates "sponge' features such as water squares, green spaces, and soil-rich infiltration areas
- defenses against water surges and sea level rise
- evacuation routes
- giving diplomas to children for swimming in clothes and shoes
- rooftop parks on top of dikes
The Dakpark. a dike in a poor, largely immigrant neighborhood bordering industrial waterfront, does a lot more than just hold back water. It has a shopping center, which the neighborhood needed, and a park on the roof. Shops face the waterfront and help pay to keep up the park. The park slopes from the roof down to streets and housing blocks, creating a grassy hill that links park and neighborhood. www.nytimes.com/...
THE Maeslantkering
The big yellow amphibious SplashTours bus.
From a Dutch mind-set, climate change is not a hypothetical or a drag on the economy, but an opportunity.
“A smart city has to have a comprehensive, holistic vision beyond levees and gates,” said Arnoud Molenaar, Rotterdam’s climate chief. “The challenge of climate adaptation is to include safety, sewers, housing, roads, emergency services. You need public awareness. You also need cyber-resilience, because the next challenge in climate safety is cybersafety … And you need good policies, big and small.
This starts with little things, like getting people to remove the concrete pavement from their gardens so the soil underneath absorbs rainwater. It ends with the giant storm surge barrier at the North Sea.”
Flood Facts (the Global Resilience Partnership)
- Floods cause more damage worldwide than any other type of natural disaster and cause some of the largest economic, social and humanitarian losses
- Over the last 20 years, flooding has affected 2.3 billion people, 95% of whom live in Asia
- During that period, nearly 87% of spending on aid went into emergency response, reconstruction and rehabilitation and only 13% toward reducing and managing risks before they became disasters
- Flooding alone accounted for 47% of all weather related disasters
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