One of the many challenges facing the Netherlands is the government’s
goal of building one million homes by 2030, as a solution to the housing
deficiency that’s plaguing the Netherlands. The intended method is to densify current urban areas rather than continuously expand outward into green areas to keep the natural environment open for nature. Looking at one of the most extreme examples of inner-city densification (Japan) may provide answers for the Dutch context.

Most if not all Japanese cities are built with mechanical solutions for
everything. Climate change will stretch the normal functioning of these solutions to their breaking point. Climate adaptation as known in the Netherlands is exploring (and changing towards) nature-based solutions, which can alleviate pressure on and / or entirely negate the mechanical systems currently in place.

Can the combined effort of “Japanese style” urbanisation and “Dutch style”
climate adaptation lead to a form of high-density climate resilient urban
environments so that natural areas may remain as they are?
Exchanging ideas may be the way to find solutions together!

While attempting to find an answer to the question of how we could become sustainable and circular by 2050, we discovered that it was quite difficult to even imagine what South Holland, the Netherlands or the world, for that matter, would look like. The questions that arose quite quickly were, among others: how many people will live here then? How will we have dealt and continue to deal with the challenge of sustainability? How will the climate have changed? This resulted in the question that guided the rest of the research: will we still be able to live here? The process starts with the acknowledgment that climate change is a serious threat to us and the way we live. Then there is the realization that it does not make sense to imagine a future in which the economic structures have changed, but the landscape and the way we deal with this threat has not. From this, we continue to envision South Holland in 2100, to see what the landscape could look like and how the circular economy and its activities could exist within it. While drawing up this image, the answers to the questions of flood risk and circularity are not found separately, but sought in the creation of synergies between different sectors and layers. The idea is that the transforming landscape can be a generator of change within the agricultural sector and energy production as well. If the environment changes, the ways in which we use, inhabit or move through it will shift, too. The resulting strategy is about protecting what is crucial, using what is possible and letting go of what we can. This is all striven for in order to reach our goals of having South Holland protected from floods and sea level rise, a circular and sustainable agri-food sector, 100% clean and renewable energy and increased environmental health, all while taking into account the (societal) challenges of the century.