There is a growing attention for integrating climate change adaptation into policies, strategies and decision-making processes (e.g. mainstreaming). This paper explores to what extent climate adaptation can be integrated into processes of urban development and change, based on case study research in the Rotterdam waterfront area (Feijenoord). In this research “adaptation opportunities” are identified, by mapping all planned spatial investments in brownfield development, urban renovation, and maintenance projects of public and private infrastructures and assets. These adaptation opportunities are seen as momentum for enhancing resilience at relatively low costs. The Feijenoord case shows that intervention opportunities, based on an assessment of life cycles and investment projects is not effective due to a lack of strategic asset management and because processes of urban development are becoming increasingly fragmented and uncertain. The paper concludes that it is more effective to focus on “intervention opportunities” that are based on an understanding of the economic and organisational processes of urban development and change. ... Read more

Although storm at the North Sea produces moderate flood levels compared to the hurricane-impacted storm surge flood levels at the East Coast, Rotterdam and New York show comparable flood characteristics (see Figures at top next page). The majority of the urbanized waterfront areas in New York City and Rotterdam are mostly exposed to slow rising storm surge flooding that causes relatively shallow and short-lived inundations. ... Read more

The Roof Park ('Dakpark’) is an elevated park on a former railway yard in the Delfshaven quarter in Rotterdam. The park is located on top of the roof of a new shopping centre, which includes a parking garage (hence its name, ‘dak’ means ‘roof’). The park is the largest green roof in Rotterdam and one of the largest in the Netherlands. The park offers a playground, communal garden and a Mediterranean garden with an orangery (figure 9). The Roof Park is 1,000 m long and 80 m wide. The park is situated 9 m above street level. There is 25,000 m2 retail spaces under the city park, and the structure includes a car park with space for about 750 cars. The gardens bring more nature to the district, and the project as a whole has provided more employment. The Roof Park is combined with a dike, the ‘Delflandse Dijk’, that is part of dike ring 14, which protects the urban area of the Randstad. ... Read more

To help decision makers in delta areas to select appropriate adaptation and mitigation strategies it is necessary to have a clear picture of the main drivers of risk and how risk evolves under changing conditions. Acknowledging these problems, the Delta Alliance and the TU Delft took the initiative to develop a new index that helps cities to better understand the dominant drivers of risk, formulate ambitions, and compare and share their results with other delta regions. The approach is based on previous work at TU Delft in collaboration with HKV and Deltares. The goal of this index is not to formulate an “exact” risk number, but aims to serve as a benchmark that supports communicating risk within the political arena and a peer-to-peer learning process with other deltas. ... Read more

In the context of urban planning, concepts of multiple land-use refer to situations were the existing space is more intensively used (Habiforum, cited in Hooimeijer et al, 2001). This can be achieved by morphological integration of functions (stacking of multiple functions in one building or construction), by mixed space use (multiple functions in a certain defined area) and by temporal shared-use of the same space. ... Read more

Many delta and coastal cities worldwide face increasing flood risk due to changing climate conditions and sea level rise. The question is how to adapt existing urban coastal areas to these slowly changing conditions? ... Read more

Many delta cities and urbanized coastal regions are facing increasing risks of flooding due to climate change and sea level rise and will have to adapt. The question that is central to this study is what opportunities offer spatial development and urban renewal to speed up the process of adaptation, and reduce costs, while creating spatial value and wider benefits for society. To answer this question a new method is introduced that is based on the development of adaptation paths and analysing urban dynamics. The method has been tested in two flood-prone waterfront areas in Rotterdam and New York. Both cases have shown that identifying opportunities for adaptation based on an analysis of planned investment projects and life cycle of buildings and urban infrastructure helps to systematically assess the effectiveness of adaptation paths. Moreover, it helps to identify new spatial transformations that provide opportunities for adaptation that were not yet identified, or positively assessed before. This makes it easier to synchronize adaptation measures in space and time, and to develop more comprehensive strategies. Both cases show that in intensively built-up environments, such as Rotterdam and New York, adapting existing buildings, despite changes in the building regulations is not a sustainable solution to increasing flood risk. In the long term an integral solution by developing integrated flood protection as part of the redevelopment of the waterfront is necessary. To make this possible, it is however necessary to develop new financial arrangements that fairly distribute the costs and benefits of the stakeholders and to make major changes in the policy regime. ... Read more