Dutch waterscapes and collaborative climate strategies

Abstract

Dutch landscape is mainly a landscape of water, both in its urban and rural component; it is a landscape that has considered the resilience as its foundational feature as it is modelled and transformed in relation to the management of environmental risks and of climate change. Dutch landscape is conformed through an urban design and various strategies that desire not only to face the main risks but, above all, to anticipate climate change by integrating them into the future strategic vision. In the city of Rotterdam there is a strong interest in realizing some action selected by the Municipal Program on Sustainability and Climate Change; this interest is stimulated across social and economic stakeholders that are deeply involved in the opportunities offered by the climate strategies’ implementation. Dutch people are agree that the climate change problems must be dealt with consciously and with the full participation of the population; Rotterdam is becoming resilient not just by fortifying its defences to a changing climate and rising seas, but also by building a more cohesive and inclusive society. Resilience thinking is being incorporated in the policymaking and initiatives across all domains of city government, including across social, physical and economical programs. The Climate Collaborative is an approach developed in the city of Rotterdam with the aim to reverse climate change, both on their own and by working together; it is an approach developed in some climate strategies and in various school program that stimulate the Rotterdammer since an early age. The Dutch education system aims to raise children’s awareness so that they can refine their behavior with growth and be examples of best practices and smart communities.