For the eleventh day of the Plus3 Netherlands trip, our group toured the city of Rotterdam’s natural infrastructure to understand how urban designers accounted for sustainable flood prevention. Holland heavily emphasizes floodwater control due to the elevation of the Netherlands mostly remaining below sea level causing floods to occur often. As part of the guided tour, I noticed all the channels and divots encouraging natural irrigation. The guided walk demonstrated how urban design requires planning around the environment of the city to encourage a biodiverse city.

Throughout every park, landmark, and street I noticed the litany of flood reservoirs. These places operated as dug-out sections where rain and flood water could flow when needed. One unique example was the water collection hidden inside the ‘ZOHO’ sign. Water from nearby rooftops gets collected inside of the sign from the roofs of the buildings. Additionally, designers created many of the roofs in Rotterdam to hold spherical designs that allow for rainwater to channel naturally without the need for external piping. All these flood reservoirs drain into central tanks under places like parking garages to get chlorinated for human use.

The idea of hidden sustainability permeates through all the architecture within Rotterdam. The buildings mask the need for sustainability by not using plastics and metals that offer garish views and produce large amounts of Carbon Dioxide. By utilizing integrated rain collection designs, the citizens of Rotterdam feel encouraged to implement sustainable infrastructure. Including simple and sustainable focused design in future buildings allows cities to remain safer from floods and reduce energy spent on water collection.

Another benefit of the flood design in Rotterdam regards the natural irrigation systems implemented to reduce the amount of freshwater used for watering plants. Our tour guide pointed out how trees often follow in a straight line to allow the city’s channels to water the trees naturally. Designing green spaces to work alongside flood control offers vegetation water wasting energy on pumping in drinking water through sprinklers for the plants. Planning green spaces to work symbiotically with other designs improves the sustainability of a city through the reusability enforced. Homogenizing systems within urban design can lead to a more sustainable and cleaner future.