On Wednesday we explored more of downtown Rotterdam and some sustainability aspects. First, we visited the Dak Akker rooftop garden and got a tour of the surrounding neighborhood from the owner. We also visited a coffee shop/rock climbing gym where a few other students and I did some bouldering. We then visited the Watersnoodmuseum which commemorates the 1953 flood and explores the future of water engineering in The Netherlands.

Rotterdam was heavily bombed during the Second World War, so most of the buildings were constructed post 1950. This means Rotterdam is much more like an American city than Amsterdam and the architecture is also more modern. Like American cities a lot of sustainability initiatives aim to add green space and parks to a mainly concrete and industrial area. Similar to Amsterdam and almost every Dutch city a primary design goal is to manage water. We saw this at Dak Akker which uses multi-layer soil to store an enormous amount of water. The more greenery absorbs water, the less runoff there is and the less flooding of sewage and drainage systems there is. Rotterdam is also a very industrial city so it needs to save all the water it can. I think American cities can take lessons from some of the green areas and basins used in Rotterdam.

Again, today we rediscovered the importance of the 1953 flood to the Dutch. At the Watersnoodmuseum we learned that many people lost their families and homes in the disaster. We also learned that innovation of new water management techniques is very important for Dutch engineers. Water is quite literally the lifeline of the Dutch, but also their greatest enemy.