The past couple of months have been a difficult time, in which the corona crisis swept over everyone and everywhere. The IABR took the time to map out the consequences of Covid-19 and to search for the best way to continue to achieve its goals. How can we adjust intelligently and regroup in such a way that we are not only giving something up, which is inevitable, but are taking the next steps forward at the same time?
We decided not to try to solve our problem by simply postponing the biennale. There are and will be too many uncertain factors for that, and it is financially unfeasible.
In times of corona, furthermore, the traditional biennale model that culminates in the concentrated presentation of a full program that draws as many people as possible in a short time is not an option. And, against the background of the climate crisis, it might never be again.
Rather than organize a major exhibition and a temporally concentrated program, we will therefore spread our activities over an extended period, from mid-September 2020 to June 2021. This will also allow us the time to experiment with our new exhibition space, the Keilezaal, and to work on the corona protocol we have to develop.
We are getting off to a ‘light’ start, gradually exploring what we can and cannot do, and will incrementally roll out IABR–DOWN TO EARTH. The question the new program is set up to explore is: Where can we land? How can we find our way back down to earth, and live in harmony with nature? This allows us to develop our substantive approach step by step, to identify and process insights gained during the corona crisis and to focus even more on the core questions that DOWN TO EARTH intends to ask.
More news here in August. For now, enjoy your summer, and make sure to stay healthy and safe!
Given the current circumstances, business as usual is not an option, of course, and that goes for the IABR as well. So, it’s not surprising that many have asked us how the Covid-19 pandemic will impact the planning of IABR–2020–DOWN TO EARTH. In this newsletter I want to inform you of where we currently stand.
The coronavirus has put the whole world on hold and given mankind a truly unique opportunity to take a good hard look at where we’re at. Evidently, we’ve made a mess of our relationship with the planet. As with the climate and biodiversity crises, the pandemic is a direct consequence of human activity, particularly our global economic and financial systems with their stress on endless compound growth and the necessity to exploit nature to its limits. But unlike these other crises, threats that gradually sneak up on us, the pandemic is a grim warning of how nature can suddenly surprise us at any moment. What the coronavirus tells us is that we should no longer fool ourselves and stop clinging to the notion that we’re able to create an autonomous ecosystem, separate from the rest of the biosphere. It’s just not sustainable.
Though not much of a silver lining, the pandemic also shows that DOWN TO EARTH’s core questions are spot on, and more urgent than ever. Indeed, how do we recover our just place on earth, and in harmony with nature? Where can we land?
But ‘told you so’ is not a very productive approach for a biennale to have. Exactly because our core questions stand, the pandemic forces us to rethink how to express and frame them, and to focus even harder on the how now part of bringing about the comprehensive transformational change that’s so urgently needed.
How? I have no trouble admitting that I don’t know yet, because trying to run ahead of ourselves would surely be counterproductive. But what I do know is that Covid-19’s deep impact clearly communicates the need to strongly resist scurrying back to normal as soon as we think it’s safe again. Because, and this has been pointed out by many others, normal is exactly the problem.
What’s more, trying to run ahead of ourselves would also be imprudent given that we as well as most of our partners are working at home and in various stages of lockdown all over the world. We’re in the midst of what feels like a global game of Chinese whispers and right now is not a good time for us to prepare for the complicated logistic operation that every biennale is.
We have therefore decided not to keep planning for the opening of the biennale in the first weekend of September, meaning that DOWN TO EARTH will be rescheduled.
This decision is confirmed by the most recent resolutions of the Dutch government. While new rules for relaxing the current physical-distancing restrictions will take effect in the coming weeks, festivals and other events that bring a lot of people together remain prohibited until 1 September. In other words, whether opening the biennale in the first weekend of September would have been viable at all would have remained uncertain for at least another two or three months.
What does this mean for the timing of and approach to DOWN TO EARTH?
The honest answer to this question is that, once again, I don’t know. We are now exploring different scenarios and keeping our options open, both in terms of planning and of the form the biennale will take. The only thing that is certain, if – and that’s a big if – circumstances allow us to organize a proper international exhibition at all, it will not open until very late in the year or, much more likely, even be postponed until the spring of 2021.
However, we may still decide to start in September or October, but initially only in very small settings and/or in an online environment, to find out what works and what doesn’t, and then decide whether we can still move towards a physical exhibition that is adaptive and corona proof. An exhibition that will subsequently end with its Opening, that is, an opening towards the future that we would want DOWN TO EARTH to conclude with.
In the next weeks, we will further explore the different scenarios and expect to secure the ongoing support of our funders and partners for every possible course of events. We will have narrowed down our options by the end of May and we hope to be able to make ‘final yet expiration date unknown’ decisions by the middle of June. We’ll keep you posted.
Again, stay healthy, sane and safe!
George Brugmans
president IABR
DOWN TO EARTH
There are plenty of good plans and ideas, also from spatial designers and architects, to achieve a more sustainable balance between people, other species and nature, but they rarely become concrete projects. There is a gap, a missing link, between plans and projects, between knowing and doing, an incredibly persistent issue that IABR–2018–THE MISSING LINK has put on the agenda.
The next biennale, DOWN TO EARTH, asks where we can land and examines how we can tackle the issue in concrete terms: how now? For one thing, the IABR does this by applying existing, major and urgent challenges as a lever both in exploring the integrated transformation of our urban landscapes and societies and in the public debate on the nature, quality and property of the transformation.
http://www.bruno-latour.fr/fr/node/738
Water and Energy Transition
The two that we have chosen are water management and energy transition-related challenges. How can design driven responses to these challenges help us to develop new approaches to inhabit the earth, in a much more balanced way, one that helps us realize the Sustainable Developments Goals?
How can designers tackle water issues - too much, too little, too polluted - in such a way that they become also the starting point for working on resilient cities? We research this in particular in our two Water as Leverage Ateliers, the IABR–Atelier Dordrecht and the IABR–Atelier Drought in the Delta.
And (how) can designers help realize the energy transition so that we can simultaneously use it as a lever for socially inclusive urban planning? We investigate this in particular in our IABR – Atelier Rotterdam, Energy Transition as a Lever for a Socially Inclusive City.
As of 2016, the IABR has fully committed itself to contribute to the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations and of the objectives stated in the Paris Climate Agreement. It has firmly anchored its commitment to the SDGs in her multi-year policy plan 2021 - 2024, Where Can We Land?
What does that mean in concrete terms? That the IABR, as a cultural institution, wants to contribute to solving the great challenges we face with the most appropriate means available to us as a research and development institution as well as an international cultural platform: research by design, and the power of the imagination and of design.
Curator Team + Designers
To address this issue, how to take action now, from the global level to that of the urban district, IABR–Ateliers have been started and a new Curator Team has been appointed, consisting of George Brugmans, Rianne Makkink and Jurgen Bey Thijs van Spaandonk and Robbert de Vrieze.
Studio Makkink & Bey will design the exhibition, Roosje Klap (ARK) is responsible for all graphic design.
M4H + BoTu
The locations of DOWN TO EARTH are the Merwe-Vierhavens area (M4H), a city harbor that is a breeding ground for the new circular economy, and Bospolder-Tussendijken (BoTu), a self-reliant and culturally very diverse but socioeconomically vulnerable Rotterdam district.
M4H + BoTu: two adjacent areas we jointly named Test Site M4H+ during the previous biennale. Together, they are representative of the many challenges facing not only the city of Rotterdam but also many other cities. The water challenge and energy transition play a part here, but here we can also explore the new circular economy, the housing challenge, accessibility, and social inequality. Here, the poor and unemployed live alongside start-ups and enterprising artists. Old and new meet, city and port, rich and poor, local and global.
M4H+BoTu is an exemplary Test Site for the transition: challenges and approaches come together in the now and how, and in a very provoking manner as well. It is an ideal location for the IABR, for DOWN TO EARTH and for later biennale editions.
Downloads
Atelier dordrecht accelerates
next steps and distinct research assignments
The IABR–Atelier Dordrecht’s work on De Staart has accelerated since March 2020. New measures under the EU’s Water Framework Directive came in handy here as it ensured closer collaboration between the various stakeholders in the area, including Rijkswaterstaat (Department of Waterways and Public Works). The quest for a new tidal environment culminated in a workshop that was held in the Sliedrecht part of national park De Biesbosch and attended by representatives of the City of Dordrecht, Rijkswaterstaat, Staatsbosbeheer (Federal Forest Service), West 8, the IABR and the Wantij Foundation. They visited the Wantij and De Biesbosch by boat to map the various dilemmas and opportunities of the area.
The City of Dordrecht also took the initiative to ask West 8 to develop a new map that represents the vision for the entire De Staart area, in convergence with the research of the IABR–Atelier. This will prevent fragmentation, create a solid and integrated spatial framework in which urban as well as landscape development can be embedded, and allow the design, in collaboration with Staatsbosbeheer and Rijkswaterstaat, of an environmental strategy for the entire area to which all stakeholders can agree.
© West 8
Next steps
In the spring of 2020 lead designer Adriaan Geuze, in consultation with the IABR and the City of Dordrecht, formulated and coordinated the concrete design objectives of IABR–Atelier Dordrecht. Preparations included the clear formulation of five distinct research assignments to be integrated in the overall plan for De Staart that will be developed by Geuze and his West 8 team.
Subsequently, elements were singled out that represented exemplary possibilities in the fields of urban development and escape routes and peak absorption. These are not only of interest to the City of Dordrecht and De Staart, but can also be used in other, comparable locations in the Netherlands.
Next was a search for the right designers for the job and the commissioning of five assignments to broaden specific subjects, the results of which Geuze and his team will incorporate into an integrated system analysis of De Staart, explaining the connection between the five research by design efforts and creating a clear overall picture of the possible future development of De Staart – of what Dordrecht can want.
The Atelier’s main question – How can something which the city of Dordrecht may need temporarily at some point, that is, a safe haven in the event of flooding, serve as a lever for the permanent sustainable area development of De Staart today? – is leading in all further research. In addition, all designers have been tasked to take ample note of the Sustainable Development Goals in their research by design, in accordance with the framework of the IABR's main objective, so that this IABR–Atelier too can contribute to the design of socially inclusive and sustainable cities.
©VenhoevenCS
Five research assignments
Climate Adaptive Escape Route
Dordrecht has a historical renaissance center that is garlanded by disconnected suburbs. There is no fast, direct route to the inner city and therefore Dordrecht locals, including those of De Staart, often opt for the car rather than the bicycle. This being the case, is it possible to roll out a new micro-mobility route as a day-to-day main route between De Staart and the city center that will naturally and recognizably double as the route to the safety of De Staart in the event of a disaster?
Another important research question, besides the question regarding sufficient capacity in the event of a disaster, is the one regarding the feasibility and recognizability of a climate adaptive escape route. How does one ingrain such a future escape route into the collective consciousness through daily use without confronting people with a possible disaster day in and day out?
VenhoevenCS, an authority in the field of infrastructural development and new forms of urban mobility, will take on this task together with experts from the City of Dordrecht and an external safety advisor in the field of escaping and escape behavior.
City of High-Density
A second research question focuses on the design of a new high-density city district, with subcultures and the accompanying facilities, and connected to the public transportation network. This assignment focuses specifically on the part of De Staart that the City of Dordrecht will probably develop first (after Stadswerven). This choice guarantees a swift realization.
In the event of a disaster, this part of the city must be able to function self-sufficiently (in terms of, for example, electricity, food, water, and waste disposal); it will have to be able to accommodate 60,000 people for at least a week.
This assignment goes to Milligen Bielke’s Studio Donna, a young office that approaches urbanism and the use and users of the city in an innovative way, accentuating the discussion about what the new city can be.
In addition, students of Eindhoven University of Technology, under the guidance of Tom Veeger, are examining how this originally industrial area can be transformed to accommodate a diverse urban life with a maximum mix of functions.
New Live-Work Environments
The third research question focuses on the combination of living and working. Which building typology can facilitate a maximized mix of start-ups, light maritime industry, dwelling, and recreation? Is it possible to ‘capture’ the desired urban activity in a new prototypical building with rents that are as low as possible and spaces that are maximally flexible? One that allows people to both live and work in the building and experience its urban dynamics right from the start? This assignment will be realized at the Stadswerven municipal shipyard, because it offers opportunities for a good financing mix. The Atelier commissioned the Dordrecht office EGM, which will collaborate with economists associated with the City of Dordrecht and with builders who have experience with maximum standardization.
De Grote Rug
De Staart also includes De Grote Rug, a large reservoir owned by water company Evides. Serving as an emergency reservoir, its size impacts its operational management. Deepening and halving the reservoir contributes to the reduction of blue-green algae production and ensures lower maintenance costs. De Grote Rug is situated on the Wantij, close to the railway, and is therefore possibly an interesting location for Living on Water. Is it possible to create a floating city here, one that has to be self-sufficient as well?
This is the question on which urban designer and former government advisor on infrastructure and the city Rients Dijkstra is working together with his students at Delft University of Technology. They will carry out research by design into a water city, partly floating, partly on the waterfront: a form of urbanization that may well be the most climate-adaptive in the Netherlands in the future.
The Wantij
The Wantij plays an important part in the plan for De Staart. Currently this tidal river has relatively little to offer local residents, it does not really contribute to a better quality of life, there is no nature development ongoing and residents of De Staart can barely access the area directly. West 8 will examine how nature development along the banks of the Wantij and the reintroduction of the Griend as a cultural-historical element can add value to both the urban character and biodiversity of this part of Dordrecht.
Energy transition is both a goal and a means to an end. The goal is to realize a CO2-free living environment, but it can also be used as a lever to achieve a way of living together, a community, that is sustainable in every respect: economically, ecologically and socially.
Energy Transition and Behavioral Change
IABR–Atelier Rotterdam © Ooze
From petroculture to postfossil culture
The energy transition affects every aspect of our lives: housing, working, mobility, nutrition, comfort, and culture. We are moving from a petroculture to a postfossil culture and this requires a new paradigm, new philosophies, and new ways of doing things. It’s clear that the transition cannot be made on the basis of the thinking and the doing that got us into trouble in the first place. It requires a new narrative of who we are and what we want, what we can want. More and more writers, thinkers, designers, and scientists are working on that new narrative. They are outlining a new paradigm, a different relationship with nature and the world, an economy based on other, more sustainable values that takes nature and society into account and an energy system that exists for the benefit ofthe community, that belongs to the community rather than prevails at its expense. In short, a paradigm that enables us to re-establish ourselves in the territory, and in good balance with nature: Down to Earth.
Leverage
How then can we use the energy transition as a lever to work on this alternative future? Can we make such a paradigm change conceivable at the level of the neighborhood, for example, where the community can play a key role?
We think we can and we know why we ought to: rising temperatures and sea levels, loss of biodiversity and the depletion of resources, food shortages, floods and droughts, surging migrant flows, increasingly extreme weather conditions – and the list gets longer.
And we also know what to do: switch to the sustainable energy generated by the sun, the wind and the earth as quickly as possible, to circular material flows, to smarter mobility, and to more plant-based food, to equal sharing and to more inclusivity.
Energy transition as leverage for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals in Bospolder-Tussendijken
How?
But as yet, we don’t know enough about how to achieve our ambitions. This is why IABR will launch the Workshop BoTu in the Bospolder-Tussendijken neighborhood in Rotterdam, headed by curators Thijs van Spaandonk and Robbert de Vrieze. In the run-up to the biennale, and as of September 2020, the Workshop will be making small but concrete steps towards a 'manual', a how to. In short, we are going to build, learn from each other, and practice and experiment together, using an integrated approach. We are going to get to work in order to make practical connections between the generation, storage and distribution of new forms of sustainable energy; the need to develop local energy-ownership and the building of a new commons; and the urgency to contribute, on the level of the neighborhood, to the achievement of all the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
From Local Energy Action Plan to Workshop BoTu
The Workshop BoTu takes over, as it were, from the IABR–Atelier Rotterdam. Since 2018, and together with residents, entrepreneurs, social organizations, housing associations, and the City of Rotterdam, the Atelier has been exploring how implementing the energy transition in the Rotterdam district Bospolder Tussendijken (BoTu) can also be used here as a lever for achieving an inclusive social agenda.
In the fall of 2020 the results of the Atelier’s research will be presented in the form of a concrete Local Energy Action Plan that is now being developed by Eva Pfannes and OOZE Architects and Urbanists.
In the run-up to DOWN TO EARTH, BoTu will turn into a Workshop that, during the biennale, will bring together local knowledge and relevant lessons learned in BoTu and in other neighborhoods and communities, in the Netherlands and abroad, to devise and propose next steps, again, for BoTu and elsewhere.
Local Energy
Towards an Action Plan
In the summer of 2019, the IABR–Atelier Rotterdam carried out two parallel studies into local energy in the Bospolder-Tussendijken (BoTu) neighborhood under the heading ‘Building Blocks for a Cooperative Approach.’ They constituted an investigation into the spatial-energetic building blocks that are required and a mainly anthropological exploration of BoTu’s established and as yet uncharted invisible social networks. The results of these two exploratory studies are employed to take the next step: a LEAP, a Local Energy Action Plan.
Potential heat resources in BoTu
IABR–Atelier Rotterdam - PosadMaxwan & Generation.Energy
Spatial-Energetic Building Blocks
The research into conceivable spatial-energetic building blocks was commissioned by the IABR and carried out by PosadMaxwan & Generation.Energy. It charted the potential for generating, saving, storing, and exchanging energy; identified costs and benefits and ways to create cohesion; and studied the extent to which our efforts to achieve the goal of being CO2-neutral by 2050 is likely to bear fruit.
The outcome is a package of possible measures that can be assessed by assigning each so-called Spatial-Energetic Building Block a ‘value’ based on questions such as: How does this building block perform in terms of sustainability and on what scale? Does the building block require the involvement of individuals or that of the collective? Can we develop a business case for this building block or does it require public funding?
The study can be downloaded at the bottom of this page (only in Dutch)
Social Networks
The investigation into the role that both established and as yet invisible social networks in the neighborhood can play in the energy transition was carried out by four local parties that know BoTu well and worked closely together: Transformers, Beekhuizen Bindt, Eliza Works, and Steps2Inspiration. The research was also an anthropological exploration of BoTu’s self-image, of the needs and challenges of today, and the requirements and wants for the future with which the residents identify.
The study can be downloaded at the bottom of this page (only in Dutch)
(In)visible social networks in BoTu
IABR–Atelier Rotterdam - Transformers, Beekhuizen Bindt, Eliza Works, Steps2Inspiration
LEAP
In the autumn of 2019, the IABR–Atelier employs the results of the two exploratory studies to take a next step: a LEAP, a Local Energy Action Plan. This involves a new approach to the energy transition. Considering the potential of the Spatial-Energetic Building Blocks, we will explore which trajectories and projects to design and implement a transition path to 2050 that is supported by the district can be realized in collaboration with active and activated local networks.
Towards a LEAP
IABR–Atelier Rotterdam © Ooze
With LEAP, which is being researched and advanced by Rotterdam-based OOZE Architects and Urbanists, the IABR–Atelier Rotterdam delves deeply into BoTu to (be able to) explore how the energy transition can serve as a lever for a broader qualitative leap toward the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals on the scale level of the neighborhood.
CASE 1: OBS DAKPARKSCHOOL EN BINNEN GEBIED
OOZE's design study into an integral approach to making the OBS Dakparkschool and the inner courtyard that this primary school shares with the Center for Culture and Participation (CCPR) and the Rijnmond Multicultural Center Foundation (RMC) more sustainable, is now ready. Availabe in Dutch only, it can be downloaded at the bottom of this page where you can also find an Executive Summary in English.
BoTu becomes a Test Site that can provide new insights and alternative approaches to realizing the energy transition, also in other districts in Rotterdam as well as beyond. This role of BoTu as a social-spatial-energetic laboratory will of course be highlighted during DOWN TO EARTH.
The IABR–Atelier Rotterdam: Energy Transition as Leverage for Socially Inclusive City Making is a collaboration of IABR en the Municipality of Rotterdam (Department of Urban Development and Resilient Rotterdam).
In the summer of 2018, the climate crisis made itself felt in the Netherlands. Not only by an excess of water, but also by freshwater shortages. To many, this came as a surprise. Our entire delta has been designed to discharge water as quickly and efficiently as possible with an eye to water safety.
The dry hot summer of 2018
source: NOS
In 2018, it took a great deal of effort to keep the Dutch water machine up and running: to this day, some areas have not recovered from the drought, and there is likely to be permanent damage, both to urban and to wildlife and agricultural areas.
More hot and dry summers are likely to follow. Unfortunately, the Dutch delta has not been designed to retain water in times of drought. This presents a new challenge, which the IABR–Atelier Drought in the Delta wants to map out.
Precipitation Surplus
As in many other places in the world, there is plenty of water in the Netherlands, but not always at the right time. The country has an annual precipitation surplus, but the water that falls in wet periods is often no longer available in times of drought. Sometimes large quantities of fresh water are transported directly to the sea; at other times there is a water shortage in some places. This mismatch between water demand and surplus precipitation as a result of the climate crisis is expected to become more frequent and to increase, not only because of changing weather conditions, but also because glaciers are melting and seawater levels are rising. The circumstances call for alternative ways of thinking and acting: from a naturally wet delta that has to discharge its water as quickly as possible for its inhabitants to survive, to one that retains freshwater and makes it accessible when necessary.
precipitation surplus 2018
source: KNMI
Shortage of Space
Like deltas elsewhere in the world, the Rhine-Meuse-Scheldt Delta is a densely urbanized and economically and ecologically crucial area. That means that space aboveground is scarce, but underground there’s still room, where there have always been major reserves of freshwater, all over the world. This seems to be the most logical place to temporarily store freshwater.
But the subsurface is a vulnerable system that faces its own challenges. In many places in the world, underground freshwater lakes, the aquifers, are under threat, and being drained for irrigation or industrial purposes. This does not happen often in the Netherlands, but the freshwater supply in our delta is also under pressure, mainly as a result of salinization.
In addition, the subsurface is already being intensively used. There are more claims to the space than just that of water storage, for example those of the energy transition and of CO2 storage. And because of the climate crisis, all of these claims are equally urgent. In the future, claimants will either get in each other's way or will have to share the available space.
All of this is reason for the IABR to investigate the opportunities and frameworks for the large-scale aboveground and underground storage of freshwater. This must be done with an eye for other domains – to see where the various transitions meet and influence each other, but above all to find out where they can help each other. How can the large-scale storage of freshwater act as a lever for the creation of alternative approaches and social added value? How can the underground storage of freshwater contribute to the creation of a resilient delta that can cope with the major transitions that lie ahead?
Journey to the Center of the Earth
The IABR–Atelier Drought in the Delta, which is led by Marco Vermeulen (Studio Marco Vermeulen), is nothing short of a ‘journey to the center of the earth’. Although we are not likely to get that far, we will look at all the knowledge that is already available to map out the surface and the subsurface purposefully and as best we can – a precondition for designing there. This will clarify the opportunities and possibilities for the large-scale aboveground and underground storage of freshwater and explain how and where this affects other transitions and their space claims to begin with and, next, show how transitions underground are fundamentally linked to major transitions aboveground.
© IABR, Studio Marco Vermeulen
The final outcome of this Atelier will consist of a concrete strategy for 2050 and identify possible pilot projects. These have to be specifically designed on location and explicitly represented at eye level to ensure that their (positive!) impact on the living environment is clearly visible. The pilot projects must be designed to collect proof that will allow the further development and accentuation of the strategy. The results will provide a stimulating picture of the future, but it is at least as important that local or regional governments will be able to use them to work on their own challenges.
The IABR–Atelier Drought in the Delta is a study by the IABR that is being conducted by Studio Marco Vermeulen under the direction of Marco Vermeulen.
Over 80% of all climate change caused urgencies and calamities are water related. That's exactly why it can be argued that water-issues offer opportunities, that tackling water related challenges can and should be used as leverage for more comprehensive change, for realizing transformative projects everywhere and on every scale.
© Cynthia van Elk
Water represents man’s most challenging and complex risk. Floods and draughts, pollution and water conflicts combine in conceivably disastrous ways with rapid urbanization, a growing demand for food and energy, migration, and climate change.
But while the water challenges carry with them the risk of disruptive transitions they also offer us the opportunity to use water as leverage for transformative impact. Only a better understanding of the complex risks will allow us to de-risk the world effectively. Recognizing that water can also be used as leverage helps us find opportunities for real change, for transformative projects everywhere and on every scale.
Water as Leverage
To identify and initiate such projects, in 2016 George Brugmans, the president of the IABR, and Henk Ovink, the Dutch Water Envoy, signed a Memorandum of Understanding. Subsequently they launched the Water as Leverage initiative. which became an important guideline for the design research projects that the IABR (co)started from 2017, such as Water as Leverage for Resilient Cities: Asia and the IABR – Ateliers Dordrecht and Drought in the Delta. In 2018 IABR opted for Water as Leverage as one of the two main theme's of IABR–2020–DOWN TO EARTH.
Building blocks
These research processes are the main elements with which curators George Brugmans, Rianne Makkink and Jurgen Bey will work. Together with other forward looking projects, including the new Delta Plan Rotterdam, a 2.0 version of The Geography of Future Water Challenges by PBL, the World Water Atlas by Deltares, PBL and IABR, the Water School 2.0 by Studio Makkink & Bey and the projects selected from the entries of our globally launched Open Call, they are the building blocks for the main exhibition of DOWN TO EARTH.
M4H
Water as Leverage takes place in the Merwe-Vierhavens area, M4H. The exhibition opens its doors in the Keilezaal in the Keilepand, where IABR is moving its office in the Spring of 2020.
Makkink and Bey will also develop a program for the entire area, the IABR – TEST SITE M4H+.
What was once one of the most extraordinary and balanced water cities in the world, Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec empire, is now Mexico City, a metropolis where 20 million people have enormous water problems.
02:52 -- English subtitles
produced by iabr/UP and Doxy for the World Water Atlas
In 2018, creative producers George Brugmans (iabr/UP) and Hans de Wolf (Doxy) presented Mexico City: The Thirsty City, a film directed by Alexander Oey and commissioned by the World Water Atlas.
Watch the complete film here:
18:33 -- English subtitles
produced by iabr/UP and Doxy for the World Water Atlas
Tenochtitlan was located on a small island in a valley full of lakes. Since the arrival of the Spanish conquerors, the city has grown step by step without proper water management while the drainage of the lakes has continued unceasingly.
Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec empire
How can the city learn to live with water again?
The World Water Atlas is an initiative of the Dutch Special Envoy for Water Affairs, Henk Ovink, the founding partners are the Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Deltares, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL) and IABR.
Click here for a version with Spanish subtitles
The Dutch government, the City of Rotterdam and the Creative Industries Fund NL are IABR's main partners.
The IABR is a lead partner of the Dutch government in implementing the Action Agenda for Spatial Design (ARO) 2017 - 2020 of the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. The IABR is funded in the Culture Plan 2017 - 2020 Budget of the City of Rotterdam and subsidized as part of the Grant Scheme for Multi-Year Architecture, Design and E-Culture Programs of the Creative Industries Fund NL (SCI).
Strategic alliances
As part of its multiyear policy plan 2017-2020, Towards a Resilient City, the IABR has entered into two action-oriented collaboration agreements.
One is with the Special Envoy for International Water Affairs of the Kingdom of The Netherlands (Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management). The aim is to globally explore potentially viable projects for which "water" can be the key to finding integrated and innovative solutions to existing challenges. One focus is on South East Asia where water related problems are most urgent. In partnership with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Global Center on Adaptation and 100 Resilient Cities, IABR, the Special Envoy and AWB have initiated the project Water as Leverage for Resilient Cities: Asia. The Special Envoy and the IABR, together with Deltares and the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, have also initiated the World Water Atlas.
The second agreement is with Resilient Rotterdam (Department of Urban Development, City of Rotterdam), resulting in the IABR–Atelier Rotterdam 2017 - 2020, in which other active partners are the Port Authority of Rotterdam, Delfshaven Cooperation and others.
