Why?

Climate change means that heavier rainfall occurs in a shorter period and there are longer periods of drought. Westland is also affected by this. In 1998 and 2013 heavy rainfall caused a lot of flooding in various places in the Westland. The municipality of De Lier was particularly hard hit, but flooding was experienced throughout the Westland on streets, in houses and in greenhouse horticultural businesses.

Similar situations are expected to occur more often in the future. That is why it is important to anticipate this and take the necessary measures.

The biggest part of  Westland is densely built. There is hardly enough space for digging extra open water to collect the surplus of precipitation. Therefore it is necessary to find creative solutions which can store, collect and discharge the surplus of water.

What?

Liermolensloot is a new residential area where 800 houses will be build. The goal of this pilot is to increase the ability of the residential area to store more water by taking climate adaptive measures on top of the legal requirements.

Together with the developer, urban-planners from the municipality and water specialist from the waterboard of Delfland we searched for potential climate adaptive measures to store more water in the area. Measures include urban infiltration strips, swales and open gutters leading towards swales. These measures will be integrated into the design resulting in a climate adaptive residential area.

who?

Different stakeholders have played a role in arriving at a joint solution. Co-creation and participation are central to the ongoing process. Below is a list of the most important stakeholders:

• The municipality of Westland
• Water board Delfland
• Developer BPD
• Urban Design agency SVP
• Residence from De Lier

Stakeholder engagement & co-creation

During three workshops with different stakeholders involved, a climate adaptive design was created. A first workshop took place in December 2017, working on the development vision and the selection of promising measures. Representatives of the developer BPD, the urban design agency SVP, the municipality of Westland and an infiltration expert were present

A second workshop took place in March 2018. During this workshop, the preliminary urban development plan was discussed. A small excursion also took place, examining some existing climate adaptive measures in practice.

A third workshop took place in April 2018. The main purpose of the meeting was to coordinate with the municipality’s management and maintenance department. In addition, the climate map with climate data from Liermolensloot was also discussed.