Read the user story by Tom van Arman in the Amsterdam Smart City Smart Stories💡📖 Magazine. His experiences with the City-zen Virtual Power Plant 🔋 https://smartstories.nl/18.html
Living off the grid: <https://smartstories.nl/18.html>
This is the 12th episode of a series 25 building blocks to create better streets, neighbourhoods, and cities. This post deals with the question of how nature itself can help to deal with excessive rainfall and subsequently flooding of brooks and rivers, although these disasters are partially human-made.
Until now, flooding has mainly been combated with technical measures such as the construction of dykes and dams. There are many disadvantages associated with this approach and its effectiveness decreases. Nature-inclusive measures, on the other hand, are on the rise. The Netherlands is at the forefront of creating space for rivers to flood, where this is possible without too many problems.
An important principle is to retain water before it ends up in rivers, canals, and sewers. The so-called sponge city approach can be incorporated into the fabric of new neighbourhoods and it creates sustainable, attractive places too. A combination of small and large parks, green roofs, wadis, but also private gardens will increase the water storage capacity and prevents the sewer system from becoming overloaded and flooding streets and houses. Steps are being taken in many places in the world; [China is leading the way](https://www\.dropbox\.com/s/47zxvl3kgbeeasa/Tale of two cities.pdf?dl=0) (photo top right). However, the intensity of the precipitation is increasing. In 2023, 75 cm of rain fell in Beijing in a few days. Under such conditions, local measures fall short. Instead, nature-inclusive measures must be applied throughout the river basin.
In new housing estates, water basins are constructed to collect a lot of water. Their stepped slopes make them pleasant places to stay in times of normal water level. The pictures on the left are from Freiburg (above) and Stockholm (below). The top center photo shows the construction of a retention basin in Lois Angeles.
Wadis
Wadis are artificial small-scale streams in a green bed with a high water-absorbing capacity. In the event of heavy rainfall, they collect, retain and discharge considerably more water than the sewer system (bottom center photo). Green strips, for example between sidewalks, cycle paths and roads also serve this purpose (photo bottom right: climate-adaptive streets in Arnhem).
Green roofs look good, they absorb a lot of CO2 and retain water. The stone-covered urban environment is reducing the water-retaining capacity of the soil. Sufficiently large interspaces between paving stones, filled with crushed stone, ensure better permeability of streets and sidewalks. The same applies to half-open paving stones in parking lots.
Up to the present day, flood-prone parts of cities are used for various purposes, often because the risk is underestimated or the pressure on space is very great. London's Housing and Climate Crises are on a Collision Course is the eloquent title of an article about the rapidly growing risk of flooding in London.
Hackney Wick is one of 32 growth centers set to help alleviate London's chronic housing shortage, which has already been repeatedly flooded by heavy rainfall. However, the construction of new homes continues. Measures to limit the flood damage at ground floor level include tiled walls and floors, water-inhibiting steel exterior doors, aluminum interior doors, kitchen appliances at chest height, closable sewers, and power supply at roof-level. Instead, floating neighbourhoods should be considered.
Follow the link below to find an overview of all articles.
ATELIER is an EU funded project about AmsTErdam and BiLbao cItizen drivEn smaRt cities, aiming to create and replicate Positive Energy Districts (PEDs) within eight European cities. ATELIER showcases innovative solutions that integrate buildings with smart mobility and technologies to create rather than consume energy in its two Lighthouse Cities Amsterdam (Netherlands) and Bilbao (Spain). The Fellow Cities of ATELIER, Bratislava (Slovak Republic), Budapest (Hungary), Copenhagen (Denmark), Krakow (Poland), Matosinhos (Portugal), and Riga (Latvia), will replicate and adapt the successfully implemented solutions and thus serve as testbeds for future smart cities. Overall, ATELIER will thus generate an energy surplus of 1340 MWh of primary energy and save 1,7 kt of CO2 and 23 t of NOx-emissions.
To achieve successful implementations of energy saving measures, ATELIER puts citizens at the centre of all its activities: residents (<9000), local initiatives and energy communities will be included in decision-making processes and activities and will be strongly engaged in the development of the technical solutions throughout the project. Citizens will be involved in the Innovation Ateliers to create a maximum impact for the PEDs.
30 partners from 11 countries are working in 10 work packages.
Learn more about ATELIER at its public website (http://www.smartcity-atelier.eu/) or via the ATELIER Twitter and LinkedIn channels. Sign up here (link follows) for the ATELIER newsletter. Follow the project virtually and don’t miss an opportunity to come talk to its partners at events to learn more about how ATELIER will improve the life of its citizens and the liveability in its cities!
Ben je een ondernemer met een duurzaam product of duurzame dienst en wil je écht impact maken? Dinsdag 10 oktober organiseert de gemeente Amsterdam in samenwerking met gemeente Haarlem het matchmaking-evenement voor het unieke aanbestedingstraject Scale Up Toekomstbestendige kunstgrasvelden. Elke ondernemer die bij kan dragen aan innovatieve en duurzame toepassingen op en onder kunstgrasvelden, is welkom!
Tijdens deze middag maak je kennis met het project 'Scale Up Toekomstbestendige Kunstgrasvelden' en word je geïnspireerd en uitgedaagd hoe jouw bedrijf bij kan dragen aan deze revolutie. Je ontmoet andere waardevolle en gedreven ondernemers met dezelfde visie, die bereid zijn samen te werken aan de toekomst van sportvelden. Wie weet vind jij wel de perfecte samenwerkingspartner! Meld je direct aan.
Datum: dinsdag 10 oktober 2023
Tijd: 13.30 – 18.00 uur
Locatie: Johan Cruijff ArenA, Amsterdam
Programma
13.30 - 14.00 Inloop
14.00 - 14.45 Welkom en keynote spreker
14.45 - 15.30 Presentatie Scale Up aanbesteding
15.30 - 15.50 Pauze
15.50 - 17.30 Speeddating & marktplein
17.30 - 18.00 Netwerkborrel
Wie zoeken ze?
Amsterdam en Haarlem zoeken verschillende partijen, die samen (in consortia), innovatieve oplossingen ontwikkelen voor de verschillende ambities. Het doel: duurzame kunstgrasvelden van circulaire materialen, die bijdragen aan een verbeterde waterhuishouding, een betere aanpak van hittestress en een algemene positieve bijdrage aan het energievraagstuk. Denk bijvoorbeeld aan een systeem voor wateropslag of composteerbare materialen. Dus ook voor bedrijven en innovators die momenteel niet actief zijn in de kunstgrasbranche kan deze opgave interessant zijn!
Samen maken we impact
Dat is het motto! Benoemde gemeentes willen, in samenwerking met marktpartijen, een positieve verandering teweegbrengen in de negatieve effecten van kunstgras. En met meer dan 200 sportvelden in Amsterdam en Haarlem, kan er veel impact gemaakt worden bij het verduurzamen van de stad en andere steden.
Lees meer over dit project op: kunstgrasvelden.innovatiepartners.nl
Disclaimer: Het is niet verplicht om deel te nemen aan het matchmaking event om mee te kunnen doen met de aanbesteding. Het project wordt deels gefinancierd door het LIFE Programme van de Europese Unie. De weergegeven standpunten en meningen zijn echter uitsluitend die van de auteur(s) en weerspiegelen niet noodzakelijkerwijs die van de Europese Unie of CINEA. Noch de Europese Unie, noch de subsidieverlenende autoriteit kan hiervoor verantwoordelijk worden gehouden. Aan deze artikelen kunnen geen rechten worden ontleend, de aanbestedingsstukken bij de publicatie van de aanbesteding zijn leidend.
