Art on Climate Change Illustration Competition

Today the Green Hub hosted a very fun competition on climate change. It was an open art competition! Anyone was welcome and materials were all provided. There were also good talks and discussions on fast fashion, perspectives on climate and sustainability as well as hope, and how to change. Though the format to work on was mainly canvas, I brought some preprinted material to work with as I wanted to connect my entries to countering the extinction of knowledge, our theme for our walkshops. 

If we design a climate change adaptation measure, who are we designing it for? If you want more vegetation in your surroundings because you heard it helps against climate extremes, what local vegetation would you want to implement and maintain and what related ecosystem species would you want to attract? This means at least the people involved in designing measures need to know about their local species, and at least, the ones that used to be local. But here we often find a lack of knowledge. 

Already back in 2002 a British study showed that elementary school children were far better at recognizing randomly drawn Pokemon cards than their local wildlife. [An experiment involving 109 primary school children aged between four and 11 found that by the age of eight most were able to name 78 per cent of the 150 Pokémon characters such as Pidgeotto, Pikachu and Jigglypuff. The same age group could manage correctly to identify only about half of the pictures of animals and plants, such as "beetle", "deer" or "oak tree", displayed on cards shown to them by the scientists.] The important message from that study was "why should a child care about the extinction of a species if he or she has no idea what it is?"

With this in mind I used local data from the freely available observation of wildlife tracker and selected  species to make Pokemon style cards from using a freely accessible tool. Rather than attacks or abilities, I used this space to include a description of their appearance and behavior that appeared to me the most striking, with text from Wikipedia (in Dutch). Now we can enjoy a fun format of actual local creatures, to learn more about them and maybe recognize them outdoors. You can view all the entries in the Vrijhof until 22 June.

 

 

 

Climate Exam

The UT is one of the many organizations hosting the Climate Exam between 8 and 29 May. You can join on Thursday 21 May at the Spiegel building after registering, as there is a limited number of 45 places. No time? No problem! You can take a short version online too. It's available in Dutch and English and allows you to get up to date with the state of our climate. I scored 80%, thinking that the melting of glaciers was already more advanced thanks to the exposition in Vienna I saw previously. 

 

Poster for the UT Field Lab on Green Infrastructure

This overview poster shows the positioning of each sensor so far for our green infrastructure project at the UT Field Lab:

 

Policy trends in river and flood management in the Netherlands since the 2010s - part 6

This section has another local example of how these policies are implemented in practice.

Stream restoration in Hengelo[i], [ii]

Hengelo’s water plan from 2006[iii] contains measures until 2030, and is created in cooperation with the water board, the province, and the main drinking water company. The main issues addressed by this plan are stream restoration, splitting rainwater and wastewater, and reducing groundwater flooding. Stream restoration is dependent on these other two issues, and thereby they should all be considered in combination. The traditional perspective was that water should not be seen in the urban landscape. It was part of the subsurface infrastructure, unless there was flooding. Urban water had negative connotations and was a problem of the municipality, not the people. Therefore, the goal  of the water plan was to also restore the relationship between water and society, going beyond technical measures. This meant making neighborhoods more attractive and increasing awareness.

Hengelo is located at the bottom of the higher elevated moraine of Enschede and historically the water from the many streams was used for industry, mainly metal, which also extracted several meters of groundwater. As these industries were discontinued in the 1970s, polluted groundwater nuisance became a recurring issue, mainly during winters, and the few remaining streams no longer had a water carrying capacity. Many neighborhoods did have a main pond. Ideally the streams are reconnected aboveground.

 

Figure: Stream restoration in municipality Hengelo[iv]

 

Together with waterboard Vechtstromen many of the stream restoration projects have already been completed[v]. There is now a new climate adaptation strategy in alignment with the delta plan spatial adaptation (DPRA). Since 2019 the municipality is actively involving citizens in these climate adaptation plans and relevant stress tests[vi]. 60% of space in the municipality is owned by private citizens, which is why it is necessary to collaborate to reach the policy targets. As with the national expectations, measures are required to address an increase of frequency an intensity of pluvial floods, drought, and heat. Pluvial floods are a current issue as many paved city center areas do not offer sufficient drainage during outburst storms. Drought is mainly an issue because existing streams and the main industrial canal do not receive sufficient oxygen, leading to algae and bacterial growth and subsequent plant and animal mortality. Consequently, there is less water available for drinking water extraction, agriculture, and nature, which even leads to an increased fire hazard in nature areas. Heat is a large issue, especially in the inner city with ground temperatures of up to 50°C during a heat wave on August 12th, 2022[vii]. This could be reduced by introducing more blue elements into the urban landscape.

Small scale local measures on privately owned land stimulated by the municipality include subsidies for green roofs and decoupling rain water from the sewage system. In public space, the current focus is on retention areas called wadis, continuing to connect streams, and replacing the sewage system. More funding will be required, but can also become available through sewage plans, climate adaptive measures, and transforming grey areas to green. Every six years the local plans are revised where needed to adapt to the changing circumstances, both climate wise and politically. Involving citizens in this project means to discuss with different stakeholders (children, health care, experts, and citizens through social media polls and meetings) what would be the worst impacts to experience and what actions should be prioritized.

This is a great improvement to previous plans, as it is found that on average in Europe municipal climate plans are often inconsistent (70%), identify risks without any follow-up measures (48%), implements specific measures without any risk identification (49%), or don’t involve any groups of potentially vulnerable people during plan development (99%)[viii].

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[i] Newsletter municipality Hengelo and waterboard Regge and Dinkel 2012 https://www.hengelo.nl/bestanden/documenten/Inwoners/Water/Hengeleau_2012_Elsbeek%20terug%20in%20Driene.pdf

[ii] https://www.hengelo.nl/bestanden/documenten/projecten%20en%20plannen/groen%20en%20water/Klimaatadaptatiestrategie%20Hengelo%202022.pdf

[iii] https://www.hengelo.nl/bestanden/documenten/Inwoners/Water/Waterplan_Hengelo_2006.pdf

[iv] https://www.hengelo.nl/bestanden/documenten/Inwoners/Water/Hengeleau_2012_Elsbeek%20terug%20in%20Driene.pdf

[v] https://www.vechtstromen.nl/projecten/actuele-projecten/beken-hengelo/

[vi] https://www.hengelo.nl/bestanden/documenten/projecten%20en%20plannen/groen%20en%20water/Klimaatadaptatiestrategie%20Hengelo%202022.pdf

[vii] https://innovationorigins.com/nl/maastricht-is-de-meest-hittestressbestendige-binnenstad-van-nederland/

[viii] https://www.utwente.nl/nieuws/2025/5/305909/klimaatplannen-steden-vaak-inconsistent

 

Twentse waterweken event

You may have already seen several events in the region focussing on water: it's the Twentse Water Weeks! 

These are all kinds of activities focusing on the theme of water throughout the region. There are tours, excursions, cycle tours, open days, and the activities are for varying ages as well. Today I am giving 4 tours at the UT Field Lab to showcase our green roof research project (in Dutch, for ages 8 and up). So join us at the Field Lab this morning and check out the other experiments while you're here.

 

Demonstratie verkoelende effect van een groen dak en groene muur op Universiteit Twente Enschede

Wat is het verkoelende effect van een groendak of groene muur tijdens een hittegolf? In deze demonstratie in het UT Field Lab laten we zien hoe verschillende soorten groendaken en groene muren worden getest door de temperatuur, vochtigheid, neerslag, zonnestraling en wind te monitoren.

 

Policy trends in river and flood management in the Netherlands since the 2010s - part 5

This part has a local case studies of spatial management in river areas, showcasing how the different policies translate to implementation in practice.

 

De doorbraak – waterboard Vechtstromen and municipality Almelo[i], [ii]

 

The project called ‘the breakthrough’ is acting as an example project for future large investment projects and lauded by the Delta Commissioner. Multiple stakeholders invested in creating a completely new 13km long stream through four municipalities. Likewise, it has multiple functions, namely to store water and protect the city Almelo from floods, and to act as nature and recreation area. It was mainly made possible by having the government purchase farm lands when people were willing to move or trade lands. The project was completed, and evaluated in 2018 on the following aspects:

·       Content: to what extent were the intended goals and results reached?

·    Management: how were time, money, organization, risks, quality, and communication managed? When were which decisions made?

·       Rounding up: To what extent was the project finished and which activities remain?

 

From a financial perspective some goals were met and some were not. The budget was overdrawn by 11.7 million euros to a total of 52.5 million euros. However, nearly 50% of these costs were funded by external partners. Despite its runtime of several years, the project timeline was extended by only a few months. While the water is not running through completely, the safety goals are met. There is now room for additional water storage of 320,000 m3 and 600 hectares for flooding. The natural design of the area is aligned with the goals of the Ecological Main Structure policy guidelines and is performing beyond expectations as several rare species have been observed. Additional benefits include a better division of farmlands between owners, and increased tourism and recreation. The strengths mentioned are the great internal and external cooperation between many different stakeholders, the attention to communication, and the focus on results. Improvement points include managing expectations, waiting for support from other stakeholders, and having a single clear message per organization.

 

Figure: Image of the route of the project De Doorbraak[iii]

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[i] https://api1.ibabs.eu/publicdownload.aspx?site=vechtstromen&id=100076108

[ii] https://www.vechtstromen.nl/projecten/projecten-afgerond/doorbraak/

[iii] https://api1.ibabs.eu/publicdownload.aspx?site=vechtstromen&id=100076108