Climate Adaptation Strategy

In the Netherlands, climate change is leading to higher temperatures, more (extreme) rain, dry summers and rising sea levels. Like the rest of the western Netherlands, Delft is particularly sensitive to the effects of climate change due to its low location, subsidence and dense urbanization. The effects of climate change we notice the most in our cities. At the end of May 2018, the biggest downpour in recent years caused local flooding, while the following months were marked by drought and high temperatures. The urgency and necessity to adapt Delft to the changing climate is increasing and was the reason to make up a climate adaptation strategy.

The aim of the Delft Climate Adaptation strategy is to reduce the consequences of climate change as much as possible by linking climate adaptation measures as much as possible to the measures that are already on the maintanence agenda of the city. Like this we keep our city liveable and prevent investing in something that we have to redo in a couple of years. Appropriate measures increase the resilience of the natural system, so extreme weather conditions can be better absorbed. Climate-adaptive measures can also offer other added values, for example increasing biodiversity and recreational possibilities in the city.

The strategy consists out of a problem analysis, a risk analysis, an exploration of possible solutions and a climate adaptation agenda. This agenda is an implementation program to be carried out the coming years together with the residents of Delft, companies and organizations. 

Climate adaptation requires local solutions. The search for the best measure for a specific location is depending on lots of different aspects such as soil conditions, drainage capacity, spatial planning and the vulnerability of an area. We have developed an extensive set of water-sensitive measures for the Delft Climate Adaptation strategy that can be applied at various locations and at different scales in the city.