River as Tidal Park
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Location | Rotterdam Region, The Netherlands
Year | 2014 - 2017
Client | Ministry of Inrastructure and Environment | WWF/ARK | Municipality of Rotterdam | Municipality of Ridderkerk | Port of Rotterdam | Region of Rotterdam
Collaboration | City of Rotterdam | Stroming (Brienenoord - De Esch study) | Strootman Landschapsarchitecten (landscape framework) | Ecoshape
Status | explorative study, stakeholder workshops
In the Rotterdam region we explored with a coalition of stakeholders the future perspective of the ‘River as Tidal Park’. Our goal is to strengthen the qualities of the Meuse river as a central, green space in its urban area and to improve the experience of the tidal dynamics for all inhabitants to enjoy. Because right now, this is lacking
The Rotterdam region currently has 360 kilometers of river bank; 70% of this stretch are hard quays and less than 10% could be considered tidal nature. At the same time this is the only open connection between rivers and open sea in the in the Dutch Delta, which brings along great natural potential for tidal biotopes.
Connecting city and river
There is great tidal potential
Together these locations are building a regional park
Workshop: exploring tidal park locations
Preferred locations for Tidal Park
The program ‘River as Tidal Park’ has been officially adopted by officials of the City of Rotterdam, the Port Authority, the Province and Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment. In March a declaration of intent to support the overall concept was signed and to take action into actually realizing the tidal park.
Since then our involvement in the program has been twofold: in cooperation with Strootman Landschapsarchitecten and regional stakeholders we developed a landscape framework with design principles, aiming to guide and inspire local stakeholders and spatial designers who work on translating the program's ambitions into concrete project proposals.
Study Tidal park Brienenoord - De Esch
Better access to the Island of Brienenoord and its rich sequence of biotopes.
Tidal areas already can be found
Meanwhile we supported some of these local stakeholders in their ambition to make tidal parks at different sites along the river. For the Port Authority and the Municipality of Rotterdam we developed concepts for the Maashaven where a new configuration of berths for inland shipping is combined with a tidal park. For WWF/ARK we drew an appealing future perspective for the ‘Island of Brienenoord – polder De Esch’ showing its ecological and recreational potential. For Huys ten Donck, a beautiful 18th century estate, we supported the owner and the Municipality of Ridderkerk in their ambition to restore the estates relationship with the river. For all of these locations we organized and guided workshops, brought stakeholders together and developed concepts with the aim of translating the overall programs ambitions into concrete project proposals.
Impression tidal terrace
