Towards a sustainable Water City Nijmegen
City structures and the urban living environment are especially vulnerable to the consequences of dryer and wetter weather conditions such the "heat island effect" or increased flash-flooding. At the same time a well functioning city region is very important for sustainable economic development. The Future Cities-project aims at making city regions in Northwest Europe fit to cope with the predicted climate change impacts by proactive transformation of urban structures. The City Region of Arnhem and Nijmegen is one of those regions.
Nijmegen has suffered from severe floodings in 1993 and 1995. Since then adaptive measures on the field of water are developed. For the new city at the opposite of the river Waal the municipality Nijmegen started together with the water board to design a sustainable city area, beginning with the design of the water system.
This fine cooperation with the waterboard led to the idea of making a waterplan for Nijmegen south of the river. This Waterplan Nijmegen was made in 2001 together with other water partners. There are three major objectives:
- Do not spoil rainwater in the sewer, but infiltrate it in the ground.
- Construct a sustainable water system; bring it to a higher ecological level.
- Make water more visible in the city by means of water artworks.
