News & Events
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14thFeb 2012
RE presented by Minister and LAA leaders to German press
Hannover, 14.2.2012
Today, Mr. Gert Lindemann, the Federal State of Lower Saxony Minister for Food, Agriculture, Consumer Protection and Regional Development, in charge for Interreg IVb North Sea Region, did open an exposition about remarkable projects with German participation – among that: EU-Project MARE.
The Minister referred in his opening speech to the EU-project MARE and referred in particular to the two German LAA leaders from the MARE-partner City of Hannover, Jens Pohl and Paul Burkhard Schneider, and mentioned that flood protection in urban environments like Hannover is very important especially..
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30thJan 2012
Doubts about safety standards Dutch dikes
Monday 23 jan 2012
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(Translation from http://nos.nl/artikel/332742-twijfel-aan-veiligheidsnorm-dijken.html)
The water authorities (waterschappen) in the Netherlands doubt whether the safety standards of the Dutch dykes are still up-to-date. These standards date from the sixties and have not been updated ever since.
Research conducted by knowledge institute Deltares shows that currently there are at least three areas in the Netherlands with inadequate protection against flooding, the large rivers area, the city of Almere and the Dordrecht region... -
10thJan 2012
Dordrecht deals with high water after storms
After heavy storms and rainfall of the first week of 2012 Dordrecht had to deal with hight water. Emergency teams were alerted, sand bags placed and later water was pumped out of basements in the historical city outside the primary defences. Please find related television and radio coverage attached. Dordrecht will continue to work on the safety and livability with its partners. With the MARE research Dordrecht prepares policies and supports practical development projects for an attractive and safe city.
Currently the future water policy programme of the City will take shape. The latest events show the importance of this programme: 'Dordrecht..
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19thDec 2011
City of Bergen and MARE project case study for Nordic Center for Spatial Development
The City of Bergen and the MARE project are featured in the new working paper " Adaptive Urban Planning in Response to a Climate Change" of NORDREGIO, the Nordic Centre for Spatial Development (working paper 2011:10). The paper looks at innovative practices from the Nordic countries regarding sea level rise and precipitation. The conclusions of the meeting highlight the importance and complexity of collaboration across sectors, municipalities, regions and states. As is the case in Bergen, the argument is made for strong collaboration among neighboring municipalities by initiating common platforms for climate change adaptation, since what happens in one..
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13thOct 2011
Dordrecht wins national award for 'water, living and space' based on the water-rich development project Plan Tij.
Dordrecht wins national award for 'water, living and space' based on the water-rich development project Plan Tij.
Especially the spatial planners of MARE and the policy advisors on water have contributed. The project is an icon and example for MARE.
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For more information (in Dutch): http://waterwonenenruimte.nl/incl/nieuwsbericht.php?id=53
Source: Water, Wonen & Ruimte -
14thSep 2011
THE NANSEN LEGACY – CLIMATE AND HUMAN RIGHTS
In the Cities of the Future programme, the City of Bergen has spoken in favour of a broad initiative to start working on a convention on human rights that will secure the right to a sustainable future and sustainable decisions that are made within the climate goals recommended by the UN.
We must acknowledge, to a much greater extent than we do today, that the world’s poor are the worst hit by climate change.
Welcome, to Hotel Norge on Thursday 20 October.
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1stSep 2011
Minister & Delta Commissioner visited MARE Dordrecht
The Dutch minister of Infrastructure and the Environment Melanie Schultz van Haegen and the Delta Commissioner Wim Kuijken visited Dordrecht to learn from the national policy pilots Multi Level Safety and New urban developments and restructuring. Both pilots are executed by the Dordrecht Learning & Action Alliance from the Interreg 4b project MARE. The visit made headlines in regional newspapers (see below) and national professional publications.
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1stAug 2011
Intermediate report Multi level Safety delivered to Delta Programme
The intermediate report Multi Level Safety Island of Dordrecht was delivered to the Delta Programme. It was received with great enthusiasm by national and various local policy makers. The coming two months the Dordrecht Learning & Action Alliance from the Interreg 4b project MARE will participate in various workshops to discuss and disseminate the results. The aim is to use the lessons to support policy making and practice at higher scale levels and in different areas. E.g. a one-onñone workshop is planned with representatives of the region of Amsterdam and later a large national workshop with many other regions, facilitated by policy makers..
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13thJul 2011
Police car washed away - Hospital almost without electricity - Heavy storms again in The Netherlands
A Strong storm caused a lot of trouble in the centre of The Netherlands yesterday. In the provinces of Utrecht and the North of Brabant streets were no longer accessible and tunnels were flooded. Within 3 hours the regional emergency rooms received some 278 reports of incidents.
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The soil underneath a train overpass off the road was washed away due to the large amounts of water. A police-van got stuck in the soil because of this and the police officers had to break the window of their van to safe themselves.
The basements of the ` Diakonessenhuis´ hospital, where the hospitals´ powerhouse is located, were in danger of.. -
7thJun 2011
Heavy storms causing floods in Northern Germany
Yesterday, around 5 in the afternoon, the sky of Hamburg, Germany, turned gray and a strong storm front came over Hamburg. Heavy rainfall up to 50 liters per square meter within 1 hour were measured and documented by pictures of pedestrians. Streets were flooded and the main train station had to be closed, due to the heavy rainfall and pea-sizes hailstones.
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For more information and video-recordings of the flood, please check: http://www.bild.de/news/inland/unwetter/hamburg-berlin-hagelwalze-18258388.bild.html -
5thJun 2011
Three people stuck in flooded tunnel due to sudden heavy rainfall
On several locations in The Netherlands, thunder storms and heavy rainfall are causing floods. This morning there was so much rainfall that the streets of Arnhem and many basements were flooded also a number of elevators stopped functioning due to the water. The tunnels in Arnhem were closed off for traffic after a car got stuck in the water and three people needed to be rescued by fireman.
for more information (in Dutch): http://nos.nl/artikel/246020-wateroverlast-door-buien-in-arnhem.html
video: -
21stMay 2011
Living room of Alderman of Dordrecht flooded!
The importance of knowing what to do in case of a flood emergency was proven last Saturday, when the Alderman of Dordrecht himself discovered that his feet were starting to get wet. He was inside a so-called floodbox living room, which is used as part of the MARE communication programme to make people aware about flood risks and the importance of being well prepared for it. Knowing upfront what is the most important thing to focus on saving; your new TV, your precious photo album or ….. your own life, right from the very first moment that water starts to enter your house, is proven to be vital.
Luckily the Alderman and other inhabitants..
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18thMay 2011
New York Times' reporters visit Dordrecht
Next Thursday 19 May 2011 reporters from the New York Times visit Dordrecht. They will be received by Mr. Piet Sleeking Alderman of the City of Dordrecht and Ellen Kelder, Programme Manager Water and project leader of MARE.
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They will show the Island of Dordrecht, its urban and rural areas, the water rich historical city and (re)development project in the inner city and outer marches. They will reflect upon Dordrecht's history with water and how the city plans to deal with water and climate change in the future. -
18thMay 2011
MARE present at FP7 project Floodprobe conference in Trondheim
Several Dutch partners form MARE visited colleague flood-experts in Trondheim, Norway at their
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conference. Dordrecht presented the case of a self reliant island in which the main question is
how to find the right balance between the three levels of Multi-Level-Safety. Three existing
knowledge gaps can be assessed within Floodprobe.
Through this exchange, MARE interacts within the scientific world both to transfer the gained
knowledge and insights frsubjects of MARE. -
11thMay 2011
Coping with Climate Change: BaltCICA conference, Bergen May 11-12
The project BaltCICA under the Baltic Sea..
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5thMay 2011
BSc students conduct study on the Voorstraat in Dordrecht
MARE partners have requested a group of BSc students of the Hogeschool Rotterdam to conduct
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a study on the Voorstraat, a primary dyke in Dordrecht. The dyke is not high enough and can not
be easily strengthened because of the (monumental) buildings on top of it. Nonetheless, the levee
is considered unbreachable precisely because of these adjacent buildings. Alternatives such as
‘dry canals’ are being developed and evaluated to enable overtopping and convey the flood water.
Preliminary results have been presented and mid-2011 final results are expected. -
3rdMay 2011
Academic papers on MARE Learning & Action Alliances published
Two papers have been published on MARE experiences with Learning and Action Alliances
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(LAAs). One paper is led by Newman of the University of Sheffield’s Pennine Water Group,
regarding the specific experiences from the river Don Alliance. The other, led by van Herk of the
Flood Resilience Group (TUD, UNESCO-IHE) and Bax & Willems Consulting, focuses on LAAs
for the integration of Flood Risk Management into urban planning in Dordrecht, the Netherlands:
Downloads
Abstract: Newman et al 2011 Managing water as a socio-technical.. -
1stMay 2011
MARE Dordrecht connected to many other policy projects
The MARE project aims to support many water-related policy processes. For the MARE Dordrecht
project, an overview has been made to visualise and position MARE in relation to these policy
processes. A division has been made between the two components ´water in the city´ and ´city in
the water´ on pluvial flooding and fluvial flooding respectively.-MARE367AS relatie MARE en beleidstrajecten SG20101029_v3.pdf
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18thApr 2011
MARE Dordrecht PG meeting, April 18 at PZH, Den Haag
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4thApr 2011
MARE representatives at next MiSRaR meeting Gabrovo
MARE representatives will go to the next MiSRaR meeting in Gabrovo to bring in their expertise
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on safety for floods. MiSRaR is a interreg IVC project:
"Mitigating Spatial Relevant Risks in European Regions and Towns" (MiSRaR)
In the MiSRaR project, seven partners cooperate in the development of effective disaster mitigation with an aim to prevent or reduce the chance of spatial relevant disasters. More specifically, disaster mitigation targets to reduce the amount of natural and technological disasters and tries to pro actively reduce its negative results.
MARE brings in a case study and.. -
2ndApr 2011
MARE in Dutch Delta Programme (DDP) New Build and Regeneration
The Dordrecht MARE component ‘Water in the City’ on climate-proof urban regeneration
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considering pluvial flood risk has been selected as an official national pilot for the Dutch policy
process Delta Programme, within the sub-programme New Build and Regeneration.
Supervised by the Directorate ‘Ruimte’ of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Environment, design
workshops have been organised. Furthermore, an inventory has been made of legal, financial and
political opportunities and barriers for climate proof urban development and regeneration. Mid-
2011 the first results will be.. -
1stApr 2011
MARE Dordrecht official pilot for Dutch Delta Programme on Safety
The Dordrecht MARE component ‘City in Water’ or ‘Multi Level Safety’ has been officially selected
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as a pilot for the Dutch national policy process: Delta Programme, in the sub-programme Delta
Deel Programma (DDP) ‘Safety’. Mid-2011 the first results will be presented.
Visualisation of the Delta Plan: -
1stApr 2011
Analyses of Learning and Action Alliances (LAAs) in the all partner cities
An analyses has been performed on the functioning and impact of Learning and Action Alliances
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(LAAs) in all partner cities. Special emphasis has always been on the interaction with policy
processes.
The regional Learning and Action Alliances (LAAs) have outlined Vision and Action plans for
continuation beyond the MARE project. This activity has been carried out at local level, with
coordination and an exchange of best practices in a workshop at transnational level. -
1stApr 2011
Complete Climate Proofing Framework of MARE
The MARE project has delivered its preliminary reports on the “Climate Proofing Framework”
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(CPF) This forms part of the bottom-up development of common tools and methods for water
managers to design for either regulatory or extreme flood risk, and to design ´with water´, focusing
on the socio-economical aspects.
The preliminary CPF reports have been made available on the team-website and will soon be also
downloadable from this project website. -
1stApr 2011
Norwegian Regional Steering Groups created
The Bergen Learning and Action Alliance (LAA) has set up a steering group at Hordaland on
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region level, in which all mayors from the region participate to discuss policies. A larger, informal
stakeholder group consists of about 100 people. Issues discussed in the groups include effective
organisation of the LAA and the limited involvement of urban planners. The group meets on a bi-
monthly basis.
The Steering Group is intended to become a permanent body. It will extend its scope to address
Climate Change issues in general. Objectives are to coordinate development on a common
knowledge/capacity base... -
21stMar 2011
High-water walking route is a success
The high water walking route through the historic centre of Dordrecht is a huge success according to the local tourist office. The route guides you past 18 sites in the inner city, where it becomes very visible that water is sometimes a friend, sometimes an enemy and has shaped the city’s history.
The city and its waters are inseparable. On many points, the presence of water is clearly visible; ports, tide gauges and flood-stones show Dordrechts` facts and stories that make it a true water city
You can download the route from the website of the government of Dordrecht -
2ndMar 2011
Transnational LAA & Policy workshop (WP1 & WP4), March 2011 (tbc)
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16thFeb 2011
National Multiple Level Safety Pilot meeting
All the area specific pilots exchanged results at the National Multiple Level Safety Pilot meeting
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national meeting. MARE presented their case study ‘Island of Dordrecht’. 70 water experts from
different Delta Programme pilots where present at the meeting. -
1stFeb 2011
Designs workshop ´Water in de Stad´ (Water in the City) was a success.
Three architectural design agencies were invited to join the ´Water in de Stad´ (Water in the city) workshop of MARE and to develop essays with visualisations of spatial solutions for flood risk management, as part of the Dutch Delta-deelprogramma Nieuwbouw en Herstructurering. Inspiring visualisations for the area in Dordrecht called Wielwijk were developed on three different levels: neighbourhood, street and residential property (house and garden)
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6thJan 2011
MARE in magazine Association of Dutch River Municipalities
The MARE Dordrecht project was featured in the latest magazine of the platform that reaches over 100 municipalities
Dowload the article here:
http://www.mare-project.eu/docs/Rivergemeenten_Magazine_MARE.pdf
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2ndJan 2011
Both UFM and MARE identified as opportunity within the Economic Transition Agenda
The Dutch strategic working group on economic development of the water sector (Topsector
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Water) and the commission on regional development (Zuidvleugel) have identified MARE project
and outputs as an opportunity for exploitation. Rapid urbanisation of river delta's around the world
and increasing flood risk make the project's knowledge and expertise a major business
opportunity at national and international level. Relevant business sectors include construction
(infrastructure and buildings), engineering, architecture and urban development.
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1stJan 2011
MARE provides input for Dutch policy discussions
MARE research is input for Dutch policy discussion on primary defence, as described in this national news article.
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Ellen Kelder from the municipality of Dordrecht is interviewed by the national daily ‘Algemeen Dagblad’. -
13thDec 2010
LAA Dordrecht Project group Meeting
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8thDec 2010
LAA Dordrecht Meeting Multi Level Safety
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2ndDec 2010
LAA Dordrecht - Policy workshop 'Water in the City'
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1stDec 2010
MARE partners disseminating gained knowledge and experiences
MARE Dordrecht partners published an article explaining two examples of the new flood management policy paradigm in the Netherlands: Multi-Level-Safety (MLS). Drs. Ellen Kelder, ir. Sebastiaan van Herk MSc. and ir. Peter Minnema explain the opportunities and challenges related to the implementation of the MLS approach using two case studies. The development of an integrated flood risk management strategy for The Island of Dordrecht and the development of an Emergency centre and shelter at Rotterdam-The Hague Airport. The article was published in Recht, Bestuur en Organisatie van Hulpdiensten (RBOH), a Journal on emergency services
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17thNov 2010
Harvard University presents “The New Map of Dordrecht”
The Harvard - Netherlands Project on Climate Change, Water, Land Development, and
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Adaptation, presented out-of-the-box ideas on reducing Flood Risk for the city of Dordrecht.
The project, for which a group of 30 student visited Dordrecht in 2010, is a joint study led by Pierre
Bélanger and Nina-Marie Lister from the Departments of Landscape Architecture & Planning at
Harvard University in association with the Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water
Management; the Dutch Ministry of Housing, Spatial Planning and Environment; knowledge Institute Deltares, and the Government of Dordrecht. -
11thNov 2010
International expert team review MARE partner city’s FRM plans Dordrecht and Hannover
The objective of MARE is to design and validate integrated approaches for Flood Risk Management. These processes are validated by developing concept Flood Risk Management plans for actual (re)development sites in Dordrecht (NL), Sheffield/Rotherham (UK), Hannover (DE) and Bergen (NO). As part of this process, MARE includes a peer review process in which team of experts from each city review another city’s draft plans. These sessions serve as training- on-the-job, help to exchange local best practices and are especially valuable in validation of novel processes and innovative solutions towards decision-makers.
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The cities.. -
10thNov 2010
American delegation of the state Louisiana visits Dordrecht in The Netherlands
[EN]
A delegation of the American state Louisiana visited Dordrecht, The Netherlands, in early November, together with the US Senator for Louisiana, Mary Landrieu. They were received by the Alderman of Alblasserdam, Sjoerd Veeman, Urban Development Director, Wil Ronken and Dordrecht municipality urban planner, Judit Bax.
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In 2005 the state Louisiana with its famous city New Orleans was hit by hurricane Katrina. Ever since, governments and knowledge and private partners of Louisiana visit the Netherlands to learn from our experience and knowledge on water safety. For several members of the delegation this was not their first visit to.. -
8thNov 2010
Transnational Review Session Hannover
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20thOct 2010
MARE project presented in German-Polish workshop
The state of Lower Saxony and the district greater Poland cooperate in annual workshops to discuss actual problems. This year the topic is climate change and consequences on hydrology, especially flood protection.
This year's conference will be held in Hannover from the 20st to 22nd of October. The MARE project will be presented as an example of learning to understand and cope with climate change and hydrological consequences, the EU flood directive, urban water management and climate change and general circulation and consequences for floods. The presentations will be held by German and Polish experts.
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7thOct 2010
International meeting water and climate policy
The government of Dordrecht organised an international meeting on the 5, 6 and 7 of October,
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regarding urban development and water- and climate- policy.
30 experts from the cities Sheffield (UK), Bergen (Norway), Hannover (Germany) en Dordrecht
itself were welcomed by the Alderman of urban planning, Sleeking. This international meeting was
part of the MARE project.
Within MARE, over 40 partners work together on water safety policies combined with urban
development. In Dordrecht the partners work on two practical learning schemes that become
reality in the demonstration projects Wielwijk.. -
5thOct 2010
Transnational Review Session Dordrecht
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7thSep 2010
Unesco IHE visits Dordrecht
Forty students from the international institute for water education, Unesco-IHE paid a visit to
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Dordrecht. For over 5 years now students have been visiting the city as part of their education
because of the innovative approach Dordrecht has in relation to water management, especially
with regards to water safety. Also 3 students have done their MSc graduation project on the case
study Dordrecht, directly contributing to the MARE project.
Main topic of the day was the MARE project, in which Dordrecht investigates new ways to make
Dordrecht climate-proof in relation to water. During the day the.. -
1stAug 2010
MARE progress presented to Association of Dutch River Municipalities
The VNR or Association of Dutch River Municipalities serves as a platform on Flood Risk
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Management issues for local policy makers like aldermen and majors of municipalities along main
rivers..
Dordrecht presented its multiple level safety strategy the task groups Rhine River (30
mayors/aldermen from different municipalities) and Maas River (for another 30 mayors/aldermen).
The presentations were a starting point for lively debates on the legal aspects, especially shifting
tasks and responsibilities for municipalities. A follow up meeting will be organized to identify the
opinions and develop a.. -
1stJul 2010
Delegation from Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland visited Dordrecht
Organised by the Netherlands Water Partnership, Dordrecht received an international delegation
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of twelve high level policy makers from Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland. The results of the
multiple safety approach and current results of the MARE project were presented to the
delegation. The visit served as input for strengthening the framework for flood risk management in
new member countries. -
1stJun 2010
Delegation from Riga visited Dordrecht
Organised by the Netherlands Water Partnership, Karin Stone (Deltares) presented the results of
the multiple level safety approach for an international delegation from Riga. The delegation was
formed by 10 international FRM experts.-MARE in 100712 Visie Deltares magazin UFM.pdf
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1stMay 2010
MARE Presented 3 times at congress ‘Delta’s in time of Climate Change’:
During the 3 day national congress Delta’s in time of Climate Change, MARE was presented at
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three different occasions. There were about 1750 high level participants (mostly professionals in
the field) at the congress where MARE LAA members gave their presentations. -
1stApr 2010
Presentation congress: ‘Leven met water in Haaglanden’ (Living with water in Haaglanden).
About 170 waterexperts of the region ‘Haaglanden’ were present at the congress Living with water
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in Haaglanden. One of the things presented there was the Adaptation Tipping Point method
results from MARE. The ATP method serves to consider climate change and uncertainty in
adaptive urban planning and water infrastructure (investment) planning -
6thMar 2010
Study visit of students from the ETH Zurich
A group of students from the ETH Zurich Hönggerberg Institute for Urban Design visited
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Dordrecht as part a programme on sustainable urban design. The Dordrecht case was used as
introduction to Flood Risk Management in the Netherlands and to think about alternative urban
design solutions to prevent flood risks. The group designed several conceptual solutions to protect
the island Dordrecht from flooding with inclusion of the ´MeerLaagse Veiligheid (MLV) (Multiple
Level Safety) method (Deltaprogramme Safety and Deltaprogramme Rijnmond-Drechtsteden). -
1stFeb 2010
Study visit for Students Climate and Environment
Five students of the higher education ‘Climate and Envrionment’ of the ‘Haagse Hogeschool’ in
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The Netherlands did a research project on transition management. The MARE demonstration
projects in Dordrecht, Bergen, Hannover and Sheffield were taken as case studies for their
research. -
1stSep 2009
MARE kick off!
Dordrecht started a follow-up research project, MARE, to continue its successful and innovative contribution to local and national policy making.
Here you can find several related news articles in Dutch.-MARE in 100712 Visie Deltares magazin UFM.pdf
