Conference Water & the City

13 - 15 June 2012, TU Delft, The Netherlands

Water is crucial for the development of every city. All over the world, cities are confronted with increased and uncontrolled urbanization, higher risks of flooding, scarcity of water for industry, households and ecosystems, rising pollution, ground subsidence, climate change and energy shortages. In addition, ever higher demands are being placed on our living environment, and citizens are becoming more outspoken in standing up for their rights. At the same time, we have more and more technologies at our disposal for measurement, processing information and purifying water for multiple use.

Science – Engineering – Design – Governance

Facing complex issues like this means integrating insights from the fields of Science, Engineering, Design and Governance. In the city of the future construction will be much more flexible, and water in the city will be utilized more efficiently. The water chain is being transformed into a water cycle that, linked with energy provision, is embedded in the urban infrastructure, at the level of buildings, neighborhoods and cities themselves. Water will become more and more a key controlling medium in the urban metabolism, thus having an impact on governance requirements. Ensuing challenges cannot be faced from one field of expertise alone.     

Active working conference ‘Water & the City’

Key purpose of the Delft ‘Water & the City’ conference is to bring together experts and students from the fields of Science, Engineering, Design and Governance from all over the world, and get them to actively work together in workshops on one of four cases of cities around the world facing their own specific water ‘challenges’: Singapore, Jakarta, Rotterdam and New Orleans. 

Water challenges Singapore, Jakarta, Rotterdam and New Orleans

Singapore, Jakarta, Rotterdam and New Orleans each face their own specific water challenges. During the two days of the conference we will be focusing on these four cases, starting from the separate fields of Science, Engineering and Design. At the end of the conference we will be bringing together the insights gained from the workshops, in our concluding workshop session.