Watersquares

via Pruned

My head is filled with process these days; a part of the practice of urban planning that is somewhat opaque and difficult to show others. So I was keen to find out about this Watersquares project (pdf) in Rotterdam; a cool example of how something moves from:

problem --> design concept --> research and dev --> urban planning --> urban policy

The problem of stormwater management and an overtaxed sewage system led to a potential design solution that was then prototyped and developed, put through the applied planning wringer, and emerged as viable urban policy for the City of Rotterdam. And, to make it completely accessible to those who never come in contact with the wonkiness of "urban stormwater management" it looks like a graphic novel is coming out to explain how it works. The work is by Florian Boer and Marco Vermeulen (friend of yours v?) This project sounds awesome.