Best Practices

Case 1: Lynetteholm Copenhagen

Denmark is a country in which the sea plays an important role, its capital Copenhagen is built on islands both natural and man-made, this close relationship with water makes flooding due to storm surges or rise in sea level an important risk to consider.

Lynetteholm, is an artificial peninsula devised to shield Copenhagen from rising sea levels, while also providing the city with space for 35.000 new inhabitants, an “adaptable coastal landscape” will provide different types of coastlines dampening the effects of storm surges taking energy from the waves before hitting land, the use of this adaptable coastline is both as a public space and defensive mechanism.

Although it is arguable that the situation that Copenhagen faces is different from the one we find in Trondheim, the idea of a man-made peninsula, or as is the case of Grilstad, an artificial island can be used not only as a development opportunity but as a prevention device that can help to reduce flooding risk while providing public space is interesting and can be useful for a future vision of Grilstad or similar developments.

Case 2: Acqua Alta, Venice

The city of Venice has always been in close contact with the sea, since its foundation the city has experienced a natural phenomenon known as acqua alta “high waters”, where the natural flow of water covers the Venetian streets usually during the autumn and winter periods.

This increase in sea level usually covers between 10% and 15% of the city and more than 80% in exceptional circumstances with a rise in sea level of 140 cm.

To cope with this situation the city has developed several tools to either prevent flooding or maintain functionality and mobility, one of these tools is the use of elevated walkways throughout the city providing access to the main tourist attractions and connecting several parts of the city for pedestrians, a variation of this mechanism can also be used in Grilstad where floating walkways could be implemented in case of a rise in sea level, allowing mobilization and accessibility in case of emergencies.

Case 3: Water Squares, Rotterdam

Rotterdam is one of the most flood-resilient cities in the world, to accomplish this the city uses several adaptation strategies to prevent flooding caused by heavy rains or a possible rise in sea levels.

Within these strategies, we find the creation of water squares which are public spaces built lower than the normal street level, creating new space for water in the event of heavy rains, Benthemplein, the first square created with this functionality has the capacity to retain 2 million liters of water while also providing public space for the city during dry weather.

The implementation of this type of space can reduce the consequences of flooding, by creating a flexible landscape we can prevent water from reaching more vulnerable places like buildings or roads, allowing Grilstad to function even in the event of a flood.