Eindhoven University of Technology
MASTER
Water in the city
water landscape and rainwater management
Dong, Y.
Award date:
2016
Link to publication
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WATER IN THE CITY
Water landscape and rainwater management
WATER IN THE CITY
Yingbo Dong Student number: 0923941 Prof. dr. ir. Pieter van Wesemael ir. Marcel Mush ir. Johan van Zoest Water landscape and rainwater management Strijp-S, Eindhoven, July 2016
WATER IN THE CITY
Abstract
Eindhoven region (Brainport region) is one of the three main regions in the Netherlands besides Amsterdam Airport region and Rotterdam Seaport region. In the Brainport MIRT report, 5 domains should be focused on in the process of renewal of the city. One of them is the quality of environment and infrastructure. Eindhoven, as a high-tech base, It was also mentioned in the report that a recognizable image of high-tech should be integrated into city landscape. Brainport must beat everyone’s heart. According to the barinport report, Eindhoven Municipality try to transform mono-function to multi purpose use, visualized design and technology, hold some living labs and make attractive public spaces, especially with water and green areas. To conclude the ideas from the MIRT report and Eindhoven municipality, our graduation studio proposed our own vision for Eindhoven - a sustainable design and high- tech city. Design and high-tech is the branding of the city.
Sustainable city means sustainable society, economy and environment. Furthermore, sustainability can be regarded as one of the smart parts of the city, which is also relied on design and high technology to make it more visible.
So all the visions for Eindhoven show the importance of improving the city physical environment. There is no doubt that Eindhoven needs people, needs company in the future.
But good physical environment is the fundamental aspect, which can provide a healthy and livable city for the people living and working here.
In order to improve the physical environment and meanwhile to make the design and high technology more visible, I choose water as the topic. Because water is almost everything in a city, which includes economic value, social value, ecological value and environmental value. It can be a corridor to connect different functional areas in the city, it is one of the most attractive elements for public space and it is one of the most important elements for urban life etc. Furthermore, water is also the most significant issue for the Netherlands, even in Eindhoven which is a city above the sea level. Because people here are lack of awareness on water issue problems.
And water landscape here are not good enough. So how can Eindhoven improve livability to build a healthy, safe and sustainable city through caring about water management and water landscape is the key question for my design. And the methodology for this research is literature review, interview and bench marking study.
Design is a process of solving problems. And the research is the preparation for design. Through the research, some challenges in Eindhoven are found. Global climate change has already had influence on Eindhoven, such as flooding after heavy rainfall, drought and high ground water table etc. Without enough green and blue areas in public space, they are really uncomfortable because of heat island effect.
Furthermore, low quality of surface water can not be ignored.
After the research of water management system of Eindhoven and bench marking study (Melbourne water management system), the weakness of Eindhoven water management system is the lack of storm water management. That is also the reason why Eindhoven is not resilient for climate change. Considering that high-tech should be integrated to the landscape in Eindhoven, I try to combine storm-water management and water landscape, which can also be called water sensitive urban design.
So some new strategies should be proposed, such as legislation, renewal of physical spaces, publicity of awareness for water, new technology for rainwater collection and new reward system. Following these strategies, as a designer, I try to choose one place to fulfill water sensitive urban design.
The design needs to solve some water issue problems and must be the first step to awaken citizen’s awareness for rainwater collection. Strijp-S is the best choice, not only because it is one of the icon of Eindhoven, but also because some new projects about water will happen here.
After design, in Strijp-S, water connects different functional zones. People can just walk along the water to find different programs here. And rainwater collection is also the main character in new Strijp-S which can be done through several rainwater gardens. So, this may be the first place to renew following water sensitive urban design rules.
Contents
Urgency of Eindhoven and topic choice Reason for topic choice: the value of water Key question
Methodology
Global challenges: climate change
Climate change effects and consequences Other challenges for livable Eindhoven Brainport city background
The vision of Eindhoven from Municipality The vision of Eindhoven from our studio
01
02
03
Background
Urgency and topic
Challenges
Changing of water management system of Eindhoven
Changing of water landscape of Eindhoven Concept (combination of water management and water landscape)
Toolbox of water sensitive urban design
The weakness of original watercourse reconnection projects
City scale design ( New water landscape system design in Eindhoven)
Water management system in Eindhoven Bench marking study (water management in Melbourne)
Comparison between Eindhoven and Melbourne
The current water landscape system in Eindhoven
The changing of water landscape in Eindhoven from 1921 to 2004
New projects for water landscape system in Eindhoven
04
05
06
07
Water landscape system
Water management system
New strategies
City scale design
The Summary of the whole process of design
The answer for the key question
Literature Report Website Layers analysis
Programs
Rainwater management in Strijp-S Detail design-Entrance district
Detail design-Central district (water playground)
Detail design-Central district (outdoor theater Design location choice (comparison and the reason of choice)
History and information of Strijp-S
Current site analysis and transformations in the design
Design structure and master plan
08
09
10
11
Local scale design
Detail scale design
Conclusion
Bibliography
1
Background
T
he world around us is changing fast. In order to adapt to this kind of changing, the Netherlands has to face a lot of social challenges to maintain its international competitiveness. For example, how can we deal with global climate change? How can we stay healthy? How can we make our mobility more sustainable and efficient? How can we maintain supplies of green energy and healthy food to meet thetry to tackle these challenges. The focus of Airport Amsterdam region is on innovative logistics, trade and financial services. For Seaport Rotterdam, core sector are transport, storage, handling and industry. Brainport region’s main industries are high-tech systems, chemistry and lifeTec.
From the Brainport research, in order to improve the competitiveness, five domains are taken into account. First of all, this region need people which means the region will grow fast in the future. It is especially keen on attracting engineering and entrepreneurial talent, both domestic and foreign. Knowledge workers and skilled workers are needed
1.1 Brainport city background
every kind of job seeker. Secondly, it is necessary to safeguard open innovation, one of the main strengths of Brainport area. A strong and accessible knowledge infrastructure has the power to bind, encourage and attract private R&D. The infrastructure is also important for product development, export and even where companies can locate and business can take place.
Business climate and commercial activities are another aspect that should be focused on. The strong chains of small and medium sized enterprises must act in unison in order to bring together different disciplines, to develop new products and service with high added value, and to explore new foreign markets. Next domain is governance, which means cooperation in this region. Lively interaction among
government, at all levels, is a main cornerstone of the success. So the network should be strengthened in the future. Even though all the domains mentioned above are about economy and society in Brainport region, another basic and significant domain - quality of the environment and infrastructure, can not be ignored. The whole region must be a nice place to live and work, with plenty of nature landscape, attractive cities, good education and various cultural life. A recognizable image of high-tech base should be integrated into city landscape. Brainport must beat in everyone’s heart.
Fig.1 Three cornerstones of Dutch economy
T
he vision from municipality, they indicated that the city need to improve the agglomeration power and connectivity, take a leap of urban culture. Both of agglomeration force and connectivity are the factors that will influence business climate in Eindhoven, which is the main task for this vision. Some other knowledge clusters, services sectors and labor markets are needed in the future. Accessibility should be improved in many aspects. Journey time must be shortened by rail and road. Direct connection with European network must be enhanced through developing High Speed Network in Eindhoven. Eindhoven Airport will be expanded in order that people can get Eindhoven as quickly as possible from international cities. However, besides agglomeration power and connectivity, quantum leap of urban culture is another factor which is related to business climate. As it is mentioned before,the distinctiveness of Eindhoven lies in the link of technology, design and knowledge, connecting the Brainport activities with urban culture. A strong urban culture is physically recognizable and experienced. So for accelerating the leap of urban culture, Eindhoven focus on higher urbanity in center. They want to remove the dominance of cars and barriers, creates new breeding grounds, informal meeting areas and a new form of urbanity. This means the elements include the transformation of mono-functional destinations to multi- purpose uses, visualization of design and technology, attractive public spaces (water and green), living labs for livable city, improving recreation areas nearby Dommel and government of Dommel river.
To sum up, the municipality illustrated that Eindhoven’s accessibility and the quality of physical environment should be improved, especially the redevelopment of central area. More investment in public space and landscape will be got. Design and technology will be more visible in the future.
1.2 The vision of Eindhoven
from municipality
B
esides the vision of Eindhoven municipality, another vision is proposed by our graduation studio.Our studio doesn’t only concentrate on agglomeration, connectivity and urban culture, but also research everything
range from traffic to environment, from society to economy, regarding the municipality’s ideas as a background.
Finally, the vision of Eindhoven from our group is that Eindhoven should be a sustainable design and high-tech city.
Because design and high-tech is the branding of the city. Through design and high technology, the city can be very smart expressed through sustainable society, economy and environment. We try to transform the city to be resilient to all kinds of changing.
1.3 The vision of Eindhoven from our graduation studio
Fig.2 Result of the vision of Eindhoven from our graduation studio through “Toast Making” method
2
Urgency and topic
O
ne of the urgencies of Eindhoven is to improve livability in the central city to achieve the “sustainable environment”goal. Because living environment is the basic for the city. It must be regarded as important as attracting startups and improving cooperations to boom the local economy. Because they related to each other, a better environment can easily keep talent people stay in Eindhoven. Better public spaces are directly related to their health and safety.
Eindhoven was concerned, I was interested in water issue. Actually, water is almost everything in a city, which is one of the most attractive elements for public space and one of the most important elements for urban life. I noticed that there is lack of recreational areas along Dommel river. The water quality was not good enough in the river. Furthermore, in the report given by municipality, they also mentioned that water with green space was an important element bringing more opportunities to the Brainport city. So water is the start point of my research and design. Through the research, I find that there are really several city problems in Eindhoven directly related to water, such as high ground water level, flooding on the streets in extreme weather conditions,
2.1 Urgency of Eindhoven and
topic choice
etc. And there are also some problems indirectly related to water, such as healthy problems caused by heat island effect and water quality, less interesting recreational public spaces in city center etc. In order to be a high-tech and smart city in the future, these low- tech problems should be tackled firstly.
No matter using high-tech or low-tech approaches, water can be a key point
to change these unlivable situation. So it is indeed important to Eindhoven.
Fig.3 Unhealthy street in Eindhoven after heavy rainfall
W
ater means everything in a city. It is the support and sustenance for a growing people. Agriculture are relied on it to product food that we need.The river, ponds or lakes are always be the central to the identity of our cities and towns. Water is a provider of recreation and a supporter of essential ecosystems. Water landscape is a desirable feature that communities love to be near. So water is a basic element, provide energy for city running. As a city located around by several streams and Dommel river, Eindhoven shouldn’t ignore water anymore. Water, considered alongside other priorities, can be a powerful integrator, providing economic, social,ecological and environmental value for Eindhoven.
Economic value
Water has an economic value in all its competing uses and should be recognized as an economic good. It is
directly used in the production of goods and services and the support of human livelihood. Drinking water supply, bottles and spring water, beer-making etc., They are all direct water consumption.
Water is a also a necessary part of the production of a given commodity.
This is indirect water consumption.
For examples, in agriculture field, all the food need irrigation which means they can not detached from water.
And water as provider of recreation, activities such as sports fishing, sightseeing and boating etc bring the use value of water, indirectly impacting on land and property values, attracting inward investment and improved labour productivity. Furthermore, water is an engine for economic growth because of its role as a vital transportation network.
In Eindhoven region, several streams and canals connect each other, which can still be used for transportation.
Social value
Water is the necessity for everyday’s life. A good water management system can provide healthy and clean water, can improve the quality of surface water and can cool down the cities’
temperature. This means water is directly related to health issue.
2.2 The value of water
Economical value
Water means money. Citizens should pay for clean water to drink everyday.
Agriculture and industry in Eindhoven region are the main parts to use water to bring income for the city. Moreover, water transportation is also significant in North Brabant or even in the Netherlands.
Social value
Water in the Netherlands has a big social value, which is related to health and safety.
People have to use water everyday, meanwhile, they also try to protect their land from flooding, protect their health from water pollution.
Ecological value
Water as the essential element of creature can bring biodiversity for a city. Rainwater is quite normal in the Netherlands. As a part of natural water cycle, it can be regarded as resource to be used instead of waste.
Environmental value
Water is interesting because it is the important part of landscape and recreation. A lot of activities are related to water, such as swimming, ice skating or water playing etc.
And water landscape is also the most attractive part for people in a city.
Fig.4 The value of water scheme
Furthermore, water can be controlled in good water management system.
Then flooding and water pollution are not a problem anymore. Citizens can enjoy the safe city environment, which is Eindhoven need. So health and safe value is added to water.
Ecological value
The ecological value and economic value of water are sometimes interdependent, while sometimes complementary. However, for Eindhoven, it can be explained in a simple way. Water is not a isolated elements in the city. To natural environment, water is always occur with green spaces. As one of the greenest city in the Netherlands, the green finger structure of Eindhoven make the green spaces just insert into the city structure.
Dommel river and streams flow through the whole city, which connect green spaces together as corridors. Actually, these corridors are not only for human beings’ recreation, but also for other animals to live. So water with green space is helpful to improve biodiversity, making the cities’ ecosystem stably.
And water is also a kind of energy, for example water flows can be used for creating electricity. A good water
management can effectively reduce energy consumption, cool down the city temperature.
Environmental value
Water isn’t given the priority and attention it should have in design of the built environment in Eindhoven.
But water is indeed a good resource for providing various activities. Water landscape is more attractive than trees and pavement. People want to live near water, see water scenery and even play with water. Therefore, water can beautify and improve the value of public space.
In the Netherlands, water is more important than any other countries.
Dutch people fight with water and live with water for several centuries. Water is the main character in Dutch cities.
Even in Eindhoven which is a city without big rivers, water issue can not be ignored either. The general value of water can still be found here. Raining is quite common. Canals and streams are still waiting for renewing.
F
or being a livable and sustainable city, water is regarded as a tool to visualize design and technology, tackle challenges and create better physical environment. Meanwhile, a livable and sustainable city means some water issue problems should also be solved. So the key question is that “ How can Eindhoven improve livability to build a healthy, safe, and sustainable city through caring about water management and water landscape?”In order to solve the key question through research and design, literature review, interview and bench marking study were used.
Literature review is the most important method in the whole process.
Some reports, articles are used to get information about brainport background, Eindhoven water system and even the new water issue projects in Eindhoven.
Comparing with other cities, some experience can be learned on water management. I chose Melbourne as the bench marking city because that it is the leader all over the world on smart water management system. On water landscape design, I also used some methods applied in Copenhagen’s waterside.
General information, design method and concept can be learned through literature review and bench marking study, but some local information is still missing. So I interviewed a man who are working in “De Dommel” ( the water board in charge of Eindhoven region) to acquire more local information. In the end, all the information can be combined to serve for designing.
2.3 Key question and
methodology
3
Challenges
3.1 Global climate change
N
owadays, with rapid urbanization and fast growing of economy, people have had big influence on the environment that we live, such as unsustainable land use, fossil fuel combustion, animal agriculture and deforestation etc.Because of those factors, more CO2 is released into the air. The increasing of CO2 level plays a big role on climate change, especially on rising of temperature.
Rising of temperature will bring three main threats for all the cities. Firstly, high temperature cause glaciers
the end, sea level will rise. Right now some countries are influenced by sea level rise, for example, Tuvalu, one of a Pacific island countries, was drowned and disappeared forever. Netherlands, as a country with most of lands below sea level, is also influenced by sea level rise, under the risk of flooding.
Secondly, temperature rise means more evaporation, causing rainstorm in short time. Thirdly, rising temperature will lead to higher temperature. As we all know, more CO2 is the reason of getting warm. And more CO2 will restrain plants’ photosynthesis, which means respiration needs to be increased, releasing more and more CO2. So the weather is getting warmer and warmer.
So climate change can be seen as one of the most serious challenges for
will be strengthen by climate change. As one of the biggest city in North Brabant even in southeast of the Netherlands,
Eindhoven has to face more and more challenges caused by climate change.
Sea level rise Heavy rainfall More CO2 Warmer Fig.5 Three threats brought by temperature rising
Fig.6 Eindhoven sewage system
3.2 Climate change effects and consequences
F
loodingClimate change cause more intensive rainfall in very short time, this is a big challenge for Eindhoven’s drainage system. Because 85% of sewers are combined sewers (Fig.6 Red lines means combined sewers), which means living waster water and rain water are discharged in the same system. Furthermore, in Eindhoven there is lack of surface retention for
water, water must be discharged by pipes immediately. So the capacity of water is limited, when the heavy downpours become more and more common, that means more water on the street causing temporary discomfort.
And some of the basements or cellars in Eindhoven are not waterproof.
After the heavy rainfall, water will just penetrate into the basements or cellars causing flooding in ones’ house. In some specific location, flooding lead to more serious result than discomfort.
For example, the tunnels near station area in Eindhoven will full of water by flooding. Then this area becomes a barrier cutting down the efficient way connecting city center and the hospital.
Fig.7 Flooding in Eindhoven after heavy rainfall
High ground water level
About 25% of the urban area in Eindhoven is vulnerable to problems caused by high ground water tables.
This means some of the houses have ground water entering basements in winter periods. One of the reason is climate change causing more heavy rainfall. While, there are also many other local reasons. First of all, those buildings are built on lower areas, such as former wetlands, without taking into account fluctuation of ground water tables. Reduction of ground water extraction for industrial processes is another reason. Last but not least, the ground structure of Eindhoven is not good for water infiltration. Under the ground level, there is a clay layer here, which means that water can not pass through it easily. Therefore, water is just held above clay layer, forming high ground water level. (Fig.9)
Unhealthy public spaces
As it is known to all, Eindhoven is a green city with finger green structures.
But all big green spaces are outside ring road (central city). Inside the ring road of Eindhoven, green space are limited. For example, in city center, there is no green or blue spaces. It is
much hotter than somewhere else in summer. Now this uncomfortable public spaces are strengthened by climate change. Temperature is getting higher and higher lead to more intensive heat stress in paved areas.
With the development of Eindhoven, agglomeration force cause an awful of talented people and companies gathering here. More cars occur on the streets. Meanwhile, Heat island effect is also getting more and more intensive without cooled down by water and green spaces. Citizens do not only feel uncomfortable by high temperature, but they will also get health problems. To be a smart and sustainable city in the future, public spaces in Eindhoven can not be like this.
Drought
Last year, the summer is very hot.
Drought is become one problem in Eindhoven region which will have influence on agriculture. The problem even has serious consequences for the kingfisher a number of plants. As it is mentioned before, the ground water level is high in Eindhoven city, but the water table is lower affected by high temperature in the region of Eindhoven.
Water board De Dommel has already
Fig.8 High water table in basement in Eindhoven
Fig.9 Ground structure of Eindhoven
Fig.10 Unhealthy public space in Eindhoven
Clay Clay Clay
take actions to monitor the water flows and regulate irrigation etc. However, if the city or even the region has no climate change adaption strategy, drought will become more serious year by year. Insufficient irrigation water directly affect agriculture, then it will affect economy of this region.
Fig.11 Drought
G
reen and blue spaces with low efficient useEach cities, towns and villages all have a long and intimate relationship with water and historically located around a water source, watercourse or coastline as the focus point for life and trade. Water is not only a resource for supplying for our daily needs, producing our food, transporting our goods and waste, but it is also a tool to beautify our urban areas and provide fun and recreation. Sometimes water is a central to the identity of a place.
There is a good water network in North Brabant. In Eindhoven, rivers, canals ponds and lakes are good resources to diversify local life, but the land use of such areas near water is not as perfect as you think. For example, along Dommel river in the inner city, almost no local life happened there. Urban spaces and places are detached from water.
The waterfront near Van Abbemusum should have been the most interesting
public space in the city because of the conversation between the museum and water, but actually nothing there except grass. The canal has the same situation, which is abandoned and no activities happen there. Some places besides water now are just parking areas. Water in Eindhoven is not used as a tool for beautification, people can not enjoy water landscape.
Low quality of surface water
Flooding is just the direct influence by climate change. While, flooding will also bring some other bad impacts which threat public health. Because of the insufficient drainage system and combined sewers system in Eindhoven, after the heavy rainfall, sewers overflows and waste water and rainwater mixed together, flowing to the surface water, such as Dommel river and some ponds. Furthermore, without rainfall infiltration, polluted rainwater (especially from the roofs and car roads) also just flow to surface water. Then the surface water quality is getting lower and lower.
But this is not the only reason for low quality of surface water. The water is always polluted by people’s activities.
For example, in the Dommel river
3.3 Other challenges for
livable Eindhoven
in TU/e campus, some rubbish can be found. This means citizens didn’t participate in the water plan, the awareness of protecting water is still need to be improved.
More energy consumption
In the future, Eindhoven want to be an energy neutral city, which means the energy we use can be generated in sustainable way. But with the development of Eindhoven, more people, more companies and more cars in the city, energy consumption is rising. That is difficult for Eindhoven now to reach the goal now. So energy should be saved, the production of energy should be transformed. Solar panels are not used widely, catching wind is not applied and the energy of water flows is overlooked. Actually, water is really related to energy. Rain water can not be harvest and infiltrated physically, a lot of energy is wasted in water treatment. Without design with water which is an efficient way to cool down the temperature, a lot of energy is wasted in getting healthy living space.
So how to solve energy problems is indeed a challenge for Eindhoven.
Fig.12 Low efficient use of waterside
Fig.13 Low quality of surface water
Fig.14 Light city at night
4
Water landscape system
Eindhoven
Tilburg Boxtel
Dommel River
De Demmol area Meuse River
Fig.15 Rivers and streams in De Dommel area
North Brabant
Eindhoven channel Beatrix canal
I
n order to deal with those water issue challenges that Eindhoven has, we need to know more about the water landscape and water management here.Eindhoven is located in De Dommel area which is one of the water boards in North Brabant province including Eindhoven and Tilburg (Fig.15). Boxtel is where the water board is. There are a lot of streams in this area. Dommel river is the most important one flowing just pass through Eindhoven. All the
converging to Meuse river, finally to the North Sea.
Zooming in, there is no doubt that Dommel river is one of the main structure of the city. While, two other streams can also be figured out easily on the map. One is the canal in the southeast of the city, which is planning to be transformed from transportation canal to a blue corridor with different functions. The other one is gender river flowing from southwest to north. And it also connect Beatrixkanaal which is another important canal directly from Eindhoven to Tilburg even to Meuse river. Furthermore, parts of the borders of Eindhoven are also defines by water.
So even though Eindhoven is not the typical water city in the Netherlands, water is still a significant element in the
4.1 The current water
landscape in Eindhoven
Fig.17 Eindhoven water landscape in 1835
Fig.19 Eindhoven water landscape in 1961
T
he written history of Eindhoven started in 1232, when Duke Hendrik I of Brabant granted city rights to Endehoven, then a small town right on the confluence of the Dommel and Gender streams. At that time, Eindhoven had approximately 170 houses enclosed by a rampart. Just outside the city walls stood a small castle. Around 1388, the city’s fortifications were strengthened further. Until the 19th century, the city is still expand around water. The water network was much denser than it is now. The industrial revolution of the 19th century provided a major growth impulse. Canal, roads and railroads were constructed. Because at that time, city fathers of Eindhoven felt a need to connect the city to the existing waterways. So Eindhoven channel got construction permit in 1843, and was opened for use in 1846. Comparing the city in two different year before and after the construction of the canal (Fig.17 &18), the watercourse in the city was
almost the same except for Eindhoven channel. The main use of the channel was in the transport of heavy goods:
machinery for the industry as well as bulk cargoes of charcoal and rough wool, plus wood for the matchmaking and cigarbox factories. The main use of the channel was in the transport of heavy goods: machinery for the industry as well as bulk cargoes of charcoal and rough wool, plus wood for the matchmaking and cigarbox factories. The Eindhoven Channel was widened and modernized between 1929 and 1934. After World War II the internal shipping of the country (including to Eindhoven) temporarily rebounded. But the rise of motorized road transport soon and permanently killed it off again and the channel was closed to commercial shipping in 1974.
So the channel is currently a quiet area for recreational use and is a part of the Ecological Mainline, which is designing to be the blue corridor now. Because of the opening Eindhoven Central Station in 1866, the other changing of water during this period was that one stream from gender river to northwest of the city along the railway, passing Strijp-S, was disappeared.
4.2 The changing of the water
landscape in Eindhoven
Later in the middle of the 19th century, because of the Industrial revolution, Eindhoven expanded again and again.
The water landscape also changed a lot during this period. The map (Fig. 19) shows a big transformation of the city from 1921. A lot of streams in the city center were disappeared. Gender river was no longer connected to Dommel river. However, another new canal was digged in the west of the city, which is called Beatrix canal. The canal was 8.4km long and it was constructed to provide the city of Eindhoven with access to the Wilhelmina canal (Tilburg). Different from the “Blue corridor”, Beatrix canal is still used for cargo transportation now. In order to regulate the level of Gender and Dommel streams, which regularly threatened to flood Eindhoven’s inner city, an additional Discharge Canal, which is not open to navigation, was dug to connect the Beatrix Canal and
the Dommel stream. Into this branch, the Gender now discharges.
After all these constructions of canal in Eindhoven during industrial revolution period, the water landscape here almost remained the same, even though the city were still expanding.
From the map (Fig.20), which is as the same as Eindhoven today, it is easily to find that some industrial areas were built along the canals from the 19th century. And the city expanded to the north a lot.
In conclusion, the water landscape changed a lot in Eindhoven. At first, it’s a small town surrounded by water landscape. But in the end, it’s the 5th biggest city in the Netherlands. The city expanded and transportation functional canal was built, while streams for recreation and beautification were disappeared.
Fig.21 Eindhoven channel Fig.22 Beatrix canal
THE W ATER IS BACK! NEW GENDER PROJECT ATERCOURSE RECONNECTION
Fig.21 New water projects in Eindhoven (reconnection of water courese) Reconnection of watercourse
Original water landscape system
I
n order to bring the disappeared water back to the city, improve the water quality, Eindhoven municipality and De Dommel water board worked together, started some new projects.They want to reconnect some watercourses and integrate them to the existing water landscape system (Fig.21). These reconnection of watercourses projects not only happen in the central city area, but also outside central city in some big green spaces.
One of the most important projects is the
“New Gender” project. As I mentioned before, Gender river was stuck and not connected to Dommel river. In current situation of Eindhoven, green spaces in the central city is limited even though it has the green finger structure outside.
And the blue spaces are much more limited. Some of those blue spaces have their own isolated water systems.
Considering all the current and historical situation, reconnecting Gender river to
Dommel passing through city center is necessary. Furthermore, the people who live in the old gender valley area require government to bring Gender river back to their living places many times.
In the meantime, the Gender river is also planned to flow to the other direction to connect Strijp-S. Because watercourse reconnection is not only about a water landscape project, but also a water management projects. Strijp-S has its own rainwater sewage system.
But now the system is combined with waste water system in the end. So the connection of Gender river can ensure the rainwater system connected to open water system easily. Then this system can be used efficiently, which makes contribution to a resilient water system for climate change.
So the city has already taken the first step for the improvement of water landscape and management. The water landscape will be more attractive in the future. And the water management will be focused more from now on.
4.3 New projects for Eindhoven
water landscape system
5
Water management system
A
distinction is made in Dutch government policy and legislation between the water system and water chain. In brief, water system is the surface water and groundwater, which belongs together to nature environment.The water chain lies in the sphere of public utilities, comprising from drinking water supply to wastewater treatment. While water chain and water system are interdependent. They are
, water system and environment in Eindhoven. The water chain makes contact with the water system both at its inflow and outflow ends. The raw material of drinking water is surface water and groundwater. After the consumption by private and industry use, drinking water is generally discharged into sewage system. After the purification of the wastewater in wastewater treatment plant, the effluent is discharged back to the surface water.
In Eindhoven’s water system, it distinguish four types of water, which is wastewater ( discharge through the drains), groundwater, surface water
5.1 Water management
system in Eindhoven
Sewage system
Drinking water Treatment Plant
Collection and transportation
of waste water Purification of waste water Production Distribution
Groundwater
Overflow Surfacewater Precipitation
Drainage Leakage
Monitoring of water quality Monitoring of water quality
Drinking Water Company
Brabant Water Local authority
Eindhoven Municipality Regional water authority De Dommel Water Board Province
North Brabant Province
Fig.23 Water management system in Eindhoven Fig.22 Water treatment plant in Eindhoven
North Brabant Province. Different department is responsible to different part of water system and cooperate with others. Eindhoven Municipality is in charge of sewage system to collect wastewater and the maintenance of a number of ponds in the city. They also minimize and control groundwater flooding. De Dommel water board provides for the purification of waste water, clean and adequate water in Dommel and all other surface water (streams and canals). It is also the department to authorize the extraction of groundwater except for industrial and drinking water. Giving licenses for extraction of groundwater for industrial use and the protection of drinking water is North Brabant Province’s responsibility. In the last part of water management system, Brabant Water company make sure that citizens in Eindhoven can get clean and safe drinking water from the tap every day. They purify and deliver the water through a pipeline to each house.
Rainwater is another part of the system, which can enter water systems or water chains in different ways. But the control and reuse of rainwater in Eindhoven
are really limited. There is no special rainwater system integrated into the whole water management system.
As it is mentioned in “Challenges”
chapter, 85% sewage system are combined system. The main purpose of sewage system is to transport dirty wastewater, not efficient when it is also used to transport clean rainwater. And the capacity of the sewage system can not hold enough rainwater when the rainfall is really heavy. Because of climate change, heavy rainfall becomes more common. And without rainwater filtration, dirty rainwater after rushing roads and roofs (first 10 minutes) just flows to open water system. So flooding and low quality of surface water are both caused by the rainfall.
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n Melbourne, the water management system is also regulated by different departments - some water companies and Melbourne water board. As the same situation as Eindhoven, on one hand, Melbourne also face several challenges caused by global climate change, such as pollution and population growth, drought and stormwater etc. On the other hand, the city’s increasing population means a greater demand for water. In order to address these issues, Melbourne is shifting towards new sustainable water management schemes in order to become a “water sensitive” city.Traditional water management systems have been structured as centralized services aim at providing as much water as is required by users, allowing wasteful practices. This kind of system didn’t recognize that water is a limited resource, nor did they see the value to protect and conserve it. Therefore, in
the system, stormwater should have to be discharged as soon as possible in order to avoid flooding. But when population grows, new water service should be built to satisfy the increasing demand of water regardless of their impact on economic issues and the local ecosystems.
So Melbourne’s’ new strategy seeks to manage all available water streams in an integrated way, with a special focus on stormwater management and water recycle management. In order to become a more livable and sustainable city, water sensitive urban design guidelines are applied to combine urban design and water management together.
As the diagram shows (Fig.24), the main part of water system is the same as the one in Eindhoven with water supply system, water sewage system and water treatment system. For the supply water system, Melbourne has the highest quality drinking water in the world. Firstly, water comes from water catchments which are protected by Melbourne Water Board. In those water catchments, human activities are forbidden. It is one of only a few
5.2 Bench marking study -
Melbourne water management
Sewage system
Water supply system Treatment system
Collection and transportation
of waste water Purification of
waste water Production Distribution
Groundwater
Surfacewater Precipitation
Drainage Leakage
Monitoring of water quality Monitoring of water quality
Drinking Water Company
City West Water, South East Water, Yarra Valley Water Water authority Melbourne Water Board
Recycle wa- ter system Stormwater
system
Sewer pipes Trunk sewers
Fig.24 Water management system in Melbourne
Wastewater
Fig.25 Relationship between water quality and urban demands
cities in the world that harvest water from protected catchments. Then water flows to storage places which is called reservoirs with some limited human activities. Finally water is extracted by water companies to make sure that is clean and safe for drinking. And they transfer the water to homes and business. Different from Eindhoven, part of the sewage system are in the charge of water companies. When the sewage flows to larger sewers, Melbourne water board are responsible to those pipes which is called trunk sewers.
However, what makes Melbourne water management system so unique and successful to achieve sustainable goals are recycle water management system and stormwater management system. Recycled water is used for a range of non-drinking purpose and is one of the ways to improve the resilience of water supply system.
Water board is the wholesaler producer of recycled water, supplying to the retail water companies. Actually, Melbourne water board proposed a concept called “ fit-for-purpose”, which means alternative sourcing of water should be linked to water use. As it is shown in
the diagram, this is a very cost-effective and sustainable approach, since the closer the match in terms of source of quality and quality required by demand, the less treatment is required in overall system. (Fig.25)
Before the explanation of Melbourne’s stormwater management strategies, WSUD (water sensitive urban design) principles should be stated here, which is adopted by Melbourne Water. In relation to “water sensitive cities”, a recent definition is: “a water sensitive city is a city which integrate water supply, sewerage, stormwater and built environment. A city that respects the value of urban waterways and a city whose citizens value water and the role it plays in sustaining the environment and society” ( Water Sensitive Cities Tour 2009). So the management and projects followed five principles below:
(1). Protect natural system: protect and enhance natural water system within urban developments.
(2). Protect water quality: protect the quality of water draining from urban development
Fig.26 A water sensitive city scheme Green roofs
Insulate buildings slow runoff and remove pollutants
Water harvesting and re-use Harvested rain water and stormwater can supply many of our water needs
Water play
Harvested water can provide opportunities for water features in public parks and activity centers
Wetland and rain gardens Slow down stormwater runoff and remove pollutant before excess run-off drains to water ways
Permeable surfaces Rain water infiltrates the soil for vegetation health and groundwater stores
(3). Integrate the stormwater treatment into the landscape: use stormwater treatment into the landscape by incorporating multiple use corridors that maximize the visual and recreational amenity of developments
(4). Reduce runoff and peak flows:
reduce peak flows from urban development by local detention measures and minimizing impervious areas
(5). Add value while minimizing development cost: minimize the drainage infrastructure cost of the development
The use of WSUD principles and tools allows it to restore and preserve the natural water cycle and to integrate with urban design and construction.
According to WSUD, some strategies have been proposed by Melbourne Water. First of all, they make rules for new developed projects. All of the new projects which area is more than two hectares must follow water sensitive urban design principles. The quantity of the streams should be controlled, the quality of the water should be protected.
Rainwater harvest is a compulsory approach added into developed site. And rainwater is regarded as an element of landscape, trying to emerge rainwater management into city landscape, combining function and aesthetic in a effective way. In the end, after rainwater harvest, reuse of rainwater is also a topic should be considered.
Melbourne water board is also a good organizer to facilitate the collaboration between different institutions. The water board not only work with the local government, but also work with business groups and stakeholders. For example, for Melbourne Water, a key part of the move to encourage a range of organizations to take up sustainable stormwater management, has been ensure the provision of a wide range of relevant training and education programs. The training program is called
‘Clean water” which is funded by water board in 2006. “Clean water” is now housed in Melbourne Water’s office, operating an information exchange and also developing training and education for industry or local government to help deliver best practice stormwater management and water sensitive
Fig. 29 Rain garden in a park in Melbourne
Fig. 30 Educational and collective rain garden
Fig. 31 Rain garden and new public space
Fig. 32 Rain garden and new public space Fig. 28 “Cloud shape structure” rain gardens scheme
“The design represents the three states of water as well as the water cycles, encouraging visitors to consider Fig. 27 “MUSIC” rain water
caculator
Melbourne
Water sensitive city In Melbourne, water management is integrated in design and strategies, and in the meantime, water landscappe and stormwater management are combined together in design. A lot of rain gardens are built here. These raingardens are not only technical tools for water management, but also several different public spaces, such as educational, meeting or recreational spaces etc.
urban design. A computer model called MUSIC ( Model for Urban Stormwater Improvement Conceptualization ) is used, which is a conceptual design tool that estimate both stormwater pollutant generation and the performance of stormwater treatment measures (Fig.27). Working with universities and other research institutions is another key part of Melbourne Water’s approach to sustainable stormwater management.
Water management is not only the issue related to government and companies, but also a topic related to every citizen’s life. The water board try to encourage public participation, involve relevant stakeholders and even provide support for community groups. They provided a platform on the internet which is called Storm calculator. It is designed very user friendly and could be used by general public. Typical users will be consultants, developers, architects, builders and local government staff.
STORM is used to assess whether best practice water quality objectives have been achieved for your site.
Furthermore, through education and incentive programs, water board encourage the community to install rain gardens and other filtration and reuse
options.
Actually, rain garden is the most efficient way to move towards water sensitive city. Rain gardens are one example of the range of biofilter systems that have been widely implemented in the last few years as a source control technique to manage stormwater runoff in urban areas (Le Coustumer et al 2009). As the University of Melbourne has noted:
“the solution to protecting creeks from the ravages of stormwater runoff is to retain as much of it as possible in the catchment to allow it to filter through the soils, to get to the creek slowly, to provide a more natural, clean base flow. Rain gardens are the perfect tools for achieving this.” (University of Melbourne, 2009). So from 2008 to 2013, Melbourne Water proposed to build community and local government capacity by providing support for the construction of 10,000 rain gardens across Melbourne (Fig.28-32). Part of this program involves working with local governments to ensure rain gardens are installed with regular street upgrades. The main objective of this 10,000 Rain gardens program is to inspire collaboration and community involvement in simple stormwater management measures.
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omparing with these two water management system mentioned above, some aspects need to be improved in Eindhoven’ s water system.Eindhoven now still has the traditional water management system. There is no enough attention on stormwater and recycle water management which can be integrated into water sensitive urban design. However, in Melbourne, the diagram shows the obvious difference, they have these two kinds of management systems. And it is really an effective approach to optimize the whole system even to achieve sustainable and livable goals. To sum up, water sensitive urban design and integrated water management can tackle the challenges that Eindhoven face. Strategies, designs and infrastructure constructions should be combined together to fix the water issue problems in Eindhoven in the future.
5.3 Comparison between
Eindhoven and Melbourne
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New strategies
Water Sensitive Urban Design
New Apps of water use Publicity
Awareness
Legislation Reward
system Renewal
of physical space
Goverment Designers Companies Government
Citizens Government
Citizens
Education help citizens to improve awareness:
Water reuse Water cycling Water sensitive materials
and approach in their own garden Water sensitive and
sustainable design:
New green and public space with water renwal of existing
buildings Compulsory measure:
All of new development projects must fulfil water sensitive design
requirments Wastewater treatment for
industry
Making water use more visible:
Citizens will know how to recycle water, delay infiltration, store water Record of water storage,
rain harvest, water recycling and energy
consumption
According to new apps’
recording, government can reward the people who really reduce the pressure of drainage system, contribute more
on water storage and recycling.
eg. Free water use for one month
Fig. 33 New strategies for Eindhoven’s water management
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earning from the water management system in Melbourne and in the meanwhile analyzing the situation of Eindhoven, sustainable water management which includes stormwater management and water reuse management should be added into the original system. As it is illustrated in the diagram (Fig.33), five components should be considered to organize the whole program, which is legislation, renewal of physical space, publicity and awareness, public participation platforms and rewardLegislation is a compulsory method.
Learning from Melbourne, all the new developed projects should fulfill water sensitive design requirements. The water catchments should be protected that prevent human activities from them.
A lot of physical spaces in Eindhoven have potential to change in water sensitive urban design approach. New green and public spaces with water should be built, some watercourse should be connected again. For example, as it was mentioned before, De Dommel and Eindhoven Municipality try to reconnect Gender river to city center and even to Strip S.
Shopping center will be transformed with more green spaces. Dommel river front has potentials for more recreation
6.1 Changing of water
management of Eindhoven
buildings, public spaces and streets is necessary for a water sensitive city.
Another significant thing for Eindhoven is education on water issue. People here are not like other people who live in Dutch water cities. They haven’t payed more attention on water, no matter rainwater management or water issue activities and landscape. So water board should conduct publicity to enhance the awareness of sustainable water management. Meetings, lectures and specific apartment to exchange information can be provided by De Dommel, which educate Eindhoven industries, local companies or even the local government. Then the implementation of water sensitive actions will be achieved more easier.
And through TV programs, internet and community propaganda etc, the education for citizens is also provided.
When sustainable water management gain enough attention by water board and government, public participation will become another key part for the whole system. In order to improve the cooperation between local governments, water board and companies, some online participation
platform can be adopted, such as storm calculator used in Melbourne.
And water management is not only top- down strategies, but also bottom-up strategies. Some communities who are interested in stormwater management or protection of waterways can organized by themselves to do so or maybe even get financial assistance from water board or local government.
Reward system is a incentive mechanism according to online platform of recording of the contribution to water sustainable management by those developers’ new project.
Without a shadow of doubt, it’s a long journey to finish the transformation in system level. Because besides adding the programs mentioned above, some water related infrastructure should also be improved. Combined sewage system can be replaced by separate sewage system gradually. While there are still some short term plans which will be mostly quick wins. As a part of system transformation, renewal of physical space through rain gardens should be an issue focused by landscape and urban designers, architect and urban engineers.
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n Eindhoven, most of water related areas are used with low efficiency, because they are not well designed in consideration of the value of water.Some of the none water related public areas are designed less interesting.
This is a challenge for being a livable city, which I have already described in “Challenges” part. So not only following the rules of water sensitive urban design, but the quality of some public space should also be improved.
According to the new projects proposed by water board and municipality, recovering the historical watercourse and make water more visible in the city is necessary. After the water landscape optimization, the places should also fit for water sensitive urban design.
But what does Eindhoven need to design good water landscape? We can get some insights from Copenhagen’s waterfront design. Firstly, the accessibility of water must be improved.
The most attraction of water landscape is the water. So the distance from the waterfront to the water surface can be reduced or various and direct access can be facilitated. For examples, converting the waterfront edges into stairs, ramps or slipways, constructing piers,walkways along the waterfront or on the surface are all good approaches.
Secondly, there should be enough public waterfront areas. Visitors are invited to relax in public waterfront areas. Mood lighting or safety lighting should be included in the consideration.
And some temporary urban elements can help to encourage people to visit the area and provide access to the water. These elements can be movable, such as rafts and chairs etc. The last but the most important element is activities. Designers should create possibilities for interacting with the water by various activities. The activities can also be taken associated with an adjacent buildings. Following these principles, the areas along Dommel river and canals can be improved. Moreover, water can also be added into some public spaces through reconnect several watercourse in the city. The approaches are suitable for these places as well.
6.2 Changing of water
landscape of Eindhoven
Fig. 34 Improvement of accessibility
Promenade stairs
Wooden stairs wharf
Reef and slope
Natural points to the water
Fig. 35 Activities
Floating park
Aquafarming Floating playground
Underwater light and sculpture Fishing
Physical sports with cooler micro-climate Geyser
Skating in winter Stage
Biotope visiting
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oncept: water sensitive urban design In order to integrate rainwater management to water landscape, water sensitive urban design must be the concept for the design with water in Eindhoven. A water sensitive city includes good water landscape and sustainable water management. So the design of water related public spaces has to be combined with water management. Through technological methods, the goals can be achieved.Furthermore, technological and design stuff can be visualized in the city environment which helps the city branding of Eindhoven. And the water can also be visualized, which can help to improve the citizen’s awareness of water.
Toolbox for water sensitive urban design:
Rainwater tanks (Fig.36)
Rainwater tanks are perhaps the easiest way to reduce the amount of stormwater leaving your property. They also have the added benefit of providing a water source that can replace drinking (potable) water in certain uses such as outdoor use, toilet flushing and clothes washing. By using stormwater to replace drinking water, savings of up to 90% can be achieved.
Tanks come in many different colors, materials and designs. They can be installed above ground, under ground, below outdoor decks, under buildings (if space allows), or even hidden within planter boxes. And as it is mentioned above, STORM calculator can assist people in sizing their tanks and deliver best practice WSUD outcomes.
Rainwater gardens (Fig.37)
Installing a rain garden is an easy way to reduce pollutant loads in stormwater while providing attractive landscaping.
Rain gardens are designed to capture, filter and reduce the flow rate of stormwater from roofs or hard surfaces. And collective rain gardens between buildings or in a public space can improve the ability of stormwater capture and rainwater reuse.
6.3 Concept and toolbox for
design
Water sensitive house (Fig.38)
Water sensitive house can just be transformed from the original house, which includes rainwater tanks, rain gardens. And green roof is another element reducing runoff from the roof, blending the house and its neighboring ecological area. One simple solution of water reuse could be using grey water from the sink for flushing the toilet. It saves money and meanwhile reduce waste water leaving the house.
Porous paving (Fig.39)
Porous paving allows rainwater to pass through the pavement and soak into the ground, unlike standard concrete or block pavement. Porous paving is installed in the same way as traditional paving and is available in many forms.
They can be used to replace asphalt, concrete or other impervious pavement.
Through this method to reduce the impervious paving can increase the groundwater recharge by allowing the water soak through the soil. And it can also improve storm water quality by filtering stormwater and reducing pollutant loads.
Bioswale (Fig.40)
Bioswale is a resilient water system
on the street. They consist of a swaled drainage course with gently sloped sides (less than six percent) and filled with vegetation, compost or riprap.
The water’s flow path, along with the wide and shallow ditch, is designed to maximize the time water spends in the swale, which aids the trapping of pollutants and silt.
Fig.38 Water sensitive house
Fig.36 Rainwater tanks Fig.39 Porous paving
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City scale design
Reconnection of watercourse Original water landscape system Fig.41 New needs for water landscape
