The power of imagination in adapting to climate change

Urbanizing river deltas are highly vulnerable to sea level rise and extreme weather events such as floods and droughts. Water-related disasters are already occurring more frequently due to climate change, rapid urbanization, unsustainable land use and aging infrastructure, which threaten much of the human and natural environment in these low-lying and declining areas around the world. As climate change stress levels accelerate, social and physical transformations are necessary to adapt our deltas to climate change. In the Netherlands, in the last century, imagination and evidence in the form of a long-term spatial vision have played a key role in setting, sharing and implementing a new direction to overcome flood disasters by changing the Rhine coast and riverbed. – Delta Meuse – Scheldt. The unprecedented rainfall in July 2021 and the storm in December 2021 that hit Western Europe revealed the effectiveness of this new direction. We therefore call for a leading role for design in delta climate science and management to imagine, analyze and communicate future climate adaptation perspectives in delta urbanization. (Chris Zevenbergen, Maurice G. Harteveld, Ellen Trompová, more at nature.com)