Age of Wonderland ‘Balancing Green and Fair Food´ discusses the complex issues that takes place in our globalized food system through inviting six creatives from around the world to exchange knowledge during the Dutch Design Week that took place from 17 to 25 October 2015. For the publication associated with this event, I wrote the essay “Wonderland Water” about the growing awareness of the Dutch and their relationship with the water.

Dijken zijn de dragers van het Nederlandse landschap. Toch bestond er nog geen boek over – juist omdat ze zo vanzelfsprekend zijn, vermoedelijk. Dat hebben de landschapsarchitecten van LOLA Landscape nu gedaan: Dijken van Nederland. Daarin heb ik een essay geschreven over … dijken als bron van innovatie.

The Straits Times of Singapore wrote an article about my lecture with the title ‘Tackle floods? Create more space for water’. I gave this lecture, called ‘Water – Holland’s ‘Frenemy’, on February 18th, 2016 for the Centre for Liveable Cities in Singapore.

The Netherlands is known for its control over water. But now that the climate is changing, the Dutch are also changing their approach towards water management. In cities more space is being created for water, the landscape is being redesigned to let water in and sometimes the dikes are even being lowered. Water is becoming a friend instead of an enemy – or better said, frenemy.

In de ruime bloemlezing ‘Het beste van Atlas’, samengesteld door Emile Brugman en uitgegeven door Atlas Contact, zijn mijn stukken ‘De woestijn’ en ‘Dear Daddy,’ verschenen. Het literaire tijdschrift Atlas werd in 1991 opgericht om onderdak te bieden voor longreads ‘avant la lettre’ – te lang voor de krant, te kort voor een boek – waarmee in Nederland de basis werd gelegd voor de literaire non-fictie. In ‘Het beste van Atlas’ staat o.a. ook stukken van Ian Buruma, Jan Brokken, Boudewijn Büch  en Geert Mak. Lees hier mijn twee verhalen.

In Designed for the Future, Jared Green asked eighty global leaders who shape our built and natural environments the same question: what gives you hope that a sustainable future is possible? I contributed a short essay about ZUS Architects and its transformation of Het Schieblock, an abandoned office building from the sixties, into the center of the revitalized neighborhood. Read my piece  below.

Dikes are the framework of the Dutch landscape. But even though there are so important, no book has been written about it. That is why the landscape architects of LOLA Landscape wrote it: Dutch Dikes. I contributed to this issue by writing an essay: dikes as a source of innovation. 

A film, an app, an artwork, a Twitter-campaign, a product: those are just a few examples of social design with water. They can get an issue on the agenda, create a community and launch new products. For the book compiled by Anne van der Zwaag on social design, Looks Good Feels Good Is Good, I wrote the chapter on water. The world is ready for designers who, rather than adding yet another chair to what is already there, devote their time and creativity to solving the world’s (water) problems.

In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, PBS – the American Public Broadcasting System – came to the Netherlands to learn about the Dutch approach to water. How should the New York region protect itself from the next Sandy? Thanks to my book ‘Sweet&Salt: Water and the Dutch’ I was one of the people interviewed. I talked about the Dutch attitude to water as a ‘frenemy’. In Europe only the trailer can be viewed: ‘Nova: Megastorm Aftermath’.