WATERSCAPES OF VALUE

Exploring climate change adaptation and waterscapes as a potential to achieve added-value in urban landscapes

PhD project by Katrina Marstrand Wiberg

The increasing number of extreme events has put climate change on the agenda both locally and globally. An important part of this is how we choose to handle water, too much or too little water.

Currently a growing number of adaptation projects are initiated which often have to find its place as a retrofitting of existing urban and suburban contexts. These are necessary interventions which not only handle water, they also influence our urban landscapes and questions how and where we settle – not to mention how we use our resources.

Furthermore, climate change is a matter of uncertainty which we have to respond to through action: Which measures do we take? What does it means to our outdoor surroundings? Which [future] values do we envision?

This project engages with added-value in the context of ´everyday adaptation´. The objective is to see water and adaptation as an opportunity to create added-value in urban landscapes. As water and climate change adaptation involves many interests and fields of knowledge, this project also focus on interdisciplinary and trans-sectorial collaboration.

The point of departure is landscape architecture and the aim is to develop methods on how to engage with and discuss the concept of added-value in urban landscapes – to create waterscapes of value.