Neckar Now

Adaptation and mitigation are the main short-term factors for climate resiliency. Floods are the most common catastrophic events affecting cities. Therefore we must redesign cities and the public spaces to be able to be resilient taking floods to become an opportunity instead of a thread. For this it is important to understand water dynamics as a means to establish a relationship with water. How can dikes, walls and permeable soils be redefined?

Water being an essential resource for the daily life, since the establishment of old settlements society has been struggling with hydrology systems however since the industrial revolution, urban development and today‘s sustainability goals there are new challenges to be confronted.

During the summer school Neckar Now 2020 different projects with regard to public space have been developed from two different perspectives: engineering and architecture while carrying out these steps:

1. Observation in-situ in order to analyze opportunities and constrains present in the built space of the city
2. Understand the relation between the Neckar, the morphology of the city and the challenges Water Technology and Architecture face to develop public spaces
3. Sustainable engaged imagination integrating innovative scenarios that will help develop a future strategy for the Neckar riverbank