Synergetic Planning and Designing with Urban FEW-Flows: Lessons from Rotterdam

The way urban flows are managed determine the sustainability of urban landscapes. What exactly are these substance flows? How can they contribute to a better quality of life? In this article the Rotterdam project of the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam 2014 (Tillie N, Klijn O, Frijters E, Borsboom J, Looije M, Sijmons D. Urban metabolism, sustainable development in Rotterdam, Municipality of Rotterdam, Rotterdam, 2014) is revisited. It is a project on substance flows and urban metabolism, and how this metaphor can contribute to the concrete implementation of solutions to urban challenges? In line with urban metabolism research, (Wolman A. The metabolism of cities. Sci Am 213:179–190, 1965. https://doi.org/10.1038/scientificamerican0965-178; Kennedy C, Pincetl S, Bunje P. The study of urban metabolism and its application to urban planning and design. Environ Pollut 159:1965–1973, 2010), designing with flows in urban systems has gained attention in recent years (Van den Dobbelsteen A, Keeffe G, Tillie N, Roggema R. Cities as organisms: using biomimetic principles to become energetically self-supporting and climate-proof, In: Teng J (ed) Proceedings ICSU 2010 (First International Conference on Sustainable Urbanization). Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, 2010; Roggema R. City of flows – the need for design-led research to urban metabolism. Urban Plan 4(1):106–112. Special Issue ‘The City of Flows’. Editorial, 2019. https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v4i1.1988; Ferrao P, Fernandez JE. Sustainable urban metabolism. MIT Press, London. ISBN 9780262019361264, 2013; Sijmons D. Urban by nature. Opening Presentation International architectural biennale Rotterdam, 2014; Nijhuis S, Jauslin D, Van der Hoeve F. Flowscapes; designing infrastructures as landscapes. TU Delft Open. ISBN 9789461864727, 2015; Tillie N. Synergetic urban landscape planning in Rotterdam. A + BE | Architecture and the Built Environment, [S.l.], n. 24, p. 1–284, sep. 2018. ISSN 2214-7233, 2018. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7480/abe.2018.24.2604). For food- energy-water (FEW) nexus projects, an approach of ‘how to design with flows’ can provide insight in the different intertwined systems and can also come up with useful design strategies at different scales. In this chapter, new outcomes of ‘designing with flows’ projects are combined with a reflection of the Urban Metabolism Rotterdam project. The goal is to extract lessons and propose a renewed stepwise approach for designing with flows to improve environmental performance and enhance the quality of life.