Global warming is going to impact countries like the Netherlands earlier than others. In this low-lying country where the roads and the waterways seem to merge at some point sooner or later, close to 20 percent of the country is underwater, and flooding is getting harder to control.
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Now, according to NPR, city planners have designed a new suburb with 12,000 houses, 600 of which will be underwater. The foundation of the houses will be established on the river ground. When floods arrive, as they often do, the house and the foundation will simply float up to surface level.
Amphibious House, Netherlands © NPR
It’s far steadier than you might imagine. Specially designed poles help ground the house as it rises up with the well of the water. The sewer and electrical systems will remain connected through special flexible pipes.
The design of the suburb indicates a shift in the normal Dutch policy of building new homes only where flooding wasn’t a major risk. As flood risk increases, and with the likelihood of more environmental problems as the planet continues to warm, city planners have begun to devise fresh solutions to cope with the problem. There’s a lesson here for flood ravaged areas of the world.
People like Koen Olthius of the firm Waterstudio are not satisfied with keeping the houses afloat. Their future plans include designing floating gardens that will stay on the surface as the waters rise, and maybe even connect each floating house to the next, to create floating towns.
With progress on global warming resolution moving at a snail’s pace, there is clearly need for more innovative ideas like this to cope with the problem. The Dutch seem to be doing a great job of finding new possibilities.