The challenge
The challenge is increased peak rainfall and flooding in the paved environment. What is needed are: reliable predictions of the capacity, analyses of the forecasts, predictions of the need and monitoring of the water storage. Instead of something that makes living in Dutch cities unbearable, we believe that we should treat rainwater as a valuable commodity.
This interactive water storage (climate change adaptation measure) uses empty (communal) spaces in the city for rainwater harvesting, CO2 reduction, food production and community building with local residents
What we did so far
We have facilitated several co-creation sessions in which we have looked at: needs of different stakeholders, ownership / privacy and business case(s). Various rain barrels that meet these needs in different ways and support this discussion are the result. We call this approach an ‘‘action discussion trajectory’’, because every discussion immediately led to action (a prototype) and vice versa.
For example, after the privacy session, a rain barrel that was constantly telling us via Twitter how much water was stored, was put down somewhere. This way, we investigated how much and what kind of data was delivered. We found out what people think about this data-sharing and (in)validated several assumptions.
“By organizing interactive sessions, which lead to actionable results, we came to see our smart rain barrel in an entire new perspective.”
Bas Sala, designer slimme regenton
Thijs Weenk
thijs@noorderwind.co
06 2461 9666
