SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry Digital Commons @ ESF Honors Theses 5-2014 Rising tides : resilient Amsterdam Chelsea Andersson Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.esf.edu/honors Part of the Landscape Architecture Commons Recommended Citation Andersson, Chelsea, "Rising tides : resilient Amsterdam" (2014). Honors Theses. Paper 25. This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Commons @ ESF. It has been accepted for inclusion in Honors Theses by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ ESF. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. ..IS..1U IIULS resilient amsterdam CHELSEA ANDERSSON AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS DEPARTMENT OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTURE SUNY-ESF 2013-2014 MAREN KING ROBIN HOFFMAN JACQUES ABELMAN HONORS THESIS INTRODUCTION | RFSIIIFNT AMSTERDAM 2 COUNTRY OF WATER Like windmills, wooden clogs, tulips, and cheese, water is synonymous with the Dutch. More so, in fact, because the symbols of Dutch culture that we readily recognize all have water in their roots. The connections are revealed everywhere; from the iconic canals edging the streets of Amsterdam, to the perfectly lined sluits of the country side. Water is what makes this country work, but now more than ever, the threat of water calls for some serious attention. The resiliency of the Netherlands stems from its ability to adapt to change in climate, society, and the environment. In this way they have moved towards methods that aim to live with water rather than without. Informed by the methods of the past, the Dutch revive historic solutions to suite their modern needs. They celebrate water in their streets, canals, and rivers, they put water to use, they design with it in mind, and they resist it only when absolutely necessary.