The way people in the Netherlands deal with water is changing. Rather than fighting nature by building ever-higher dykes and using more and more technology, they are searching for methods of integrating natural systems with the built environment in order to cope with the effects of climate change. Urban water systems are not yet equipped to handle increasingly extreme and frequent rainfall, droughts and heat waves. Though the Netherlands has been coping with a wet climate for centuries, existing solutions no longer suffice. Het Nieuwe Instituut’s archive harbours countless historical examples of how the integration of hydraulic engineering and water management into spatial planning, urban development and landscape architecture can add cultural, social, ecological and economic value.

As global urbanisation has proceeded over recent decades, human beings have become increasingly removed from nature. At the same time, we remain as dependent on it as ever for our primary needs. To an increasing degree, cities are tasking organic, biological systems with supporting their industrial systems. Unless the relationship between “nature” and human-organised systems is improved, energy, water and food supplies will be placed under pressure.