Thema

Water Talks: a podcast about too little water, too dirty, too unequal and … too much. That is what this second episode is about. It was the water that made Manhattan a desirable place already for the Dutch in the 17th century. Writer and historian Russell Shorto brings that story to life during a walk through what was once New Amsterdam. It was that same water that almost drowned the city when Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012. In a twist of history, Sandy brought the Dutch back.

Special envoy for international water affairs Henk Ovink was instrumental in bringing about the UN Conference on water, hosted by the Netherlands and Tajikistan. And architect and urban designer Matthijs Bouw of One Architecture (his design for the Big U is the artwork of this podcast) is designing new infrastructure to repair and prepare New York for the next storm. Flood protection the Dutch way, with not just concrete walls but with green public spaces and parks and promenades, all built with American go-get-it-ness.

During the UN Water conference, the first one in nearly 50 years, I spoke to a wide range of people in New York and the Netherlands – artists, activists, academics, engineers, policy makers – about how we can and should move forward in order to save ourselves and our planet from the water crisis.

Listen to it here:

Water Talks is my new podcast about water: too much, too little, too dirty and … too unequal. During the UN Water conference, the first one in 47 years, and the New York Water Week, I spoke to a diverse group of people in New York and the Netherlands – a diverse group of people in New York and the Netherlands – artists, activists, academics, engineers, policy makers – about how we can and should move forward in order to save ourselves and our planet from the water crisis.

In this first episode, called Too Close for Comfort, I speak with Henk Ovink, the Netherlands’ Special Envoy for International Water Affairs – nicknamed ’the water guy’ by President Obama -, the Dutch King Willem Alexander, chief climate officer of New York Rohit Aggarwala, and David Erdman, head of the climate adaptation center at Pratt Institute.

As part of the UN conference, Pratt organized a workshop where I also spoke with three of the students: Erik Paez from Mexico, Anne Oerlemans, intern at Arcadis and student of International water management and Patrick Rutan who facilitated the design workshop by using three different kinds of artificial intelligence to reimagine communities in Brooklyn and Queens. When AI was asked ‘What would Manhattan look like if it had to retain its own water and grow its own food?’ part of the surprising answer was: a big lake on the Upper West Side and wheatfields in Haarlem.

Water Talks consists of 5 thematic episodes, followed by 5 one-on-one longer interviews.

Dikkie Scipio van KAAN Architecten heeft een talent voor projecten die even omvangrijk als onzichtbaar zijn. Aan het KMSKA, het Koninklijke Museum voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerpen, voegde ze – verscholen in het hart van het negentiende-eeuwse gebouw – een heel nieuw museum. Nu heeft ze het zeventiende-eeuwse Paleis Het Loo onder de grond verrijkt met vijfduizend ‘verstopte’ vierkante meter aan nieuwe ontvangst- en tentoonstellingsruimte, met veel marmer en warm notenhout. Voor de Architect schreef ik over deze ambitieuze uitbreiding. Lees hieronder mijn artikel en bekijk de foto’s:

Met 200 kilo krantenpapier en 250 liter lijm beeldt de Oekraïense kunstenaar Daria Khozhai haar kamer in haar ouderlijk huis in Kiev uit. De installatie heet Pravda, ‘waarheid’, naar de Russische krant – maar ook háár waarheid. Die kamer, die zich net als de burgers van de stad schuilt houdt in de donkere kelder, is een gestolde nieuwsstroom die jaren geschiedenis bevat en tegelijkertijd midden in de gebeurtenissen van dit moment staat.