Building with Nature

Building with Nature.jpg

As a result of changes in societal demand and technical developments, water management and engineering are moving from hard traditional structures like dikes and dams, to designs in which natural structures and processes are incorporated. One of the underlying factors in this development is the increasing awareness of the impacts of climate change and its effect on water levels and extreme events. Furthermore, water managers are expected to create more safety, opportunities for recreation, and other benefits, with increasingly smaller budgets. This requires infrastructure that combines multiple functions.

In our research group we work on application of the Building with Nature concept. ‘Building with Nature’ focusses on solutions that use abiotic forces of nature (e.g. wind and currents that transport sand) and ecosystem services delivered by organisms (e.g. reefs and vegetation that catch and stabilize sand). The research group also focusses on Building for Nature: creating additional nature values in and on monofunctional structures such as dikes.

Current research themes include:

  1. Optimizing the design of Building with Living Nature structures such as oyster reefs or salt marshes, used for coastal protection and nature development
  2. Sediment dynamics on sand nourishment locations
  3. Rich revetments: Building for Nature on dikes
  4. Tidal restoration projects
  5. Transfer of knowledge by means of an expertise management

Are you interested to participate?

Students have the possibility to participate in applied research. Students that are interested in an internship or final thesis can apply by sending a motivation letter to Wietse van de Lageweg (wietse.van.de.lageweg@hz.nl)

Would you like to work on these topics in a minor?

Are you interested in working on and learning in these projects? You can do so by participating in the minor Becoming Fit for the Future (30 ECTS, September - January or February - June).

As a result of changes in societal demand and technical developments, water management and engineering are moving from hard traditional structures like dikes and dams, to designs in which natural structures and processes are incorporated. One of the underlying factors in this development is the increasing awareness of the impacts of climate change and its effect on water levels and extreme events. Furthermore, water managers are expected to create more safety, opportunities for recreation, and other benefits, with increasingly smaller budgets. This requires infrastructure that combines multiple functions.

In our research group we work on application of the Building with Nature concept. ‘Building with Nature’ focuses on solutions that use abiotic forces of nature (e.g. wind and currents that transport sand) and ecosystem services delivered by organisms (e.g. reefs and vegetation that catch and stabilize sand). The research group also focuses on Building for Nature: creating additional nature values in and on mono-functional structures such as dikes.

Topics and projects

You can contribute to

  • Optimizing the design of Building with Living Nature structures such as oyster reefs or salt marshes, used for coastal protection and nature development
  • Sediment dynamics on sand nourishment locations
  • Rich revetments: Building for Nature on dikes
  • Tidal restoration projects
  • Transfer of knowledge by means of an expertise management system
  • Develop skills like change making and research capacity in a practically-orientated research project

Contact moments specific for Building with Nature: weekly progress meetings, presentations to the research group at the start and end of the minor.

Contact and sign up




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