“The way the Dutch deal with water is fascinating for the rest of the world – and for me too, as a foreigner who has lived here for over thirty years.” Writes journalist Tracy Metz, author of Sweet&Salt: Water and the Dutch on the website www.tracyinnederland.nl. Part of this multimedia project is a tour on the topic of the role of water in the Netherlands. During WDCD Live Amsterdam Metz will host an activation session ‘Waterproof futures’ on the same topic of water management.
Metz took the initiative for the multimedia project www.tracyinnederland.nl on the occasion of her being awarded the Maaskant Prize of 2016. This is a prize for persons who have made an important contribution to the debate on architecture, landscape and urbanism.
Tracy Metz is a native of California who landed in Amsterdam to become a Dutch journalist. She writes for newspaper NRC Handelsblad and weekly De Groene Amsterdammer about urban issues. She also is the director of the John Adams Institute that brings American culture to the Netherlands.
Waterproof futures
During the Waterproof futures session on Day 1 of WDCD Live, Metz together with Daniëlle Arets of Design Academy Eindhoven & Joris Hoebe of Hemelswater will explore the role of designers in facing the challenges of water management. Our way of dealing with water needs to change drastically in the coming years. That’s why we need to redefine our relationship with water and our daily consumption patterns. How can design research help us to do this?
Don’t waste waste
Water is in a different way the topic of a second activation session, on Day 2, entitled ‘Don’t waste waste: a second life for ocean plastic’. In this session, which design and branding agency VBAT developed in cooperation with students of the Experience Design Course of Hyper Island, participants will learn the ins and outs of plastic recycling. Using plastic waste as a resource will prevent the waste from ending up in the oceans, is the idea.
Participants will experience with their own hands how easy it is to work with recycled plastic, and how to give a second life to this material. Inspiration will be provided during the session, helping participants become better informed of the impact of the plastic soup on our environment and to think of meaningful ways to make the world aware of this threat in the future.
More information
For more information about these and all the other activation sessions, please go to www.whatdesigncando.com. And tickets can be found at our webshop.
Top image: Still from the video ‘Water’ on www.tracyinnederland.nl