John Sargent Lecture: Building with Nature

Overview

The Building with Nature concept uses our understanding of the natural environment in the design of hydraulic engineering and marine infrastructure projects. This includes knowledge of natural forces and fluxes, such as wind, waves & currents, biodiversity patterns and geo-chemical processes. Additionally, Building with Nature considers human stakeholder collaboration as a vital part of the process.

In 2007, the EcoShape Foundation initiated the innovation programme ‘Building with Nature’, which brought together the Dutch government, private sector (engineering consultancies and contractors), universities, knowledge institutes and NGO’s. Jointly, they have forwarded the concept by adopting a learning-by-doing approach and developing tangible projects.

The programme has brought forward several creative and effective maritime infrastructure solutions that boost nature, society and economy and which have been (and still are) tested in full scale pilot projects.

All research findings (fundamental and applied) are made publicly available to facilitate the design and execution of full scale projects and strategic policy and decision-making.

This presentation will discuss how developed knowledge and concepts are applied in several full-scale pilot and commercial projects that use Building with Nature as a leading principle, including the opportunities and barriers. The presentation will also look to potential future developments, including blue carbon capture and impacts of the changing climate.