Water as Leverage - Wadden Sea Region

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Water as Leverage for Climate Adaptation: Wadden Sea Region Esbjerg Challenges Water District in East Esbjerg WITH WET FEET IN THE GROUND The eastern neighbourhood of Esbjerg is facing different water issues, due to various reasons. Firstly, the neighbourhood was a former wetland area, but the stream has been covered up, and housing has been built on the wetlands surrounding this stream. The exact course of the stream is nowadays largely unknown but can be traced back in the natural topography. It is clear that the draining function of the stream for the bigger water catchment area is gone. The other water catchment area in the east currently has a river that can still flow into the sea — however, the current port expansion could compromise the discharge of this river in the future. Secondly, the soil consists of an impermeable clay layer, creating a high groundwater table and limited percolating capacity. This forms an issue for the neighbourhood: some buildings have to pump up to 70.000 litres of ground water per year out of the basement. Thirdly, the port is a very hardened surface and doesn’t allow any water, both ground and surface water, to percolate or flow into the sea. The port is literally a ‘bath plug’ for the water catchment area of this eastern neighbourhood. The combination of the lost stream, the built-up wetlands, the high groundwater table, the impermeable soils and the considerable amount of hardened surfaces, especially in the port area, leads to flooding in a big part of the neighbourhood when heavy rains occur. This pluvial flood calls for a re-design of this area of Esbjerg and its water system in order to prevent flooding damage. A MIXED NEIGHBOURHOOD WITH SPECIFIC SOCIAL CHALLENGES The eastern neighbourhood consists of a variety of housing typologies and living conditions, which pose different challenges. Historically, this area of the city consisted of allotment gardens with small summer houses on the inexpensive grounds of riverbanks and wetlands. Then gradually, from the station towards the east, more freestanding villas were built on these low-priced plots. This makes the district a very mixed area that evolved differently over the last decades. Firstly, the utmost eastern part of the neighbourhood shifted from being a very attractive neighbourhood towards a roughened and neglected area. It struggles with a negative identity: it is seen as a low-income part of the city and with historical issues (what issues?). It is telling that the social housing area (name?) is currently on the observe list of ghetto districts* and the northeastern housing area ‘Stengårdsvej’, just outside the inner ring road of 10 Esbjerg
Setting the Scene for a Call for Action Esbjerg, is currently on the ghetto list. The government puts a lot of demands for these districts on the ghetto list: extreme measures need to be taken, like tearing down buildings. It is clear that the area (name?) needs urgent measures to prevent further deterioration, in order to better the living conditions of its inhabitants but also to make the whole neighbourhood more attractive. It is not only a social challenge here: it is also in this area that lots of pumping keeps the basements dry and temporary solutions are being explored to keep the buildings in a good enough condition. However, long term solutions become more and more urgent. The more western part of the district with the single-detached housing attracts more younger families and the renovation of certain buildings is occurring more and more. The area has a big potential, since it is close to the city centre and the station. The perception of the area needs to be shifted to make it a more attractive place to live. The municipality is working on several projects, making the city centre more vibrant and attractive, and this district could be a part of it. AN EXPANDING PORT AND A RISING SEA The city of Esbjerg is a seaport city, which was and is on the one hand an important leverage for the development of the city and its socio-economic context. On the other hand, it also poses a difficult question: how can the city be reconnected again with the Wadden Sea, since the port is literally a vast, hardened and rather inaccessible area, cutting off the aquatic experience of the city? Esbjerg’s relation to the sea is compromised even more in the coming years, as the port is expanding to the north and south side. New infrastructures are foreseen, for example, to ensure the energy delivery to the companies in and outside of the port, and towards the islands and hinterland. Next to that, the EU Flood Directive stipulates that a new storm surge barrier must be built by the municipality to tackle the rising sea level. The question is how this new barrier will be embedded in the existing waterfront of Esbjerg, and if it will cut off even more the city from the sea. * Explanation criteria ghetto The five parameters on which the residential areas are measured are the proportion of residents with a non-Western background, proportion of residents outside the labour market, proportion of residents with a conviction for breaching the Penal Code, the Act on euphoric substances or the Weapons Act, proportion of residents with primary school as the highest education and residents’ income compared to the average. Esbjerg 11
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Water as Leverage - Wadden Sea Region

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