NL2120 is awarded with Grote Maaskantprijs
Expert(s) |
Bregje van Wesenbeeck
This year’s Grote Maaskantprijs is awarded to the collective of scientists, governments, companies and civil society organisations behind project NL2120. Deltares is one of the partners in this project. According to the jury, NL2120 offers 'an inspiring perspective on the climate-adaptive, nature-inclusive and CO2-neutral spatial planning of the Netherlands'.
The Grote Maaskantprijs is awarded once every two years to one or more individuals who have distinguished themselves in the field of architecture, urban design and landscape architecture through publicity, teaching and/or research activities.
"That NL2120 received this award came as a surprise, as we have only really started since May this year. As one of the parties in NL2120, we therefore see the award mainly as a boost for all the work that preceded NL2120, such as Room for the River and Ecoshape's Building with Nature programme.
Bregje van Wesenbeeck, scientific director at Deltares
"With Wageningen University & Research's NL2120 vision as a basis, pioneers are working together on a new story. In it, natural solutions or Nature-based Solutions are the key to accelerating all kinds of transitions. The collective sees the award as an encouragement to continue on the path and to work hard", concludes Bregje.
New era
The jury praised the way NL2120 develops a "cogent spatial future vision". "The collective combines knowledge, policy and entrepreneurship to shape urgent spatial transitions. It demonstrates that shaping complex collaborations is essential for this, marking the beginning of a new planning, urban planning and architectural era. The collective receives the Grote Maaskantprijs as a reward and encouragement for this approach," the jury said.
The jury of the prize, consisting of Sanne van den Breemer, Onno Dwars, Meta Knol, Ekim Tan and Delta Commissioner Co Verdaas, sees that "the NL2120 collective puts on the agenda, in an inspiring and visual way, the necessity and opportunities of integral area development based on sustainable and climate-resistant land and water systems. By establishing a consortium of knowledge organisations, educational institutions, businesses, green civil society organisations and governments, NL2120 has taken a leap of scale."
More about NL2120
In 2023, the consortium behind NL2120 received an allocation from the National Growth Fund to scale up the application of Nature-based Solutions. Besides the implementation-oriented regional elaborations, a knowledge and innovation programme was set up of which Deltares is one of the knowledge partners.
In NL2120, governments, nature organisations, engineering firms, dredging companies and knowledge and professional institutions will work together for ten years on nature-based solutions for major challenges in the fields of climate adaptation, nature-inclusive agriculture, biodiversity and living.
The programme consists of ten substantive work streams, in which Deltares, together with WUR, is mainly responsible for physical-ecological, socio-economic and institutional knowledge and knowledge integration.
Consortium NL2120 exists of Stichting Ecoshape (a representative of Boskalis, van Oord, Arcadis, HKV, RHDHV, Sweco, Witteveen+Bos and others), the province of Fryslân, municipalities Dordrecht and Rotterdam, Staatsbosbeheer, knowledge institutes Deltares, Wageningen University & Research, TU Delft, Universiteit Twente, Universiteit Utrecht and a broad range of nature organisations (ARK Rewilding NL, De Noordzee, IUCN NL, IVN, Natuur & Milieu, Natuur & Milieu Federaties, Natuurmonumenten, SoortenNL, Vogelbescherming en WNF) plus the educational institutions COE Groen, Deltaplatform and Yuverta/Aeres.
