Spearheaded by the Dutch Special Envoy for Water Affairs Henk Ovink, the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, the Global Center on Adaptation, 100 Resilient Cities, and Architecture Workroom Brussels launched the collaborative project WATER AS LEVERAGE FOR RESILIENT CITIES: ASIA at the UN Climate Conference COP23 in Bonn, Germany, on November 9, 2017.

Floods in Chennai, India

^{picture by OOZE team WaL/Asia}

No time to waste
We have no time to waste if we want to safeguard our planet and our future, and achieve our climate goals, our sustainable development goals, and reach beyond. To realize the necessary changes we need to build strong and result-oriented coalitions with the ambition to proactively connect innovative and integrated design, good planning, and a strong process to financial commitment and implementation.

^{Water as Leverage Asia: partners}

Taking up the challenge, the Dutch Water Envoy and the IABR have initiated Water as Leverage. In partnership with the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), 100 Resilient Cities (100RC), UN-Habitat, FMO Dutch Development Bank, Pegasys, Partners for Resilience, Worldwide Fund for Nature (WWF), OECD, Architecture Workroom Brussels and Water Youth Network, and supported by the UN/World Bank High Level Panel for Water, the Global Center on Adaptation (GCA) and RVO.nl, we have launched our first project, Water as Leverage for Resilient Cities: Asia (WaL/Asia), on November 9, 2017 at COP23 in Bonn, Germany.

Asia
Nowhere on earth are water-related disasters as widespread and costly, both in terms of human life and loss of (social) wealth, as in South and South East Asia. Asian cities account for 83 percent of the population affected by sea level rise. That is why, together with the AIIB and 100RC Asia, we decided to test how water can be used as a lever for change in Asia first.

Workshop in Semarang, Indonesia

^{© Team One Resilient Semarang}

Three cities, six design teams
After a short and intense period of thorough research, fieldwork, and workshops, the Water as Leverage for Resilient Cities: Asia–consortium partnered with the cities of Khulna (Bangladesh), Chennai (India) and Semarang (Indonesia). These partnerships are carefully chosen, based on the explicit articulation of water-, urban-, and climate-related challenges that these city regions have, the strategic position as a pilot for similar cases they could be and, as such, the potential in terms of sustainable solutions and transformative capacity.
In 2017 a worldwide Call for Action was launched after which, in June 2018, the Advisory Board of WaL/Asia selected six design teams, two for each city.

2nd regional workshop in Singapore

^{© Cynthia van Elk | Water as Leverage}

Challenge
These three city regions are only a starting point: building on the outcomes a working methodology will be derived and continuously adjusted, as a foundation for following partnerships.
The challenge of Water as Leverage is to match long term comprehensive urban planning with short term innovative transformations ; ambitious climate adaptation plans with bankable projects; developing ever more knowledge of the water system with building more resilient cities; research, design and implementation with inclusive urban alliances. Result driven collaboration is essential, across all sectors, all layers of government, all stakeholders—from activists and vulnerable communities to private and public institutions.

WaL/Asia Regional Workshop Singapore

^{© UN Habitat, picture by Cynthia van Elk}

The World Water Atlas, an initiative of Dutch Special Envoy for Water Affairs Henk Ovink, is part of the Action Plan of the UN/World Bank High Level Panel on Water (HLPW). The Action Plan recognizes the need for “a platform where states can share and exchange lessons and good practices for addressing water-related disasters and translate them into solutions that can be promoted globally”.

^{The UN/World Bank High Level Panel on Water meets with Dutch PM Mark Rutte for a work session at the International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam, 2016.}

^{© Fred Ernst}

Collect, link and unlock
The World Water Atlas focuses on the water challenge against the background of climate change. Its aim is to provide local and (inter)national decision makers, governments, companies, and citizens from all over the world and all walks of life with tools with which to take absolutely necessary, concrete action, as effectively and rapidly as possible.
To achieve this, the World Water Atlas collects, links, unlocks, and distributes knowledge, data, best practices, and inspiring local initiatives and then integrates them into a coherent and mobilizing narrative that provides prospects for action and thus encourages people to rise to the challenge. Various media are implemented, including a digital platform and film.

^{Homepage World Water Atlas}

The 1.0 version of the World Water Atlas has been launched at World Water Day, 22 March 2018,^, in New York, during a meeting of the High Level Panel on Water.

IABR
The IABR investigated the feasibility of the World Water Atlas in 2016 under the authority of the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Environment. The outcomes and recommendations ensuing from that investigation prompted the ministry to ask Deltares, the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, and the IABR to form a consortium to realize the Atlas under the auspices of the Dutch Special Envoy for Water and in collaboration with a variety of representatives of the Dutch as well as, in the future, the international water community.
In the spring of 2018 the IABR and film producer Doxy produced Mexico City: The Thirsty City, a film directed by Alexander Oey, especially for the WWA. You can now watch it with Dutch, English or Spanish subtitles on the IABR Vimeo Channel.

Founding Partners WWA: Netherlands Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management, Deltares, International Architecture Biennale Rotterdam (IABR), Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency (PBL)