Designing For Extremes: Heritage Strategies for Rising Sea Level Adaptation in The Hague

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2025.1.11

Keywords:

sea level rise, urban resilience, coastal protection, heritage management, designing for extremes

Abstract

This article presents insights gained from an international research-by-design workshop on the future of the historic harbor of Scheveningen, its heritage and the districts surrounding it in The Hague. The workshop – part of long-standing cooperation between Brazil and the Netherlands on heritage management – explored how and to what extent historic features can accommodate adaptation to rising sea levels. The results of the workshop provide insights for coastal cities worldwide and show that historic features can support nature-based and adaptive strategies for climate resilience and that it is possible to integrate heritage into spatial planning for sustainable urban futures.

How to Cite

Augustijn, M., Avellar Montezuma, M., Begon, B., Corten, J.-P., & Hein, C. (2025). Designing For Extremes: Heritage Strategies for Rising Sea Level Adaptation in The Hague. Blue Papers, 4(1), 158–71. https://doi.org/10.58981/bluepapers.2025.1.11

Published

2025-07-09

Issue

Vol. 4 No. 1 (2025): Water & Heritage for Sustainable Development

Section

methodologies and case studies

License

Copyright (c) 2025 Marlies Augustijn, Mila Avellar Montezuma, Beate Begon, Jean-Paul Corten, Carola Hein

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Author Biographies

Marlies Augustijn, Den Haag municipality

Marlies Augustijn is a policy advisor on sustainability for the Municipality of The Hague. Her work focuses on sea level rise and creating, with Beate Begon, a long-term water safety strategy for the city. She started her career in the art world, working as a curator of contemporary art. After obtaining an MSc in public administration, she started working for the local government on climate change–related challenges. She aims to bring an interdisciplinary approach and perspective to the projects she works on.

Mila Avellar Montezuma, IHE Delft

Mila Avellar Montezuma is an architect, urbanist and landscape designer with an MSc in water science and engineering, specializing in sustainable urban water management and climate-resilient cities (UNESCO-IHE, TU Delft, IHS Erasmus), and a postgraduate diploma in urban heritage strategies for water challenges. With expertise in resilience and climate adaptation, Mila has conceived, developed, researched and led water-adaptive projects in Brazil, China, Bangladesh and the Netherlands, collaborating across public, private and academic sectors.

Beate Begon, Den Haag municipality

Beate Begon is an urban designer who has been working in the Netherlands since obtaining her degree in architecture at RWTH Aachen University in Germany. She leads the urbanism division of the BDP Rotterdam studio as an urbanism associate. Fascinated by urban transformations, she has worked on projects in the Netherlands and Germany. In her role as a policy advisor on urban development for the Municipality of The Hague she is involved in the ongoing developments along the Scheveningen Coast - from Scheveningen Harbor to the revitalization of the pier. Together with Marlies Augustijn, she is developing a long-term strategy for The Hague regarding coastal protection and sea level rise, aiming to provide an integrated design approach taking into account the spatial qualities, historical value and natural habitats of the Scheveningen coast.

Jean-Paul Corten, Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands

Jean-Paul Corten obtained his degree in history at Utrecht University and later studied planning. He started his career as a researcher in the history of technology at Eindhoven University. Currently he is employed as senior policy officer on integrated conservation at the Cultural Heritage Agency of the Netherlands (Ministry of Education, Culture and Science). He is also affiliated with the Institute for Housing and Urban Development Studies, Erasmus University of Rotterdam. He is involved in many urban regeneration projects abroad.

Carola Hein, Delft University of Technology

Carola Hein is Professor History of Architecture and Urban Planning at Delft University of Technology, Professor at Leiden and Erasmus University and UNESCO Chair Water, Ports and Historic Cities. She has published and lectured widely on topics in contemporary and historical architectural, urban and planning history and has tied historical analysis to contemporary development. Among other major grants, she received a Guggenheim and an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship. Her recent books include Port City Atlas (2023), Oil Spaces (2021), Urbanisation of the Sea (2020), Adaptive Strategies for Water Heritage (2020), The Routledge Planning History Handbook (2018), Port Cities: Dynamic Landscapes and Global Networks (2011). Carola is also the leader of the PortCityFutures research group.

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