Futures Right in Front of You: Participatory Futuring on Sea-Level Rise and Climate Adaptation at Dutch Water Heritage Sites

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DOI:

https://doi.org/10.58981/aa0cm770

Published

2026-09-16

Issue

Water & Heritage for Sustainable Development

Section

methodologies and case studies

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Copyright (c) 2025 Adriaan Duiveman

Creative Commons License

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

How to Cite

Duiveman, A. (2026). Futures Right in Front of You: Participatory Futuring on Sea-Level Rise and Climate Adaptation at Dutch Water Heritage Sites . Blue Papers. https://doi.org/10.58981/aa0cm770

Keywords:

water heritage, participatory futuring, collective mental time travel, climate communication, water narratives

Abstract

In the Dutch delta, climate adaptation is inevitable. Water heritage sites can help Dutch citizens to imagine and discuss the uncertain futures related to that fact. This article proposes public engagement programs in which heritage organizations and water management institutions use historical locations for participatory futuring with citizens on the impacts of sea-level rise. During physical and/or digital tours along various heritage sites, participants can be invited to reflect on scenarios for the Dutch delta. The sites are not just backdrops. Their tangible and sometimes unfamiliar histories can foster long-term thinking, reduce the psychological distance to climate change and, crucially, inspire alternative futures through the lens of forgotten pasts.

Author Biography

  • Adriaan Duiveman, Radboud University Nijmegen

    Adriaan Duiveman is a historian. As a postdoc he investigates the stories that citizens, authorities and opinion makers tell about and in crisis situations. Duiveman focusses on narratives on nature-induced disasters from the nineteenth century to our imagined future. In 2023, Duiveman obtained his PhD at Radboud University with a thesis on the cultural and social impact of nature-induced disasters in the eighteenth-century Dutch Republic. After that, he worked as a programme maker and moderator for Radboud Reflect and he was as a postdoctoral researcher at KU Leuven (Belgium). For the latter, he received a grant from the Niels Stensen Fellowship.

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