A Floating Forest For Rotterdam

We all want our cities to be greener, but it is often quite hard to grow trees in a concrete environment. So, why not turn to waterfronts or lakes to place trees? Rotterdam will get its first ‘bobbing forest’ in 2016: a collection of twenty trees that are floating in the Rijnhaven, a downtown harbor basin.

Inspired by Jorge Bakker his artwork ‘In Search of Habitus‘, an aquarium filled with bobbers that grow small trees, Dutch designers and entrepreneurs from Mothership decided to carry out this idea in ‘real life’. After experimenting with a sample tree last year, an entire floating forest of twenty trees is scheduled to be ‘planted’ on March 16, 2016.

Floating Forest Rotterdam

Floating Forest Rotterdam

Floating Forest Rotterdam

Floating Forest Rotterdam

As with ‘In Search of Habitus’, Dobberend Bos (‘dobbing forest’ in Dutch) is an initiative that could also question and alternate the relationship between human and nature. How do people, cities and nature relate to one another? Most of all, this floating forest is an inspiring project that makes Rotterdam a greener city!

Related Insights

Atlanta food forest

Can Healthy and Nutritious Food Be Available for Free? Atlanta Says Yes

A quarter of Atlanta's residents struggle to access healthy food. The Urban Food Forest hopes to tackle this problem.

Karel

Rethinking Weeds in the City With Karel Hendriks

We spoke to musician, biologist and plant enthusiast Karel Hendriks while taking a stroll around the local neighbourhood in Amsterdam North to investigate some of the city’s urban wastelands, rethinking how we could look at weeds in the city.

Tiny urban forests

Tiny Urban Forests Are Popping Up on Brownfield Sites Across the Globe

Climate adaptation doesn't have to be on a massive scale. This small-scale method sees urban brownfield sites transformed into tiny urban forests by local communities, improving biodiversity and combating climate change.