Palimpsest

The international PALIMPSEST project focuses on the search for new ways of co-creating the urban landscape. Implemented in parallel in three pilot locations – Łódź, Milan, and Jerez de la Frontera – it has created opportunities in each of them to conduct experiments related to innovative practices that combine themes of urban nature and artistic expression. Each of the cities faces different consequences of the climate crisis, yet each is seeking new solutions carefully embedded in local heritage, everyday life, and the principles of sustainable development.

In the Łódź edition of the project, we focus on the issue of water management in the city. This is a well-known phenomenon, but its effects are becoming increasingly tangible. During the summer season, the city experiences alternating periods of intense rainfall and drought. During heavy downpours, water quickly runs off impermeable surfaces, overloading the sewer system and causing local flooding. During rainless periods, the soil dries out and loses its ability to retain water. At the same time, some green areas are degraded by additional factors, such as surface salinity after the winter season or pollutants carried by street runoff. This is a complex set of problems that is difficult to solve solely through large-scale infrastructural investments.

That is why, within the PALIMPSEST project, we began to look for solutions on a micro scale – ones that can be co-created with the local community and implemented in small areas: in courtyards, small squares, along sidewalks, in places affected by both excess and shortage of water. The foundation of the process of creating our Toolkit was a series of conversations and participatory workshops involving people who have long been engaged in issues of urban greenery as well as residents interested in changing their immediate surroundings. In this context, several important observations emerged: the need for cheap and simple solutions; the desire for real influence over small spaces; concern for vegetation exposed to salinity; and the belief that even small actions can improve the local water cycle.

In cooperation with experts in blue-green infrastructure from Deer Garden. Naturalnie and with the artist Magdaleną Stecką, who specializes in ceramics and 3D printing, we began the process of developing solutions addressing water management needs at the micro scale. Joint discussions and analyses led to the creation of two prototypes: Łódzkie Meandry (Łódź Meanders), modular forms made of natural materials designed to slow down and direct water flow, and Rain Flowers, ceramic vessels designed to collect rainwater and gradually release it into the soil. Both solutions were developed on the basis of traditional technical knowledge, design experience, and local craftsmanship, and their first versions were created thanks to the work of an interdisciplinary team.

A key part of the process was the involvement of residents through a series of open participatory workshops. Participants – people active in green initiatives as well as residents interested in improving the quality of their immediate environment – co-created both the concept and the final form of the prototypes together with us. It was their observations and experiences that helped refine the solutions so that they would be not only functional but also feasible to build and maintain in everyday conditions. The developed forms were then tested in cooperation with the University of Łódź and the European Regional Centre for Ecohydrology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, which allowed us to evaluate their performance and prepare practical versions for use by local communities.