Nature Moves into the City

After Het Parool profiled the ambitious Nordør project by SLA in Copenhagen – a thirty-hectare nature park reconnecting the city with its coast – the newspaper spoke with Steven Delva about whether such an approach could take root in Amsterdam.

Where SLA allows nature to literally flow into the city, DELVA explores how the urban fabric itself can transform into a living landscape. In that dialogue, two worlds meet: the Danish humility and boldness of SLA, and the Dutch pragmatism and systems thinking of DELVA.

“Nature in the city should be coached, not managed. When we allow natural processes to do their work – cleansing the soil, purifying the water – we create truly living urban environments.” – Steven Delva

DELVA’s project Het Oog on IJburg II embodies that principle: a 23-hectare park connecting two parts of Strandeiland through ecological design and natural water purification. Not as a fixed image, but as a living system — a park that shapes itself. Where Nordør lets the sea breathe again, Het Oog lets the water think again. Both projects seek a new balance between humans and nature, between making and letting go.

What if we, too, would stop managing nature in Amsterdam — and start guiding it instead?

If, like Copenhagen, we dared to loosen our grip and let the city grow from its landscape?

→ Read the full article in Het Parool