Designing Water in Ashdod | Harnessing floods to mitigate water stress

As climate change accelerates, some areas are experiencing a reduction in annual precipitation, causing more severe water stress. Precipitation is predicted to be scattered across fewer rainfall events, increasing their intensity. Ashdod, a densely built coastal city, suffers from urban flooding each rainy season.

In my project, I will focus on the oldest of Ashdod’s residential quarters, Quarter Alef, because it is the most prone to flooding due to an old and lacking drainage infrastructure and relatively complex topographical structure.

The project mitigates flooding events and harnesses the rainwater by reinforcing and expanding the existing infrastructures (drainage and green spaces), creating filtration, and building detention infrastructures. These strategies form a set of spatial tools including green roofs, additional parks, and a dense network of street trees planted in infiltration trenches.

By solving the flood mitigation issues the neighborhood faces, the project will allow for water filtration and collection as well as create new recreational spaces, connecting well-established unique neighborhood sites.