Since 2023, Architecture Workroom Brussels has been coordinating a groundbreaking living lab in the Herk and Mombeek river basin in Haspengouw (Belgium). The aim: to develop, together with a coalition of local stakeholders, a practice for the transition to a resilient sponge landscape.

In the first phase of the living lab, we asked the coalition to share their local knowledge about the valley of the Herk and Mombeek. Together with the Regionaal Landschap Haspengouw & Voeren and the secretariat of the Demer basin, they collected all relevant map data and terrain measurements they could find: where the valley flooded in recent years, which pools dried up, which municipalities filed damage claims and where exactly drainage is located. Based on this, we determined together in which years the damage was acceptable and in which not. Modelers from Sumaqua and KULeuven processed all data into a digital water model and confronted the damage limit we had pinned down with the risks posed by climate change.

The model identifies concrete objectives that can turn the area into a resilient sponge landscape. To be armed against drought, about half of the territory must be connected to an infiltration facility and a quarter of the area must be dedrained. To prevent severe flooding, it is also necessary to buffer 1,500,000 m3 more water. In the driest places, even irrigation facilities or crop changes are needed.

The sponge measures should eventually land in the natural areas, near the watercourses, in the village centres, on the fields and on the fruit plots. At sub-basin level, AWB translates the goals into strategic development directions, and Cluster Landscape Architects designs different scenarios for two focus areas. In March 2025, the coalition refines this work into a realistic action plan.  

Follow the Living Lab Herk & Mombeek closely on this page.