DIY flood protection

During floods the inhabitants of Gdansk create yet another type of temporary element. When heavy rainfall comes the whole flood zone is covered with sandbags. During hot summer months the creek floods and inhabitants protect themselves from the force of nature. People living along the Strzyza are forced to deal with the floods themselves, since many of the sites around the Strzyza are privatized. The government provides tools to deal with the floods - sandbags, which are redistributed all around the city. Citizens living around the creek create protective dikes at the front of their houses. Plastic sandbags are the only protection tool people have to cope with the floods, while the prevention tools are unable to store enough rainwater.

Because of the privatization of the areas around the Strzyza, there is no possibility for solving the problems of floods in a top-down, big-scale way, providing a technical solution for a city. Instead, the government is trying to help citizens the only way they can: with sandbags. During floods the city delivers tons of sandbags and plastic bags and spreads them in diverse parts of the city. People gather around the piles of sand, collect them and move them to the entrances to their houses.

Fig. 80: Handdrawing of people filling up splastic bags with sand. Fig. 81: First step in the process of building sandbag dams is collection of sand from the nearby beach, This tasks performed by the municipality and skilled workers. Fig. 82: Next step is bringing the sand from seaside to public spaces in the inner city, Fig. 83: Citizens gather around the sand piles brought by the municipality to later re-distribute them (Fig. 84) around the entrances to private houses (Fig. 85). After reoccuring floodings people know exactly how to perform the task of building temporary dams.

To summarize the analysis, the natural conditions of the Strzyza landscape are defined by the rainy conditions of moraine hills on the edge of the Baltic Sea. This landscape is in a constant process of change, destruction and renewal. In natural circumstances, in the area of the riparian forest, these floods brings something positive: they spread seeds in the rich hummus soil, and they provide water for vegetation specific to this area, creating river habitats unique on the scale of Poland. The riparian forest and spongy peat soils store enormous amounts of water. These ecosystems are a crucial component of the global rain cycles.

However, urbanizing, privatizing, canalizing and burying underground the Strzyza stream, sealing off the porous sandy soils, lead to recurring floods. Floods are catastrophic for the inhabitants of Gdansk. Their households and shops get flooded. Fast-flowing water endangers people, who struggle with the chaos and destructive force of the water. Not only are they insufficiently protected, but most of the year they are also unprepared and unaware that they live in the floodplains of the Strzyza. The creek has disappeared from the surface of the city. Out of sight, out of mind.

The government tries to help private owners by providing a protective tool: the sandbag. The sandbag is the only tool people have to fight the enormous force of flooding water. Sandbags are spread around the city along the edges of private entrances, remaining and deteriorating in the cityscape. They are the only physical reminder of the Strzyza’s existence.

Therefore, to create a more symbiotic relationship between people and nature, we need to learn how to live in the flooding zone again. New and temporal ways of living could create a safer cohabitation between the Strzyza and the inhabitants of Gdansk.