On 13 November 2025, experts, policymakers, and practitioners gathered in Antwerp for the third Community of Practice (CoP) “Urban Water Communities.” The full-day event focused on how cities can manage water in smarter, more sustainable, and more resilient ways. This edition was organised in close collaboration with the City of Antwerp.
The CoP offered a valuable opportunity to connect strategic planning with on-the-ground implementation showing how urban water ambitions translate into concrete action.
Antwerp’s Strategic Water Plans
The morning programme focused on Antwerp’s policy framework for urban water management.
- Lien Engels (City of Antwerp) presented the city’s Water Plan, outlining how Antwerp is working towards a robust and future-proof urban water system.
- Tim Vermeiren (City of Antwerp) followed with an introduction to the Drought Plan, highlighting current initiatives on circular water use and resilience to water scarcity.
The presentations set the stage for interactive discussions, in which participants explored shared challenges and opportunities in urban water management.
Practical Cases In The City: Posthofbrug and Wolvenberg
The afternoon programme shifted from policy to practice, starting with the Posthofbrug project. Tom Vinck (City of Antwerp) explained how rainwater from the elevated cycle highway will be reused to support nearby community gardens. The system includes pretreatment measures such as a hydrocarbon separator and a salt bypass, preventing road salt from entering the rainwater storage.
Participants then visited the Wolvenberg nature area, walking through Antwerp’s “garden streets.” Along the route:
- Dirk Harden (AG Vespa) explained innovative purification and infiltration systems for road runoff
- Neil Vandenbroek (Aquafin) shared the first results from a year of water quality monitoring
The site visit illustrated how policy vision, ecological understanding, and technical innovation come together in blue-green solutions with tangible local impact.
Working Together For Climate-Resilient Cities
Once again, the Community of Practice demonstrated the value of bringing together policy, research, and implementation. By sharing experiences and real-world examples, the CoP continues to grow as a learning network committed to building climate-resilient, circular, and future-proof urban water systems.
For ANCHOR, these exchanges reinforce the importance of cross-sector collaboration and practical learning in accelerating sustainable urban water transitions.
Stay connected
Interested in the presentations (in Dutch)? Get in touch with Veerle and Dries.
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