Water is What We Make It: is a research project initiated by Gemene Grond in which art, philosophy, ecology, science and urban planning come together. This programme experimented with new forms and ways of working for collaboration and commissioning in the shared urban space. The project was conducted in close cooperation with the Utrecht local authority and various experts, including the city ecologist and urban planners involved in the redevelopment of the Leidse Rijn, the principal waterway in Utrecht’s city centre.

We brought together artists, thinkers, designers, ecologists and urban planners around the theme of the ‘hydrocommons’ and the ways we are interconnected through our shared urban environment. We studied the Leidse Rijn as part of the Rhine Delta and as a body of water that will in future be channelled into the historic Singel canal.