If Rødbyhavn is in danger of sinking into the sea in 100 years, is the city really worth preserving?
Four geography students asked that provocative question on Wednesday afternoon when, together with 12 fellow geography students at RUC, they presented the results of two days of fieldwork in Rødbyhavn and Rødby.
The students have had the new Fehmarn Knowledge and Learning Center as their base during their visit to Lolland. Wednesday’s presentation was a kind of exam, but instead of censors, criticism, praise and questions were delivered by a panel consisting of people from Lolland Municipality, Region Zealand and Fehmarn Belt Development.
Climate protection in focus
Each group of students has had a focus. One group focused on climate protection and therefore came up with a sensational solution proposal against a particularly gloomy background.
The students explained how wrong a 100-year-old event, such as the storm surge in 1872, can go with the climate changes that are expected in the future.
– If the worst scenario is fulfilled, the whole of South Lolland is “done”. But let’s hope the dikes hold, said the group, which presented three responses to this looming climate disaster.
Make room for the sea
The first proposal made several people in the room raise their eyebrows.
– Our first suggestion is simply to give way to the sea. That might be a bit pessimistic. But perhaps you should invest in other nearby areas instead of Rødbyhavn. The harsh message was that there is plenty of land on Lolland where you can live.
Great potential
However, the students also presented other solutions to the storm surge problem – including building houses on stilts, as seen in Florida, or erecting new buildings with built-in flood protection, as seen in Bach Gruppen’s new hotel proposal for Rødbyhavn in particular.
In addition, the group also suggested that Lolland Municipality make a virtue out of necessity and create a so-called “storymap” museum for the whole of South Lolland. The museum would become an attraction that uses the entire landscape to tell the story of climate protection and storm surges.
– You have drawn some rather violent scenarios. And it’s great to have provocations like this, so we can reflect a little on: “Is what we’re doing wise?”, said the students’ teacher from RUC, Thomas Skov Grindsted, as a presentation to the panel.
Doesn’t look too bad
– I don’t feel provoked. But I feel things are not so bad in Rødbyhavn, where you have a strong coastal defence compared to many other cities, said Deputy Head of Strategy and Politics in Lolland Municipality Henrik Madsen about the created horror scenario.
– I agree that you believe there is potential here in attractions. I find that exciting, he said.
– Challenges create potential. So you have fantastic potential here, was the answer from one of the students.
Let fall what cannot stand
Development manager at Region Zealand Thomas Aarup Larsen was not provoked by the pessimistic future scenario either… quite the contrary. – The Coastal Directorate has been saying that in the future, we must work more with the “Let what can’t stand fall” idea with some cities and then prioritize our efforts elsewhere, he stated.
