TIME | SCALE | Tijd | Schaal

A response to the question posed by the village of Blije to “De Terp Fan de Takomst”

Climatic fluctuations and the geological changes that result from them occur on a spatial and temporal scale that is far beyond our direct perception.

This means that we do not experience any direct cause-and-effect relationship between our daily actions and decisions and their impact on, for example, the climate and biodiversity. Scientific models and experiments often use variables in scale, which suddenly make the very gradual developments and changes visible within our direct experience of space and time.
Patterns that arise under the influence of morphodynamic forces are virtually identical on a scale of one metre to patterns on a scale of hundreds to thousands of kilometres. This phenomenon is called scale invariance.

In the transition zone between land and water in the Noorderleeg land reclamation area, the laws of scale invariance apply in their purest form.
With a little imagination, these channels and creeks are immense river deltas and estuaries on time scales stretching over many centuries and millennia.

“Every tide is a climatic sea level rise, every winter is an ice age, every creek a majestic river”.