Rotterdam and its neighboring municipalities are facing a critical challenge: balancing the urgent need for housing development with increasingly strict climate regulations. The permitting process for new housing projects is often delayed due to the lack of integrated tools to assess cumulative environmental impacts — particularly on heat stress, traffic, noise, air pollution, and nitrogen deposition.
This challenge is not isolated to Rotterdam alone. It affects the entire urban region, where development in one municipality can have cross-boundary environmental effects. For example, increased traffic or nitrogen deposition from a new project in a neighboring city may impact air quality or biodiversity in Rotterdam.
