The Translation of Polder

Abstract

<p> <italic>Polder</italic> is a Dutch word that occurs in many world languages. As sea level rises and coastal cities subside, the polder is a preferred way to protect land from flooding. Because <italic>polder</italic> combines infrastructure with governance and social resilience, the translation of <italic>polder</italic> involves more than finding a linguistic equivalent. Successful translation of <italic>polder</italic> as both a term and an approach to water management depends on the openness of the translation process to adaptations called for by the local language, culture, climate, and terrain. This chapter begins with cultural histories of the polder in The Netherlands and Indonesia and concludes with close analysis of the translation process as it played out in Water as Leverage for Asian Cities, a Dutch urban design initiative that took place in Semarang, Indonesia in 2018–2019.</p>

Deltas in dialogue: Imagining policy transfer from the Netherlands to Vietnam and Bangladesh as a symmetrical conversation

“…Yet, there is a slowly growing body of critical scholarship—emerging from diverse fields, including policy studies, water management and governance, urban planning and the anthropology of development—about Dutch interventions and water‐projects in deltas outside of the Netherlands (see e.g., Colven, 2017; Ivars & Venot, 2019; Khalequzzaman, 2016; Laeni et al, 2020; Minkman et al, 2019; Richter, 2019; Shannon, 2019; Vink et al, 2013; Weger, 2019; Yarina, 2018). Some of the critique focuses on the social and ecological impacts of large infrastructural projects that the Dutch help finance, design and implement, particularly questioning how such projects provoke the displacement of people who are already very vulnerable (see Batubara et al, 2018; Richter, 2020; Shannon, 2019). Other scholars shed critical doubts on the role of private investors and consulting firms in delta projects, expressing reservations about whether their profit motivations can be reconciled with objectives of sustainability and inclusiveness (see Büscher, 2019; Kemerink‐Seyoum, 2019).…”