Pure resilience - how nature adapts to the urban landscape

The exhibition 'Pure Resilience' reveals how nature adapts to survive in the urban landscape. Stunning examples are shown in a wide panorama of the Rotterdam-Rijnmond area: dragonflies above a garden pond, pigeons on a balcony, peregrine falcons around the Willemsbrug, Egyptian geese on the Spoorsingel, ferns alongside a harbour quay. If you look beyond bricks and mortar, the biodiversity in the urban environment turns out to be greater than in the surrounding rural areas. This is due to a larger variation in habitats, a warmer microclimate and the boundless adaptability that animals and plants show in order to be able to survive in the city.

The exhibition shows highlights of the urban nature collection to illustrate which animals and plants have their habitat in the city and how they have adapted. From the legendary iron pigeon nest, a city fox stomach full of shoarma kebab to the pellets of herring gulls. The eye-catcher of the exhibition is a swan on a gigantic floating nest made of litter.

The exhibition ends with a much debated question: do we need more wild nature in the city, or do we need to try to control it as much as possible?

The exhibition lasted until 14 February 2022.