# A Case Study on Rotterdam's Water Squares: answers and explanations

Testmigo Practice Test 3, Listening Part 3

Source: Written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 21 | B | where there simply isn't room to dig new canals or ponds |
| 22 | C | The other half came from the city itself. |
| 23 | A | actually influenced was how the space would be used ... the public shaped the activities, not the engineering |
| 24 | C | it only fills about once a year, in a really heavy storm |
| 25 | B | Their real headache is keeping it clean ... Cleaning's the main weakness |
| 26 | F | the cleaning team were brought in late |
| 27 | G | Only the big basin has a ramp ... awkward for wheelchair users |
| 28 | D | let gravity do most of the work |
| 29 | I | All right, the station's out. |
| 30 | H | The school playground it is. |

## Why these answers are right

**21. B.** Hannah quotes the city's 2007 water plan: the squares are meant for crowded districts where there is no room to dig new canals or ponds. Canals and ponds are open water, so no space for extra open water is option B.

**22. C.** Liam breaks down the four million euros: European and Dutch funds covered a quarter, the water boards another quarter, and the other half came from the city itself. Hannah accepts this, so C is correct.

**23. A.** Hannah says the students, church members and gym users influenced how the space would be used, and Liam sums it up as the public shaping the activities. How the space is used paraphrases what the square would be used for, option A.

The why and the trap for questions 24 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/listening/a-case-study-on-rotterdams-water-squares/answers).

## Transcript

**Announcer:** Part 3. You will hear two urban planning students, Hannah and Liam, discussing a case study for a seminar on Rotterdam's water squares.

**Announcer:** First, you have some time to look at questions 21 to 24.

**Announcer:** Now listen carefully and answer questions 21 to 24.

**Hannah:** Right, Liam, we've got ten minutes on Thursday for the Rotterdam case. Shall we start with why the city needed water squares?

**Liam:** Sure. I'd assumed it was all about the sea. A lot of Rotterdam is below sea level, and some neighbourhoods are more than six metres under it.

**Hannah:** That's true, but the squares deal with rain, not the sea or the rivers. The city relies on dikes and storm-surge barriers for those.

**Hannah:** According to the city's 2007 water plan, they're meant for crowded districts where there simply isn't room to dig new canals or ponds.

**Liam:** So the real problem is heavy rain with nowhere to go, and the sewers can't cope with it.

**Hannah:** Exactly. Let's make that our opening point.

**Liam:** Then a bit of background. The idea came from the design firm De Urbanisten, back in 2005, and Benthemplein opened in December 2013.

**Hannah:** And it cost about four million euros. I'd always assumed the European Union paid for most of it.

**Liam:** Actually, no. European and Dutch funds together covered only a quarter, and the water boards paid another quarter.

**Liam:** The other half came from the city itself.

**Hannah:** Oh, I didn't realise. So it really was the city's own project.

**Liam:** Agreed. Now, the workshops. I was going to say that local people designed the whole square.

**Hannah:** I think that's going too far. The city and the designers had already decided how the water would be stored before the workshops even started.

**Hannah:** What the students, the church members and the people from the gym actually influenced was how the space would be used.

**Liam:** Things like the basketball court, the skating area and the little stage. The church next door even renamed itself after the square.

**Liam:** Okay, so the public shaped the activities, not the engineering. I'll change that slide.

**Hannah:** Good. Now, how the water moves.

**Liam:** Right. Rain runs along stainless steel gutters into three basins, and everything that can flood is painted in shades of blue.

**Liam:** I've written that all three basins fill up every time it rains.

**Hannah:** That's not quite right. The two shallow ones collect rain from right around the square, so they fill around thirty times a year.

**Hannah:** The deep one in the middle, with the basketball court, takes water from a wider area, and it only fills about once a year, in a really heavy storm.

**Liam:** So the sports court is dry nearly all the time.

**Hannah:** And when it's completely full, the whole square holds about one point seven million litres.

**Liam:** Which then soaks slowly into the ground or gets pumped into a nearby canal, not into the sewers.

**Announcer:** Before you hear the rest of the conversation, you have some time to look at questions 25 to 30.

**Announcer:** Now listen and answer questions 25 to 30.

**Liam:** Okay, the limitations. I'd put heat first. The design was all about water, and there wasn't much planning for shade on hot days.

**Hannah:** That's in the report, but it's not what the people who look after the square complain about. Their real headache is keeping it clean.

**Hannah:** Rubbish, broken glass and leaves collect in the basins, and the crew has to vacuum and shovel them out several times a year.

**Liam:** Fair enough. Cleaning's the main weakness, then, and heat can go in a footnote.

**Hannah:** Oddly, the cleaning team were brought in late, after departments like Public Works, when most of the design was already fixed.

**Liam:** If they'd been involved early, it might have been different. One of them said it was designed without anyone thinking about how to clean it.

**Hannah:** Access is a problem too. Only the big basin has a ramp, and the steel gutters around the others are awkward for wheelchair users.

**Liam:** At least the city has learned from it. The newer water squares have fewer mechanical parts and let gravity do most of the work.

**Liam:** Last part: would it work here? I'd propose one in front of the railway station, since that area floods most winters.

**Hannah:** I liked that idea at first, but the underground bike park and service tunnels are right under it. There'd be nowhere for the basins.

**Liam:** Hmm, I'd forgotten about those. All right, the station's out.

**Hannah:** What about the playground at the secondary school on Mill Lane? It's already paved, and it's huge.

**Liam:** A basin full of water where children play? I can't see parents agreeing to that.

**Hannah:** But remember, the deep basin in Rotterdam only fills in a really bad storm, and nobody's out playing then.

**Liam:** That's true. And Benthemplein's main users are students anyway. Okay, you've convinced me. The school playground it is.

**Announcer:** That is the end of Part 3. You now have 30 seconds to check your answers.

[Practice A Case Study on Rotterdam's Water Squares](https://testmigo.com/ielts/listening/a-case-study-on-rotterdams-water-squares)