In 2013, Ban Ki-moon, General Secretary of the UN, defined climate change as “the single greatest long-term threat to our survival”. Natural disasters and soil sealing in urban areas has led to increasing flood vulnerability. If classical hard engineering solutions are not to be disregarded, backing them up with soft ecosystem measures seems to be a path followed by many experts. Often inspired by traditional practices, these measures illustrate a changing perception of water, seen not only as a menace but as a design agent of place-making. For Bernd Gundermann, Sara Kamalvand and Tony Wong, invited byL’Architecture d’Aujourd’hui to discuss the subject, water is at the core of more resilient cities.