Faculty and staff from Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health (JHIPH) and a Baltimore City delegation traveled to Rotterdam in October 2025 for a research trip, to attend the international Planetary Health Alliance Meeting (PHAM) and to participate in a custom program of meetings and site visits in Rotterdam and Delft on themes of multi-functional nature-based solutions, water storage, flood resilience, public health, and more — to bring back ideas and inspiration for a healthier and more resilient future in Baltimore.
The delegation included Dr. Letitia Dzirasa, Baltimore’s Deputy Mayor of Health and Human Services; Khalil Zaied; Baltimore’s Deputy Mayor of Operations; Ava Richardson, Director of the Office of Sustainability at Baltimore City Department of Planning; Brad Rogers and Samantha Rose from South Baltimore Gateway Partnership; Seydina Fall from Carey School of Business at Johns Hopkins University. Baltimore-Rotterdam Sister City Committee assisted JHIPH with the planning and execution of this research trip.
Held every 18 months, PHAM provides a forum for civic leaders, policymakers, scientists, and other professionals to seek solutions for the connected challenges of human health and the planet’s natural systems. Rotterdam, the site of the 2025 edition of PHAM and Europe’s largest seaport, has implemented multiple climate-resilient solutions to help ensure continued economic success and human health into the future. In addition to attending the PHAM conference, the delegation met with Rotterdam’s government officials and toured innovative climate and resilience-focused projects throughout the city. Baltimore‘s participation in PHAM was not just an opportunity for knowledge exchange, but also for new and continued partnerships to invest in the city’s health and prosperity.
Meetings with the public health department included a discussion with Josine van den Boogaard and her team (left photo) about Rotterdam’s public health strategy for heat stress with Ava Richardson from Baltimore Office of Sustainability and Chris Lemon from Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health, and a city walking tour and meeting for Baltimore Deputy Mayor Dr. Letitia Dzirasa with Willemijn Lamoré, Director of Public Health for the Rotterdam-Rijnmond region. The Baltimore delegation also met with Daan van den Elzen (right photo) from Rotterdam city government’s waste management division, for a discussion about trash management and recycling.
Left: Multi-functional green roofs and stormwater buffer at a set of interconnected buildings (Dakpark de Groene Kaap), part of the tour with Tim De Waele. Right: Climate-resilient Driehoeksplein in BoTu neighborhood (Rotterdam, October 2025); meeting with Barbara Luns (AIR Rotterdam) and Mike van Staten (Urbanist) who had previously traveled to Baltimore in April 2025 as part of an urban design delegation.
Partners
Thank you
A big thank you to the people who helped out before or during the workweek, including our Baltimore Sister Cities volunteers; Johns Hopkins Institute for Planetary Health (Chris Marshall, Christopher Lemon, Barbara Paley, Ben Zaitchik, Susan Koch Hughes, Hannah Atonucci, Erin Broas, and many others); Saskia Pardaans from the Netherlands Embassy who worked on the program for the site visits; Rotterdam city government (Unal Sezisli, Tim de Waele, Willemijn Lamoré, Simone Vis, Corjan Gebraad, Daan van den Elzen, Johan Verlinde); Barbara Luns (AIR Rotterdam); Mike van Staten (Urbanist); Ferdjan van der Pijl (Architect); UrbanGuides Rotterdam; De Urbanisten; Green Village and Flood Proof Holland (Lindsey Schwidder, Jean-Paul de Garde, Raymond Hofer); Dagan Cohen from Amsterdam Donut Coalition who invited Seydina Fall to a talk about doughnut economics; coordinators from Erasmus University Rotterdam (local host for PHAM); and many more people.
