Freedom Flow: Be Like Water by Mona El Batrik was developed as a concept for the Palimpsest project and the Łódź Design Festival 2025 as a creative approach to cleaning local rivers. As Mona notes, “Before we try to clean the river, we need to stop the pollution from entering it in the first place.” The concept addresses water restoration with flood management by identifying the source point for water collection, treating rainwater as a valuable resource before it becomes a road issue or a source of pollution.

Inspired by the city’s industrial textile heritage, Freedom Flow draws from stacked spools of thread, symbols of Łódź’s factories and its polluted waters. Using a modular system based on earth-based ceramic filtration techniques, the project integrates with existing infrastructure to capture rainwater before it reaches the streets, which can then be redirected to permeable walkways, gardens, or nearby trees.

The system limits the spread of street debris, oils, and toxins while transforming overlooked infrastructure into a functional and sculptural network. Freedom Flow demonstrates how design can make infrastructure both practical and resilient, reframing urban systems as tools of ecological responsibility.

Listen to the Podcast with Mona here.