Nature-based solutions for climate adaptation

The European Commission defines nature-based solutions (NBS) as ‘solutions that are inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience’. This cluster of approaches examines how NBS can...

General introduction to approach

The cluster looks into approaches responding to climate change using nature-based solutions (NBS) in urban areas, including responses to heat stress with Green walls and roofs, rehabilitated gardens and small forest creation, as well as Green and Blue infrastructure for flood management. GrowGreen (Green Cities for Climate and Water Resilience, Sustainable Economic Growth, Healthy Citizens and Environments) aims to create climate and water resilient, healthy and livable cities, making nature part of the urban living environment so as to improve quality of life for all citizens and helping business to prosper. It identifies high quality green spaces and waterways as being able to provide innovative and inspiring solutions to major urban challenges, such as flooding, heat stress, drought, poor air quality and unemployment while helping biodiversity to flourish. ProGIreg (Productive Green Infrastructure for post-industrial urban regeneration) is active in urban areas that face the challenge of post-industrial regeneration. These areas suffer from social and economic disadvantages, inequality and related crime and security problems. Their “Green walls and roofs” approach improves building’s insulation, reduce storm water run-off, capture CO2, filter pollutants, and increase biodiversity, leading to reduced energy consumption and increased urban resilience.

Shapes, sizes and applications

The approaches of both these projects deal with a 2-tier system of city networks, both include European cities, one also includes a Chinese city. GrowGreen began in 2017 and aims to create climate and water resilient, healthy and livable cities by investing in NBS. It seeks to embed NBS in long term city planning, development and management, so that accessible green and blue spaces are a permanent feature of all urban areas around the world. Its demonstration projects are designed and implemented in four Frontrunner Cities (Manchester,UK: Valencia, Spain: Wroclaw, Poland: Wuhan, China), and the European Frontrunner Cities are paired with 3 Follower Cities (Brest, France: Zadar, Croatia: Modena, Italy) which face similar climate risks. ProGIreg began in 2018 and is developing this approach using Living Labs in post-industrial districts in 2 of its 4 front-runner cities (Turin, Italy: Zagreb, Croatia) to develop, test and implement NBS. 2 of the 4 follower cities (Cluj-Napoca, Romania: Piraeus, Greece) will closely follow the progress and engage in city-to-city exchange to replicate NBS locally. In Zagreb, the former Sljeme meat-processing factory is to be fully revamped into a business innovation centre with a 700m2 green roof and 300m2 of green walls, with potential to replicate this on other factory buildings at the same site. In Turin and Cluj-Napoca Green roofs and walls will be fitted to public buildings. Piraeus is a densely-populated area, with little ground space available for green regeneration, so the green roofs and walls will be used to improve local biodiversity and counteract the urban heat island effect. Both projects have a high level of transferability, as NBS projects are being developed by and with local community groups.

Relation to UrbanA themes: Cities, sustainability, and justice

Both approaches have a very high urban focus, with each project responding to the urgency of climate change. GrowGreen sees itself as a vanguard project for development of NBS around the world, seeking to embed NBS in long term city planning, development and management, so that accessible green and blue spaces are a permanent feature of all urban areas. With Climate Breakdown worsening, its practical lessons for Climate change adaptation will rapidly increase in uptake. Regarding justice, GrowGreen’s approach includes various actors and stakeholders, a citizen driven, bottom up approach has been used to develop NBS designs, with the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project being constantly assessed throughout. ProGIreg seek to activate citizen involvement in regeneration of urban areas of varying scales along specific urban corridors in a number of cities using living labs. Co-design of Nature-based Solutions (following NBS) lies at the core of the project. It means systematically involving all relevant stakeholders from the very start of the project and engaging them as equal co-creators. The aim of co-design is to achieve mutually valued outcomes, a joint ownership of the NBS implemented as well as a good fit between the NBS and the local context. Specifically ProGIreg has selected, possibly, problematic areas to work in; areas of deprived social housing urban developments, the other on areas that suffer from social and economic disadvantages, inequality and related crime and security problems.

Regarding sustainability issues, GrowGreen is developing strategies for Climate change adaptation in cities, but its various areas of focus include: climate and water resilience responding to flooding, heat stress, drought, poor air quality and increasing biodiversity. ProGIreg explores many aspects of sustainability to a very deep degree, seeking to identify and improve areas in cities through NBS including: biodiversity, the carbon cycle, soil consumption and use of natural resources in urban environments, citizen involvement, education and empowerment. Citizen science and active citizen participation also include sustainable education and nature appreciation.

Narrative of change

With increased problems arising from climate breakdown (flooding, drought, food shortage) along with rapidly increasing urban transformation, how can NBS and other forms of Green and Blue Infrastructure best respond to modern cities urban climate challenges?

These approaches seek to respond to climate change using NBS in urban areas, including responses to heat stress with Green walls and roofs, rehabilitated gardens and small forest creation, as well as Green and Blue infrastructure for flood management. Both projects employ bottom-up NBS approaches, seeing active citizen participation as key tool to bring about required change, projects are developed by and with local community groups.

Transformative potential

All approaches attempt to make urban transformation work with and for citizens, therefor an intended high transformative potential is hoped for. ProGIreg’s report from the end of 2018 had a considerable amount of exploration into levels of citizen engagement and what full empowerment could mean. GrowGreen is a citizen driven, bottom up approach, the full impact of this in a transformative potential will become clear near end of project, but it shows high potential.

Summary of relevant approaches

GrowGreen has had two clear foci during its first 18 months. Firstly, internally-focused to ensure robust project set-up, the design and construction of the demonstration projects and the associated monitoring and evaluation of impact, and clear definition of cities’ stakeholders and their needs for long-term NBS strategy development and implementation. And secondly, an external focus to ensure that GrowGreen will have a strategic impact outside the immediate partners and boundaries of the project and that the project will make a genuine and measurable contribution to the global NBS and city-greening agenda up to 2022 and beyond. The results in the 3 chief Frontrunner Cities are the following:

• GrowGreen’s chief Frontrunner City is Manchester, the fastest growing city in the UK outside of London. Five of the Greater Manchester region’s 13 rivers flow through the City of Manchester and are a major source of floods. The city’s long history of flooding is partly due to floodplain development, an ageing sewer system, covering rivers, and the large areas of impermeable surface that have resulted from urban growth. Surface water flooding has increased tenfold between 1945 and 2008, and is predicted to increase further with climate change. A community park with integrated NBS was designed in the neighbourhood of West Gorton, which is one of the city’s priority areas for housing development. The project is supporting local partners and stakeholders to design and deliver a detailed green infrastructure masterplan for the neighbourhood, expected to include parks, green streets, trees, rain gardens, community food growing, green roofs, attenuation ponds and a number of Sustainable Urban Drainage features.

• Valencia is located in the centre of Spain’s eastern Mediterranean coastline, and is the country’s third city demographically and economically. The city has a warm-temperate subtropical climate, with hot summers and little rainfall. Climate change analyses for the city suggest that increasing temperatures, extreme weather events, and decreasing rainfall are likely for the remainder of the century. The city’s NBS demonstration project to address these heat-related risks is located in the Benicalap-Ciutat Fallera district, which has high levels of immigration and unemployment, as well as an ageing population and deteriorating infrastructure. Several projects have been designed in Benicalap. These include a vertical eco-system which will desalinate water for reuse, a small sustainable forest with species selected specifically to maximise carbon sequestration, a green-blue corridor which includes new street tree and shrub planting, green roofs to mitigate the impact of heat stress and actions to enhance community engagement such as a new biodiversity app and a community food growing project.

• Wroclaw is the fourth most populated city in Poland and despite extensive flood protection works, up to 36% of the city remains at risk of flooding. Major floods have recently disrupted energy, transport and communication systems. Heat waves and drought are increasingly common during the summer months, and are exacerbated by the urban heat island effect. The city’s NBS demonstration projects are designed to address these dual risks of heat and flooding. The demonstration projects will take place in the Olbin/Plac Grunwaldzki (downtown) district of the city, which is a dense, multi-use neighbourhood that ranges from wealthy to socially deprived. The pocket parks, green walls and green streets envisioned as part of the project will be co-designed with local residents. In addition, a neighbouring district, the Biskupin/Sepolno (garden city) area, will be evaluated to determine how green development from the 20th century performs today. Since the project started, several courtyards have been designed within residential tenement blocks in Olbin. The new green courtyards will create attractive new communal green spaces whilst also incorporating NBS into the designs. Extensive community consultation has been carried out with proactive citizen engagement in the design.