BGD project partner Dr. Robbert Snep from Alterra posed the question to the 1st Congress of the Society for Urban Ecology in Berlin yesterday, “Does urban climate change adaptation result in greener and more bio-diverse cities?”. The focus of this congress was on urban ecosystems and biodiversity.
Within his presentation, Dr. Snep introduced the Climate-KIC funded Blue Green Dream (BGD) project as one which addresses the greening of cities in view of climate change. Vegetation has the ability to absorb, store and evapotranspirate water, resulting in lower city temperatures and slowing storm water run-off to reduce localised flooding. Increased heat and storm water are important impacts of climate change for cities. In London, Paris, Berlin and Rotterdam experiments and projects are being undertaken to explore innovative ways to deal with these impacts using urban greening. Moreover, the BGD project is focused on developing specific business strategies to better integrate blue (water) and green (vegetation) city infrastructure, which are currently managed separately and are considered as different worlds.
The BGD project also provides opportunities for urban biodiversity conservation, that go beyond the more traditional strategies of protecting existing city wildlife and habitats. Municipalities, water boards, project developers and (landscape) architects will increasingly take vegetation – from building to city region level – as a more cost efficient and sustainable alternative for concrete sewer systems and energy guzzling air-conditioning. This means the development of new biotopes in built-up areas, thereby enlarging the city’s potential to support wildlife. Green roofs, green walls, bio-swales, rain gardens and other blue-green solutions may provide habitat opportunities for urban plants and animals. They will enrich the urban biotope range with temporary wet vegetation, bringing a dynamic element into the quite static and separate worlds of urban greenery or urban water. This may favour a wide diversity of wildlife that is especially attached to gradual land-water gradients. Critical to the success of blue-green solutions for both climate change and biodiversity conservation will be ensuring their proper implementation into urban design and development process. The consortium of BGD partners therefore encompasses international urban ecologists, urban water experts, urban and landscape designers and consultancies, to best bring scientific knowledge on urban climate and biodiversity into city planning practices.
Robbert is a BGD project partner from Alterra, Wageningen University and Research Centre in the Netherlands. He co-wrote the paper with his colleague Joop Spijker, as well as with other Dutch BGD partners: Bas van der Pas, Hanne van der Berg, & Dr. Frans van der Ven, (Deltares); Michiel van der Lugt (Studio Exter urban design); and Stijn Koole (Bosch & Slabbers landscape architects).
More information on the 1st Congress of the Society for Urban Ecology can be found at http://surecongress2013.org/
