Welcome to the ECOCITY 2022 Interactive Programme

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The greening of cities is increasingly used as a measure against heat, and has other positive effects on biodiversity, health, quality of life and the financial benefits it provides through, for example, the amenity value of a city centre. However, greening also increases evaporation and thus the water demand in urban areas, while extremely high temperatures often occur in simultaneously dry periods. In practice, this can lead to a reduction in evaporation during drought and thus less effective cooling. The recent Dutch summers of 2018 and 2019 have highlighted the urgency of the linked problem between urban water management, drought and heat mitigation. There are many questions about the link between the heat and water requirement of urban green (for cooling down and even survival). With different stakeholders (governmental, private and entrepreneurs) Wageningen Environmental Research started with an inventory of existing and promising green for Dutch cities, in line with existing information and viewed from an ecosystem approach. Using atmospheric models, we establish the relationship between evaporation and cooling and we feed the National Hydrological Model with which the effect of urban evaporation on the groundwater level can be estimated. In a societal cost-benefit analysis we will evaluate and compare different options for greening. By combining existing knowledge about functional ecosystems with hydrological and atmospheric models, we develop examples of spatial designs for climate-resilient cities.

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In times of increasing urbanisation, constantly growing density of urban settlements and respective effects on city climate, resource consumption and quality of life, sustainable urban development is a crucial element to create liveable and resilient cities. Urban green attracts increasing attention of urban planners as it has numerous positive effects on environment and citizens. It is not only of ecological importance but also of economic and social value for the city although these benefits are often unseen or underestimated by decision makers. And as space is scarce in urban settlements, new, innovative and smart forms of urban greening are required.

The research project VertiKKA, sponsored by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research, uses a technological approach to increase energy, land and resource efficiency and improve environmental quality as well as quality of life within a city. In collaboration with the City of Cologne (Germany), the project partners develop and analyse a multifunctional green facade element using domestic grey water for irrigation and producing energy with attached photovoltaic elements.

Besides high investment costs and monetary benefits like reductions of incidental housing costs, the VertiKKA-module with its vertical green element provides several uncompensated public benefits. Main ecosystem services, provided by the green VertiKKA module, are regulating services such as local climate and air quality regulation, carbon sequestration and reduction of heat island effects as well as cultural services including impacts on mental and physical health, aesthetic aspects and increased quality of life. Furthermore it provides habitat for species and contributes to biodiversity. To provide arguments and evidence for these public benefits, the economic valuation of the ecosystem services of the VertiKKA module is part of its economic analysis. The assessment comprises a combination of economic valuation methods and participatory approaches. It not only includes a monetary classification of the ecosystem services but also a holistic assessment of qualitative and quantitative benefits as decision basis and road map for urban decision makers.

Abstract Body

In Dutch urban renewal and expansion, urban green is insufficiently included to functionally contribute to the quality of city life, although the benefits of urban green are now widely known. Especially at a time when the city is facing important challenges such as the building task (1M houses) and the sustainable energy transition, opportunities for healthy, climate-resilient and social cities are often missed. This means that targets for sustainable urbanization will not be achieved. The Dutch ‘Successful Implementing Green Urban Development’ project (2020-2023, TKI funded) works on a better implementation of urban green in city development projects. The projects develops tools to support urbanization professionals with the right knowledge to integrate functional green (including NBS) in urban development processes. One of the strong points of the project - initiated by Wageningen University & Research (WUR) - is its overarching consortium of key stakeholders. This encompasses 25 partners including 12 city governments (including Amsterdam, Utrecht, Almere, Eindhoven), 8 sector organizations in the fields of urban development & design up (NEPROM, BNSP, Stadswerk) to (landscape) architecture (BNA, NVTL) and landscaping (VHG, De Groene Stad), and as well as individual urban design offices, NL Greenlabel and the Dutch National Forest Service (SBB). In the project a systematic research is being carried out regarding the success and failure factors in the integration of urban green in urban design processes. Together with cities and sector organizations strategies and action perspectives are proposed such as improvements to NBS guidelines, standards, labels, and financing models for functional green spaces in cities. In 2020 a series of pilot studies has started in the 12 cities. In these pilots researchers have identified how in the different stages (initial, definition, design, realization, maintenance) of ambitious green urban development projects the conditions for successful NBS integration are created or missed. The lessons learnt from these pilots, as well as experiences of working together with a national network of project developers en urban designers will be presented at the Ecocity World Summit.