Abstract Body

Urban green infrastructure (UGI) can be effective for climate change adaptation, to reduce the urban heat island effect, enhance water retention and infiltration, while simultaneously enhancing biodiversity and human wellbeing. Even though these advantages are known, the implementation rate of UGI remains slow for a number of reasons including land scarcity, limited institutional resources, uncertainties on the delivery of multiple benefits and the limited bankability of GI projects.

In support of the needs of local authorities (LAs) of smaller cities, a business model (including a tool and Guiding Document) is created that aims at assisting LAs when considering investing in a UGI project. The business model provides them the handles to demonstrate how a GI project can generate returns (qualitatively, quantitatively, monetarily) and how the provided returns compare to the more classical chosen grey infrastructure. Results are presented for one or more UGI pilot investments of the Interreg2Seas project Nature Smart Cities (https://naturesmartcities.eu/). The pilot cities are Southend-On-Sea, Cambridge (England), The Hague, Kapelle (the Netherlands), Antwerp, Bruges (Belgium), and Lille (France).

The business model tool compares different grey, green and hybrid infrastructure projects (referred to as scenarios) in terms of costs and benefits. The thorough assessment of each scenario for specific ecosystem services (ESS) chosen by the user, is the core of the business model. The comparison of different scenarios can be done by relying on an extensive data library with qualitative, quantitative and monetary values for different ESS and UGI elements, and/or by conducting case specific calculation. In other words, the tool allows for a flexible assessment according to the type of GI, the available data, the location and scale of the project. The results of the user-friendly tool are visualised in a fact sheet, enhanced with readily understandable visuals (e.g. spider diagrams, bar charts, etc.).