Acronym: GREEN-INC
Title: GRowing Effective & Equitable Nature-based Solutions through INClusive Climate Actions
Call: European Partnership DUT ( Driving urban transitions): F-DUT-2022-0013 call
Grant nr: 101069506
Period: 2024-2026 (36 months)
Budget : Total: €1,393,087.00; VUB: €104,625.00
Contact: Prof. Boud Verbeiren
At VUB TT ERIS, we got the chance to ask Boud 2 questions: ‘What is GREEN-INC about’ and ‘Why is it important for the VUB’.
What is GREEN-INC about?
Boud: “The Driving Urban Transitions (DUT) research program, launched in 2022, brings together 63 funding agencies from 27 European countries and the European Commission with the aim of creating a European Centre for Research and Innovation (R&I). The funding program runs for 11 years and enables us -especially in Brussels- to develop solutions around themes known as ‘Transition Pathways’. With The GREEN-INC project the consortium aims at assessing the performance of Inclusive Climate Actions (ICAs) in five European cities that face unalike climate change impacts and that are embedded in different urban planning systems. Through the networks of local partners, the consortium will have access to a variety of NbS and ICAs that are undertaken in these cities. They will consider both existing initiatives (retrospective demonstration projects) and establishing new ones (prospective urban living labs). This means that the partners will at first identify the institutional conditions and design principles under which ICAs help the uptake of NbS in different European contexts. Next, the design principles derived from these interdisciplinary assessments-qualitative as well as quantitative- will be validated in five living labs with local partners in the five cities using digital twin technology. Altogether, GREEN-INC will help European cities to implement ICAs that result in a more just delivery and design of NbS by incorporating fairness and distributing NbS impacts as equitably as possible. “
Why is GREEN-INC important for the VUB?
Boud: “As you can see from the partners involved in this consortium, there is a commitment of non-academic partners and the transdisciplinary character of the consortium. For instance, there has been selected next to one local scientific partner (minimal) one local stakeholder per city. Local partners have indeed detailed knowledge of local water - and planning & management systems. Co-creation between science and local actors is fostered through participatory workshops, joint development of evaluation models and digital prototypes in which public as well as private actors (including residents) are gripped together. In particular we aim to put forward our expertise blue-green infrastructure to develop suitable environmental indicators for evaluation.
Local coalitions also become part of an European coalition in which lessons learned are exchanged on a regular basis. Cities will as such become more effective, leading to improved sustainable ICAs and NbS. In addition, these networks offer also rich case study material as they are European frontrunners in creating climate-resilient cities. “
Do you think of one example? “Indeed, as a way forward, Nature-based Solutions (NbS) can be green roofs, raingardens, and constructed wetlands. These are important tools to create circular urban economies by integrating nature and natural features into cities and landscapes. However, the experience to climate risks and NbS advantages is unevenly distributed among the urban residents, and can even sometimes result in the destruction and degradation of ecosystems. Therefore, the win-win scheme of NbS should always be challenged, offering the guarantee that NbS is by default contributing to a socially inclusive, economically vibrant and ecologically resilient society to all its citizens.”
Abstract
Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have multiple benefits, but they can reinforce urban inequalities and injustices in cities. To better account for NbS dilemmas and trade-offs, both theory and practice have embraced Inclusive Climate Actions (ICAs) that tackle climate change and urban inequalities simultaneously. A systematic evaluation of ICAs in European cities, however, has not yet been executed.
AIM
The GREEN-INC project will assess the performance of ICAs in five European cities (Amsterdam, Bucharest, Brussels, Skellefteå, and Turin) that face different climate change impacts and that are rooted in different urban planning systems. Through a systematic evaluation we will identify the institutional conditions and design principles under which ICAs help the uptake of NbS in different European contexts.
METHODOLOGY
Our research strategy consists of a comparative case study approach integrating four academic disciplines that each provide valuable perspectives on the effectiveness and social justice of ICAs. The design principles derived from these interdisciplinary assessments will be validated in five living labs with local partners in the five cities using digital twin technology.
IMPACT
Altogether, GREEN-INC will help European cities to implement ICAs that result in a more just delivery and design of NbS by incorporating fairness and distributing NbS impacts as equitably as possible