Nature Smart Cities across the 2 Seas | 2 Mers Seas Zeeën

NSCiti2S

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Nature Smart Cities across the 2 Seas

Priority Axis

Adaptation to Climate Change

Specific objective

Adaptation to Climate Change

Lead partner

Southend on Sea Borough Council - SBC

Contact

Date de début

03/09/2018

Date de fin

31/03/2023

Project budget

6 436 568

ERDF amount

3 861 941

ERDF rate

60%

    À propos

    Common challenge

    At the time of project approval, a clear knowledge gap existed for local authorities (LAs) that prevented them from deploying green infrastructure (GI) on a scale that enabled urban landscapes to adapt to the future impacts of climate change and allowed them to build more sustainable communities.

    Cities and towns were not investing in GI and the valuation tools for justifying GI on economic, social, cultural and environmental grounds were simply not being used by LAs, who instead relied on EU and national subsidies or deliver GI projects on a ‘one off’ basis. The exceptions were capital/larger cities (populations > 550,000 approx.) that had access to more finance and resources than smaller urban areas. Urban areas with a population lower than 550,000 inhabitants were not investing in GI. Valuation tools for GI were simply not being used, and LAs lack the ability to properly account for the direct cash benefits of GI.
    NSCiti2S partners came together to tackle this challenge as they identified LAs need to be enabled to overcome market barriers to using their own city-finance to fund GI climate investments and step away from subsidy dependence.

    Main Achievements

    The focus of the NSCiti2S project was the development of an innovative Business Model (BM) that enables users to compare different future GI project scenarios. The BM allows users to review the value urban greening provides across multiple ecosystem services. The result is a business case that can help decision makers see the cost, benefits, and value of utilising GI approaches. Although the technical development of the BM was led by the academic partners, the conceptual development, testing and validation of the BM could only have been achieved through cross-border collaboration.

    The project delivered an ambitious Capacity Building programme across its project countries to support officers from LAs to overcome the challenges in seeking investment for GI projects and build capacity to use the BM. In total, the programme - which was delivered through cross-border collaboration - reached 133 Local Authorities which far exceeded the project target of 75 LAs. Programme surveys revealed that 78% of participants found the BM to be a useful tool and 86% felt confident to take forward and use the BM.

    Seven GI investment pilots were completed over the course of the project, delivering a substantial amount of GI which included 6,847 trees, 16,040m2 permeable surfaces, 6 swales and 48,200m3 of rainwater buffering capacity. As well as building the climate reliance of the project cities, the pilots were instrumental in testing and validating the BM and promoting the value of GI to over 63,700 residents. A series of pilot videos were produced to promote the pilots during the project and into the future. Several project pilots were nominated for awards and/or received sustainability accreditations.

    To ensure the ongoing legacy of the project, each city partner completed a strategic commitment document setting of their intentions for greening their cities over the next few years. Each commitment is ambitious in its own terms but taken together they represent a massive step forward in the green infrastructure of the cities concerned. These changes will be visible, will make a difference to citizens’ lives, and will have a positive impact against the threats posed by climate change.

    Testimonial

    Our cities can be much nicer, healthier places than they are now. Trees, green facades, rain gardens and water buffering ponds help to regulate the temperature, store rainwater, and filter the air. The benefits are manyfold - so we made a business model to show the value of these benefits.

    Partnership

    Partners

    De Zuidrand Streekvereniging

    Provincie Antwerpen

    Stad Brugge

    Universiteit Antwerpen (UAN)

    Universiteit Gent - Ugent

    Ville de Lille

    Gemeente Den Haag

    Gemeente Kapelle

    Cambridge City Council

    Imperial College London

    Outputs

    Output title
    Type
    Target
    URL / Download
    31/03/2023

    NSCiti2S

    Thème: Climate changeInnovation in cities

    Green Infrastructure Climate Investment Pilot Projects

    Type: Infrastructure/building
    Target: Local, regional and national authorities
    30/09/2022

    NSCiti2S

    Thème: Climate changeInnovation in cities

    Nature Smart Cities Strategic Commitments

    Type: Strategy/action plan
    Target: Local, regional and national authorities
    25/08/2022

    NSCiti2S

    Thème: Climate changeInnovation in cities

    Nature Smart Capacity Building Programme for Local Authority decision-makers and city influencers

    Type: Method/service
    Target: Local, regional and national authorities
    30/06/2022

    NSCiti2S

    Thème: Climate changeInnovation in cities

    Business Model for Local Authorities introducting the direct and 'cash' benefits for investors of Green Infrastructure climate investments

    Type: Method/service
    Target: Local, regional and national authorities
    30/06/2022

    NSCiti2S

    Thème: Climate changeInnovation in cities

    Step-by-Step Methodology and Approval Process for Local Authorities to apply the Business Model

    Type: Method/service
    Target: Local, regional and national authorities