STRENGTHENING BLUE-GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN OUR CITIES ENHANCING BLUE-GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE & SOCIAL PERFORMANCE IN HIGH DENSITY URBAN ENVIRONMENTS RAMBOLL.COM COORDINATED BY LIVEABLE CITIES LAB PROF. HERBERT DREISEITL BETTINA WANSCHURA www.ramboll.com/LCL Published June 2016 INVOLVED UNIVERSITIES AND RESEARCHERS Prof. Dr. Dr. Manfred Moldaschl Prof. Herbert Dreiseitl Prof. James L. Wescoat Jr. Joyce Klein Rosenthal, PhD Prof. Dr. Eckhard Schröter Prof. Nirmal Kishnani Alex Marks Evageline McGlynn Matthias Wörlen Prof. Tan Puay Yok Karen Noiva Dr. Jörg Röber Giovanni Cossu Smita Rawoot Cynthia Ng RESEARCH WORK COMMISSIONED AND FUNDED BY RAMBOLL FOUNDATION STRENGTHENING BLUE-GREEN IN OUR CITIES 3 ENHANCING BLUE-GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE & SOCIAL PERFORMANCE IN HIGH DENSITY URBAN ENVIRONMENTS Usually we think of a city as buildings, roads, concrete, Blue-Green infrastructure (BGI) offers a feasible and asphalt and all the other hard, grey elements. But what if valuable solution for urban areas facing the challenges the city has more than one layer? What if we define a city of climate change. It complements and in some cases by looking at water and vegetation as well? Elements that replaces the need for grey infrastructure. BGI connects shape and improve human life. We call this BGI = Blue-Green urban hydrological functions (blue infrastructure) with Infrastructure – the essential layer in a liveable city. vegetation systems (green infrastructure) in urban landscape design. It provides overall socioeconomic For too long, we have pushed water underground – out benefits that are greater than the sum of its individual of sight, out of mind – and disregarded the green. Though components. essential to our lives, it has lacked a strong advocate. But times change and suddenly we have become aware that Taken together as a comprehensive system, these grey cannot cope with the challenges of climate change. components of BGI projects strengthen urban ecosystems by employing natural processes in man-made Blue-Green Infrastructure environments. They combine the demand for sustainable The traditional grey approach to urban infrastructure, water and stormwater management with the demands of which is to discharge rainwater into pipes, is not an adaptive urban life and planning. adequate solution for hydroclimatic problems induced by urbanisation, urban density, and impervious land cover. Nor is it a way to mobilize the many socioeconomic benefits of water as an element in people’s living environments. STRONG VISION AND INNOVATION STRUCTURAL CULTURAL CAPACITY CAPACITY BLUE-GREEN INFRASTRUCTURES SKILLS AND OPPORTUNITIES KNOWLEDGE BASIC Fig.01 FINANCING CONDITIONS 4 RAMBOLL STRENGTHENING BLUE-GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN OUR CITIES CONTENTS 08 CHAPTER 1 75 CHAPTER 4 PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION LESSONS LEARNED FROM 10 • Blue and Green Infrastructure SUCCESSFUL BGI CASES for Liveable Cities SUPPORTING BGI IMPLEMENTATION 10 THE INTENTION OF THIS HANDBOOK 77 CHALLENGES LEADING TO • A Mandate for BGI in cities ADOPTION OF THE BGI APPROACH • What is blue-green infrastructure? • Public diseases and sewage demands • Why implementation often fails • Climate change and adaptation • Why talk about added values of BGI? • Windows of opportunity • Urge for innovation and a city´s reputation 16 CASE STUDIES 84 WHO ARE TYPICAL DRIVERS OF BGI? 18 CASE STUDIES ON PROJECT • The political BGI entrepreneur LEVEL • Driving groups and networks • Emerald Necklace, Boston, US • Water agencies as institutional bottlenecks • Hannover-Kronsberg, Germany • Green policy and sustainability programs • Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, Singapore • Khoo Teck Puat Hospital and Yishun Pond, 90 WHAT TYPICAL OBSTACLES HAVE 30 Singapore TO BE OVERCOME? • Ulu Pandan Park Connector, Singapore • Land restriction • Doubts about technical feasibility 28 CASE STUDIES ON CITY LEVEL • Silo-thinking in the administrative realm • Hamburg, Germany • Portland, Oregon, US 98 SUPPORTIVE CONDITIONS AND • Copenhagen, Denmark IMPORTANT RESOURCES • New York City, US • The importance of institutional and political support • Jakarta, Indonesia • Mumbai, India 103 HOW CAN THE BGI APPROACH BE INSTITUTIONALIZED AS A STANDARD 40 CHAPTER 2 FOR URBAN WATER MANAGEMENT? DETAILED DEFINITION OF BLUE- • Pilot projects GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE • The importance of documentation • The importance of umbrella programs 44 HOW THE BGI APPROACH • The importance of effective, enforceable, and EVOLVED sanctionable guidelines and regulations 53 • The importance of building local capacity 48 BGI IN URBAN DESIGN AND • The importance of formal institutions for BGI WATER MANAGEMENT 111 CHAPTER 5 52 BGI SOLUTIONS EFFECTS AND ADDED VALUES ON DIFFERENT SCALES OF BGI 60 CHAPTER 3 ADDED VALUES CHALLENGES CITIES ARE FACING TODAY 113 CAPITAL-BASED ACCOUNTING MODEL FOR ADDED VALUES OF BGI THE GREEN IMPERATIVE • Why use the Polychrome Capital Approach? • The capital-based framework for BGI assessment THE BLUE IMPERATIVE • Capital-based assessment of values added by BGI • The case study & the capitals: Summary 67 THE RED (SOCIAL) IMPERATIVE STRENGTHENING BLUE-GREEN IN OUR CITIES 5 120 NATURAL CAPITAL 153 STRONG VISION AND • Enhancement of water-related ecosystem INNOVATION 97 services • Strong vision to procure legitimacy, • Water-related Ecosystem Services of BGI reputation and civic support • Support for Biodiversity • Use BGI to enhance your innovativeness • Biodiversity-related Ecosystem Services in the case studies of BGI 155 CULTURAL CAPACITY • Moderation of the urban climate • Share problem perception and value patterns • Climate-related Ecosystem Services of BGI with involved actors 127 BUILT CAPITAL 157 STRUCTURAL CAPACITY • Blue-green infrastructure increases • Integrated ownership and strong leadership effectiveness, adaptability and resilience • Overcome silo mentality • Examples for increasing effectiveness, • Create partnerships adaptability, and resilience within the case studies 160 OPPORTUNITIES • BGI enhances a city’s beauty and aesthetics • Look for windows of opportunity to initiate BGI • Biophilic Design: Interdependence of blue, green and social design features and the 161 SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE aesthetics of landscape • Build up an internal stock of knowledge 112 • Learning from pilot projects is decisive 134 HUMAN CAPITAL • Examples of the benefits of BGI on health 162 BASIC CONDITIONS and well-being • Think holistically and river catchment-wise • BGI and Biophilia • Disposal of land and precautionary land use • Learning about and experience of nature planning • Institutionalize BGI as a standard technology in 138 SOCIAL CAPITAL urban planning • Examples of the benefits of BGI for social • Anticipate long-term operation and interaction and integration maintenance • The benefits of BGI for civic identity and relatedness 165 FINANCES • Look for innovative approaches to financing 141 SYMBOLIC CAPITAL • BGI as measure to increase a city’s reputation in Malmö and Freiburg 166 FINAL THOUGHTS 129 • BGI´s impact on iconic value and tourism 145 FINANCIAL CAPITAL 168 IMAGES: SOURCES & CREDITS • Increasing property values • Economic benefits of BGI for physical and FIGURES: Index & credits mental health • Economic benefits of improved water Common acronyms and management and resilience and BGI abbreviations • Cost effectiveness of BGI in new housing development project at Hannover-Kronsberg 172 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 151 CHAPTER 6 RECOMMENDATIONS CREDITS 160 6 CHAPTER 1 - PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION 7 CHAPTER 1 PREFACE AND INTRODUCTION 8 RAMBOLL BLUE AND GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE FOR LIVEABLE CITIES What makes a city? Often we think about buildings, roads, concrete, asphalt and all the other hard grey elements. But what if the city has more than one layer? What if we define a city by looking at water and vegetation as well? Elements, that more than others shape and improve human life. We call this BGI, the Blue and Green Infrastructure – the essential layer in a liveable city. Rather than viewing the city as a single, discrete entity, it might be more useful to think of it as interacting layers of different kinds of activities and physical features. There is one element in particular that, perhaps more than all of the others, shapes a city and supports urban activity and human life – that element is water. Water is necessary for human life and a variety of economic activities. However, for too long we have pushed water – one of the most essential resources for a functioning city – underground, and therefore out of sight and out of mind. There is growing awareness that securing clean and sufficient freshwater will be a defining challenge for cities in the 21st century. The conventional approach to urban water infrastructure has been to use simple quantitative models to predict future water demand and then to construct additional infrastructure to meet this demand. That approach prioritizes technology and large physical interventions which attempt to manipulate natural processes to suit the needs of humankind. However, that focus on “grey” infrastructure – so-called because of the massive amounts of concrete and metal typically involved – is proving to be no longer adequate in meeting the additional stresses to urban water supply induced by rapid urbanization, impervious land cover, and climate change. In some cases, the reliance on grey infrastructure can actually contribute to these stresses. For instance, the conventional approach to urban stormwater runoff has been to collect precipitation in a connected sewer system and to transport it out of the city as quickly