Nanco Dolman

Deltares · Urban Water and Subsurface Management

Water introduces both opportunities and risks into urban areas. Urban design can play a key role in addressing a wide range of climate related water challenges such as water pollution, water scarcity, floods, land subsidence, stormwater management, ecosystem services and public health. Integration of water management in the different phases of design and development is incredibly important in urban retrofit projects and new development.

After Hurricane Sandy impacted 13 states, costing more than $65 billion in damages and economic loss, President Obama’s Hurricane Sandy Rebuilding Task Force launched an innovative design competition, Rebuild by Design, that coupled innovation and global expertise with community insight to develop implementable solutions to the region’s most complex needs. In partnership with U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Municipal Art Society, Regional Plan Association, NYU’s Institute for Public Knowledge, The Van Alen Institute, and support from The Rockefeller Foundation and other philanthropic partners, the multi-stage competition guided participants through in-depth research, cross-sector, cross-professional collaboration, and iterative design. Participants collaborated with community and local government stakeholders to ensure each stage of the competition were based on the best knowledge and talent and final proposals would be realistic and replicable. The Rebuild by Design Hurricane Sandy Design Competition changed the way the federal government responds to disaster and became the model now used in other regions to prepare communities for future uncertainties. Its success has also inspired other efforts. In 2014, President Obama launched the National Disaster Resilience Competition, which awarded $1 billion to 13 cities and states across the country to fund resilience-building projects. Internationally, The Rockefeller Foundation, in partnership with the USAID and The Swedish International Development Agency, developed the Global Partnership for Resilience based on the Rebuild by Design competition model and collaborative approach. The competition model’s success also led to the formation of the Rebuild by Design organization, which is helping cities and communities around the globe become more resilient through collaborative research and design.

There is a recognised need for a fundamental change in how cities tackle urban water challenges and develop visions for ‘Blue-Green’ urban futures; where multifunctional Blue-Green infrastructure (BGI, including green roofs, swales, rain gardens and ponds) creates environmental and societal co-benefits and is delivered by cross-organisational collaborations. The aim of this interdisciplinary proposal is to explore how Blue-Green futures may be developed as new forms of environmentally sustainable urban governance. We will investigate how socio-political barriers to implementation of BGI may be overcome and how mechanisms for co-creating Blue-Green visions (e.g. social learning frameworks) may increase the adaptive capacity of decision-makers and lead to concerted action. We will devise an international ‘best-practice’ model based on an evaluation of Blue-Green visions in four case study cities (Newcastle, UK; Rotterdam, the Netherlands; Ningbo, China; and Portland, Oregon, USA). Cross-country learning will inform new Blue-Green visions for the UK and other global cities.