Profitably greening up in the city

Helen Toxopeus' research projects are about the liveability of the city, more specifically about nature in the city. Urban green is traditionally seen as a cost item on the budget in the green department. Over the past decade, Toxopeus sees a shift taking place. “Nature is seen more as a strategic investment. Nature can be the answer to all kinds of socio-economic but also cultural issues. Thinking from the future is not a cost item anymore, but mostly a solution.”

In 2050, 70 % of the world population will live in cities. Cities become more dense and climate risks – heat, flooding and extreme weather – are increasing. “The urgency to do something now for future generations is incredibly big,” Toxopeus states. Urban nature demonstrably helps in heat stress and water shortages. It improves biodiversity, health, well-being, liveability and social cohesion. Nature in the city can mean a world of difference to residents. Especially in densely built neighbourhoods where the consequences of extreme weather caused by climate change hit hard. Nature in the city does cost much money, but it also yields much for the residents.

The urgency to do something now for future generations is incredibly big.

In this context, green roofs are often brought up as an example. These not only provide cooler surroundings, the natural protection from UV radiation also results in less damage. This way, green roofs last so much longer than those made of bitumen, insurers now know. “But more is possible: like greening up streets for an example. It looks fun and that's of course also a good reason to green up. But you also see that going from two lanes to one lane, fewer parking spaces and planting more green result in greening up providing more cooling, that it appeals to insects, that it catches water. With this, it has a risk-reducing effect. It results in sustainable mobility on top of that, because people go cycling or walking. This way, it can also improve health.”

Multidisciplinary collaborating

“One of the core points of my research is how you can make multiple parties enthusiastic to help pay for it. These can be citizens but also municipalities, insurance companies, corporations and funds.” By means of qualitative research – by often meeting with institutions and having interviews with people who occupy themselves with finding solutions in all kinds of ways – Toxopeus charts which developments are possible worldwide, within the EU but also in the Netherlands. Literally too, because in an earlier project, she and colleagues analysed a thousand cases of urban nature in predominantly Europe from the Urban Nature Atlas, in order to see who paid for this nature.

“Funding of green, the organisation of it but also the research into it asks for multidisciplinary collaboration. We do so with, among others, Copernicus (the sustainability institute of Utrecht University) and five other universities in Europe. I'm involved in HORIZON, a project about, among other things, cofunding of nature in and around the city. I'm currently developing a policy note of the UN, on the funding of trees in the city. The idea is that this note can then serve as input for the IPCC report on cities, which is currently being worked on. Furthermore, I spent three years in the City Deal on public space in the Netherlands, I've written a climate blog for NRC on the idea that nature has all kinds of various benefits, and not just costs. I'm also a member of the GIOS network (Groen In en Om de Stad, Green In and Around the City): an urban nature team, accommodated in three different ministries. There, I contributed my knowledge on funding nature-based solutions for a piece for the Dutch House of Representatives. Actually, you want to complete the jigsaw puzzle in which parties which profit from it help pay for it too. That's the difficult part at the same time, it's not about a fully private or public good.”

Economy, nature, wealth and well-being interconnect with each other in all kinds of ways.

Green and just 

Another aspect Toxopeus is occupied with is the issue of justice. Because of her parents' work, she grew up in various countries. In Thailand and Indonesia, among other countries, she saw beautiful wildlife areas, which instilled her with love of nature. But from an early age, she was also confronted with poverty there. She especially saw how unequal wealth was distributed. “I lived in a regular house, while I saw peers who slept in cardboard boxes under the bridge. As a six-year old, I didn't understand that and wondered if that could also be done differently. Economy, nature, wealth and well-being interconnect with each other in all kinds of ways. I still want to know how that works exactly and where it can be done better.” 

In her work, she is guided by that very same curiosity and sense of justice, and she researches the possibilities of sustainable economic growth. “By investing in nature – the bedrock from which we acquire everything – you also invest in the capacity of the economy. What are the positive effects of more green in the city? If you make the densely built streets greener, the buildings in them increase in value. Real-estate owners also receive surplus value for a street greened up by the government, but how do you get them to the point that they help pay for it? Such an investment is simply not that easily reflected in a cashflow, like with solar panels. There are actually three reasons to put money into it. By reducing the risk of climate trouble (risk reduction) you can still favourably construct in a risky place in the long run. With densification too (constructing within the city), you can raise the real-estate value by adding nature. And in urban offsetting, (the moving of buildings), it is usually about rules imposed from the top down which ensure that if you construct something at one place in the city, you have to compensate for that elsewhere. All three are methods to enable the continuation of constructing in a green and at the same time profitable way.” 

If such a place becomes more beautiful and pleasant to live in, you often see rent go up.

But how do you ensure that you do not lose sight of the people who live there at the same time? If such a place becomes more beautiful and pleasant to live in, you often see rent go up. “That's, especially for vulnerable groups, not a good development, those people then can't live there anymore. It's an enormously complex interplay for which I don't have all the solutions yet either. But I do draw attention to the issue. And I hope I can keep doing research into it for a long time.”

It's an enormously complex interplay for which I don't have all the solutions yet either.

A cheerful award

Helen Toxopeus was nominated for the Agnites Vrolik Award and won the prize of the Utrecht University Fund. The nomination not only makes her cheerful, it really touches her. On top of that, the nomination underlines the importance of green and nature in an environment which is becoming more and more urban. Being appreciated for her exceptional contribution to society is a pleasant confirmation of all the energy she puts in her research. With the research money of the Vrolik Award, she could do various things. “One of the plans is to bring all Dutch actors together at a national conference to share all this knowledge. I would also like to investigate with mortgage providers which public and private parties could be involved in greening up currently often petrified private gardens. Finally, I would like to participate with a workshop, preferably with WWF, in the biodiversity conference this fall in Armenia.”