Urban experimentation for climate proof infrastructure

Assessing how different societal contexts affect the playing field in Utrecht, Shenzhen, and Cleveland

Climate proofing cities against rising sea levels, flooding and drought is becoming increasingly important as climate change worsens. Traditional ‘blue’ infrastructures such as canals and sewerage systems in cities lack the capacity to cope with the increase of stormwater. Cities are building infrastructures with more nature-based solutions to improve the management of urban water. This seed money project of the Transforming Cities hub of Pathways to Sustainability selects the Utrecht region in the Netherlands, and Shenzhen in China, and the Cleveland region in the US as case studies. The researchers explore and compare the experimental practices and legal and governance arrangements of these regions regarding the implementation of climate proofing water infrastructure initiatives.

Shenzhen city park
Shenzhen city park. Credit: iStock/Serjio74

Emerging forms of urban experimentation

This project assesses how contextual factors shape and are being shaped by emerging forms of urban experimentation. It provides insights into the leverage points for steering climate adaptation, for instance through tools, policy instruments, legislation, facilitation of bottom-up initiatives. It helps to pave the way for answering the overarching research question: What formal and informal tools or strategies promote an effective implementation of climate proofing green urban infrastructure in different political systems, taking into account a multitude of interests and diversity in projects and scale levels?

Collaboration

This research will be carried out by researchers with different disciplinary backgrounds, namely environmental law and environmental governance, and from different universities.