Enabling Green and Blue Infrastructure Potential in Complex Social-Ecological Regions (ENABLE)

Description

In an increasingly urbanized world, Green-Based Infrastructure (GBI) has the potential to tackle multiple environmental and social challenges, such as human wellbeing, social inequality, biodiversity loss and climate change impacts such as flooding. However, the successful design and implementation of GBI requires careful consideration of a number of key aspects, including people’s perceptions of the benefits of GBI, barriers to the equitable distribution of benefits and strategies for making the flow of benefits resilient.

The ENABLE project aims to develop and test new methods and tools to leverage the potential of GBI interventions in neighbourhoods and across metropolitan regions while adopting a social and environmental justice perspective and taking into account the perceptions of local stakeholders. It will test possible GBI interventions in the metropolitan regions of Halle, Barcelona, Łódź, Stockholm and Oslo, while also exchanging with the city of New York. It examines three key questions:

• How and under what conditions are the benefits provided by GBI most appreciated by people?
• How accessible are GBI benefits, and how are they distributed among urban residents?
• How can the continuation of GBI benefit-flows be secured in the long-term?

The project will organize capacity building workshops, webinars and multi-stakeholder meetings to create opportunities for learning and to foster collaboration within and between the case study cities and other cities across Europe. This will support more effective urban planning and decision-making, design and implementation of GBI, and ultimately contribute to a more sustainable urban future.

Publications