Developing New Blue-Green Futures: Multifunctional Infrastructure to address Water Challenges

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 project is to explore how Blue-Green futures may be developed as new forms of environmentally sustainable urban governance. The project team will investigate how socio-political barriers to the 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. 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) will be devised.