Eco-friendly ditches, rain gardens and penetrating sidewalks have a top score in the Climatconson Top 21.

Eco-friendly watersheds, rainwater gardens and invasive sidewalks are popular with municipalities and water boards involved in making cities, neighborhoods and villages climate-free. This is evident from the Top 21 created by visitor clicks on the Climatescan.nl website. Went from the top 10 places: water plazas and concave roundabouts.

Floris BoogartCoordinator Floris Bougart explains that the Top 21 is a representation of the most viewed climate-appropriate projects on the climate scan and the appearance of attention-grabbing applications. “This is not a representative model. It’s not about the best plans. You get the impression that people are very busy. It’s different every year.

Climate Scan is a citizen science project that aims to share knowledge about climate adaptation. The website is based on the interactive mapping application, which aims to exchange international knowledge about ‘blue-green’ projects around the world. The Hans University of Applied Sciences, co-chaired by Bouchard as a lecturer in spatial transformations, co-ordinates the project, which began in 2013.

Bougardv says it is now the largest green-blue database in the world. “That’s why it’s unique. But we want to scale it to the fullest. We are now building a website called Climatescan.id in Indonesia. It will be very interesting.”

I do well
What differentiates ClimatScan from other adaptation websites is that users can map projects themselves. Now more than 1000 active participants around the world are posting projects. With an emphasis on projects in the Netherlands, there are already more than 8,000. This focus is mainly due to the Dutch origin of this initiative, Bougart explains. “The Netherlands is good, you know, but there are cities abroad that we can learn a lot from.

It will happen, by the way. This is evident from the growing interest in so-called rainwater gardens, based in the top 21 in the Netherlands. Bucard: “Australia is full. New Zealand, Portland … so we can learn from that. But we still do very little. A lot is happening abroad. I often go to Copenhagen, where in 2011 there was a big flood after 2 millimeters of rain in 2 hours, the highest rainfall ever in the Netherlands. A lot of damage was done. They said there: we are going to put the same amount of damage on the green-blue climate adaptation. The city is fully structured. There’s a lot of creativity in that, which I see often.

The first 21 maps are aimed at climate adaptation and stimulating it, Bougart says. Click also provides an opportunity for behavioral analysis, such as: “Utilizing multiple functional spaces in bustling urban areas is a challenge, with most of the first 21 projects responding not only to floods but also to drought and heat.Biodiversity, water and air quality.

A rainwater garden at Irenestrod in Amsterdam

Raingardens
Every year has its pace, Bougart says. “A few years ago, water squares were very high. Now it’s low. Rain gardens are really coming forward. What you’ll see now is that water storage roads are getting more attention.

The analysis also shows a greater focus on biodiversity. The appearance of natural wilting is a sign of this, says Bougart. “In the past, we had ordinary wadis and grass wadis that were less focused on biodiversity. Now there are natural wadis. It’s amazing that so many are in the top 21 places.

Naturally withered
One is housed in the Harkstroot in Amsterdam. Torben Tijms of Waternet says in a quote from Boogaard: “The success of this wadi is due to the collaboration between the designer, the planner, the green consultant and the hydrologist. Together they searched this place for the perfect structure of Wadi. The results are impressive. Non-rainfed design as the surrounding streets of the valley lead to a natural outcrop. With all the other vegetation in the region subject to prolonged drought, the Wadi Herkstrod is still in full bloom.

In Croningen they have had good experiences with naturally friendly Wadi. Glass Homens of the Groningen Municipality: “By managing rainwater in the best possible way, we have not liberated the entire structure of the city of Croningen. We are also making immediate profits in the field of greenery and ecology. We also realize that rainwater is used in business processes.

In Tilburg they began to create ‘raingardens’ or rain gardens, which were intended to temporarily collect rainwater. “Raincard ‘is a small gesture, but annual rainfall has a major impact on run-off infiltration and contributes to (local) reduction in temperature.

More info
Climatescan.nl