Blue Green Infrastructure through Social Innovation

BEGIN proposes an approach to climate resilience for cities that mimics nature’s potential to deal with flooding. Blue and Green Infrastructure (BGI) supports existing grey infrastructure to cope with extreme weather events (reducing flood risk by 30%) and improves urban liveability. Research (TEEB, 2015) shows that BGI benefits outweigh costs by a factor of 2 to 10. However, widespread implementation is hampered by financial & governance complexities. BEGIN helps cities overcome BGI´s implementation barriers through Social Innovation (SI) that empowers multiple stakeholders to contribute (in kind, funds) to the design, construction and maintenance of BGIs. SI requires a new way of working for cities and valuation of multiple benefits together with communities. Transnational collaboration is needed because cities are missing the opportunities to incorporate BGI in urban investment projects due to a lack of local technical and social innovation capacities. From the start, BEGIN is a unique transnational city-to-city exchange programme with transnational expert teams that facilitate joint implementation of BGI projects in 10 leading NSR cities.The pilots will demonstrate how BGI and SI can generate effective climate change adaptation solutions that are financially feasible and can be incorporated in urban planning approaches. The pilots provide an evidence base and a toolbox to propel uptake in NSR. Lessons will be shared within larger city networks UNISDR, ICLEI, Mayors Adapt.Indicator: Reduced probability of floods from extreme rainfall,
Target (Unit): 30 %,
Definition: Reducing the frequency of floods by increasing the maximum intensity of extreme rainfall that can be managed by the drainage system before causing flooding, including BGI and grey solutions, in comparison with the reference situation (without BGI),Indicator: Reduced expected impact from flood events in NSR by 2020,
Target (Unit): 7 million €,
Definition: Reduction of the projected flood damage by using BGI solutions to reduce runoff, in comparison without BGI. €1bn/yr flood damage in EU adjusted for: NSR, urban areas, 30% BGI reduction potential, timing of implementation & upscaling rate.,Indicator: Increased long-term financial performance of investments, including social, environmental and financial benefits,
Target (Unit): 200 Million €,
Definition: Increase in long-term benefits achieved in climate change adaptation infrastructure for pilots as a result of BGI. This represents on average per pilot approximately a 5-fold return on investments. Benefits will be evaluated using the TEEB approach,Indicator : Number of new and/or improved climate change adaptation solutions demonstrated,
Target : 28,
Indicator : Number of enterprises participating in cross-border, transnational or interregional research projects,
Target : 25,
Indicator : Number of research institutions participating in cross-border, transnational or interregional research projects,
Target : 20,
Indicator : Number of organizations/ enterprises adopting new solutions by project end,
Target : 14,
Indicator : Number of organizations/ enterprises informed about new solutions by project end,
Target : 4000,