How to Make Existing Urban Structures Climate-Resilient?

We are currently faced with a variety of serious crisis: climate, health and migration, all of them deeply interwoven. And all of them particularly apparent within the dense city structures. Urban open space becomes - once more - crucial in facing the accompanying negative effects like rising heat, density and infection. Evidentially green and blue infrastructure provides a cooling effect, a qualitative life space and a healthy environment – considered in a holistic and large-scale view guaranteeing good living conditions throughout the city. Before the background of urban densification the streetscape holds a huge potential in this regard. The street system forms a stable network of open space defined by building structure. It is entirely publicly owned and thus more easily accessible to public authorities for the immediate development and implementation of necessary measures. Furthermore, a change in mobility patterns is to be expected, that will initiate a debate about new functions of the street system. Last but not least, a variety of studies indicate, that the desealing of surfaces and the integration of trees and other vegetation - including green facades - offer a particular climate adaptation potential especially within the streetscape.

Although within the scientific society and politics well-known, the implementation of green and blue infrastructure measures is confronted with a variety of barriers - starting with administrative, technical and legal frameworks but also to a great part through missing awareness of and acceptance by neighbours and local stakeholders. This paper focusses on the latter presenting supportive processes and actions which are needed for transforming existing urban structures towards climate resilience in this regard. The findings are based on lessons learned in the Smart Cities Demo project LiLa4Green (Accompanying Living Lab for the implementation of green-blue infrstructure measures in the Smart City Vienna, 2018-2021).

LiLa4Green focusses on the visibility and traceability of the additional value of potential green and blue interventions within the streetscape opening up the discussion and mutual learning with the diverse involved parties on site. Main goals set are a) to cooperatively highlight existing challenges and elaborate potentials of green and blue design measures on site; b) to literally show options of participatorial developed interventions within the streetscape by effectively implementing commonly accorded small-scale measures; and c) to visualize potentials and alternatives virtually by means of an AR tool to enable low-treshhold participation in an early planning stage and to raise awareness for the topic. Multifold methods such as potential analysis, design studios, climate measurements and simulations have been applied to accomplish these goals - accompanied by a continuous Living Lab process on site.

In the course of LiLa4Green several barriers and restrictions but also potentials for making existing urban structure more climate-resilient became evident. All in all, the project managed to start a transition towards climate resilience in one of the densly built areas of Vienna. Three key elements proved to be essential 1) find solutions which fit to the local setting and set concrete actions 2) raise awareness and involve local networks, stakeholder and neighbours and 3) embed measures and demonstrations into a continuous process.

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• How to Make Existing Urban Structures Climate-Resilient?