The format
The International Roundtable exists to facilitate exchange between interested practitioners beyond national or organisational borders. In team effort, the Young DWA and the steering committee of IWA YWP Germany established an online event series called “Building Bridges” serving as a platform for bilateral exchange between Young Water Professionals (YWP) of two countries. After completion of two successful events (001: July 2020 “Global Pilot”, 002: October 2020 “Germany/Australia”) the organisers quickly staged the next international network meeting to further commit to cooperation and collaboration.

The event
On Friday, 12 February 2021, the “Young Water Professionals” from Germany and The Netherlands came together to discuss solutions and implementations on “Nature-based Urban Drainage”. Floris Boogaard (Professor, researcher, and consultant for climate adaptation) and Sidney Stax (Technical officer, City of Nijmegen) provided an overview on Dutch initiatives enhancing urban climate resilience and offered insights on the utilisation of bioswales as a practical solution in NL.

Floris Boogaard & Sidney Stax (The Netherlands):
Use of bioswales for climate adaptation
Complimentary, Germany’s Lena Knoop (Research assistant, HafenCity University Hamburg) introduced the crowd to the “BlueGreenStreets” research project. She specifically outlined opportunities to implement tree pits in multifunctional, urban streetscapes and highlighted that tree pits are one piece of a great puzzle when it comes to combating impacts caused by climate change.

Lena Knoop (Germany):
Multifunctional streetscape design in urban neighbourhoods
With approx. 65 participants attending, the discussion was set in context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) outlining the extend of improvements for environmental and human wellbeing. The presentations established that effective SDG measures do exist (if done right). A lively discussion concluded that a lack of financial incentives often prevents decision-makers to commit to the initial investment and O&M costs associated with nature-based urban drainage implementations.

A great ‘Thank You’ goes out to our guest presenters, fellow organisers, and attendees. Check out the links below to follow-up on the subjects discussed during the event.

Website, ClimateCafe NL (Academic Community of Climate Change Influencers)

Map/Guide to Projects & Initiatives on Urban Resilience

Website, Climate Adaptation Week Groningen

Video, “Climate Adaptation Week Groningen” (in Dutch with English subtitles in part)

Hanze University Groningen (Climate Adaption)

HafenCity University Hamburg, Research Project ”BlueGreenStreets”

Research paper (open access) “Planning nature-based solutions for urban flood reduction & thermal comfort enhancement”

Research paper (open access) “Lessons Learned From Over Two Decades of Global Swale Use”

Project (EU) „Blue Green Infrastructures through Social Innovation (BEGIN)”

Project (AU): “A strategic study on the role of water in mitigating urban heat in Western Sydney”

SUSDRAIN (UK) Benefits Estimation Tool (“Valuing the benefits of blue-green infrastructure”)

Forum “Wasser in der Stadt von Morgen“

Pressemitteilung Land NRW „250 Millionen Euro für Klimafolgenanpassung der Region“

event report