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Climate-proof retrofitting of urban areas for the same cost

Due to climate change the frequency of extreme precipitation increases. To reduce the risk of damage by flooding, municipalities will need to retrofit urban areas in a climate-resilient way. To justify this investment, they need insight in possibilities and costs of climate-resilient urban street designs. This chapter focused on how to retrofit characteristic (Dutch) typologies of urban residential areas. For ten cases alternative street layouts were designed with a determination of the life cycle costs and benefits. All designs are resilient to extreme rain events. The results show that most flat urban typologies can easily be retrofitted in a climate-resilient way without additional costs compared to the standard way of retrofitting. Climate proofing sloping areas are highly dependent on the situation downstream. When there is no space downstream to divert the water into waterways or parks, costs to provide storage easily rise above traditional levels for retrofitting. In addition to reducing flood risk, for each case one variant includes resilience to extreme heat events making use of green. The life cycle costs and benefits of the green variants showed that especially green designs in high-density urban areas result in a better value for money.

The climate is right up your street

This book of examples suggests a variety of options for easy and accessible climate-resilient retrofitting of residential areas. The case studies for a set of common streets in the Netherlands will match urban settings in other countries. The examples show that effective climate-resilient retrofitting is usually quite simple and does not necessarily incur higher costs than traditional approaches, particularly in flat areas. An examination of typical Dutch urban street designs shows how climate resilience can be incorporated under different conditions while keeping costs down with retrofitting. We have investigated the effects of four retrofitting variants and specified their cost and benefits, applying a typology of common residential street characteristics. We sincerely hope these case studies inspire you to get started in your own town, city and country, because the climate is right up your street.

RAAK MKB project "De infiltrerende stad"

Inzicht in het temperatuureffect van Klimaflex asfalt

RAAK MKB project "De infiltrerende stad

From Pilot Projects to Transformative Infrastructures, Exploring Market Receptivity for Permeable Pavement in The Netherlands

Climate change and changing land use challenge the livability and flood safety of Dutch cities. One option cities have to become more climate-proof is to increase infiltration of stormwater into soil through permeable pavement and thus reduce discharge of stormwater into sewer systems. To analyze the market receptivity for permeable pavements in the Netherlands, this article focuses on the perception of end-users towards key transition factors in the infrastructure transformation processes. Market receptivity was studied on two levels: (1) on the system level, by analyzing 20 key factors in the Dutch urban water sector that enable wider application of permeable pavements; and (2) on the technology level, by analyzing 12 key factors that explain why decision makers select permeable pavements or not. Results show that trust between cooperating partners was perceived as the system level key factor that needs to be improved most to facilitate the wider uptake of permeable pavements. Additionally, the association of end-users with permeable pavement, particularly their willingness to apply these technologies and their understanding of what kinds of benefits these technologies could bring, was regarded the most important receptivity attribute. On the technology level, the reliability of permeable pavement was regarded as the most important end-user consideration for selecting this technology.