How do you make a neighborhood not only climate-resilient, but also healthier and more livable? Jonathan van Ekris, advisor in Climate Adaptation & Urban Water at BOOT, deals with this question on a daily basis. In practice, he sees that climate adaptation is still too often reduced to just flooding, whereas an integrated approach is precisely what offers opportunities in terms of heat, greenery, health, and biodiversity. “Climate adaptation is actually the perfect framework to design a neighborhood holistically.”
Healthy area development
Climate adaptation is now high on the agenda for many municipalities. What do you see happening in practice when it comes to making residential areas climate-resilient?
“It is indeed true that more and more municipalities are actively committed to making existing and new residential areas climate-resilient. Larger municipalities generally have their policies and ambitions well in order and have a clear picture of which neighborhoods need to be addressed. Many smaller municipalities still lack the necessary insights into the effects of climate change on the living environment and the policies to do something about it. Apart from policy and insight, we often still see in practice that climate adaptation is reduced to solving water nuisance. That is a shame, because climate adaptation is precisely the ideal hook to design a neighborhood integrally. Topics such as heat stress, biodiversity, energy, and health offer great opportunities for synergy.”
“We are convinced that a neighborhood must not only be climate-adaptive, but also healthy, for residents as well as plants and animals. That is why we are committed to an integrated neighborhood approach, where in the inventory phase we not only look at where water is on the street, but also at who lives in an area, what the quality of the green space is like, and how hot it can get. This also requires a broader and more daring view from the municipality. Tygron is an important tool in this regard to bring data together and integrally calculate the added value of measures.”
Heat in the city is a problem that we are getting a clearer picture of. But when does insight into heat stress actually become a reason to change something?
“Sleepless nights due to heat and unfortunately also premature death as a result of extreme heat can be reasons to put heat stress higher on the agenda. In recent years, heat protocols have therefore been popping up like mushrooms. That is of course a good development, because it offers a clear framework of action to protect vulnerable people. However, this should not be at the expense of the primary measure: preventing and reducing heat in the city. Heat stress measures cost space and money and often require extra maintenance. In addition, they regularly come at the expense of already scarce parking space.”
“By involving residents and managers in the current situation and making visible what, for example, a few extra trees can yield, you can more quickly move past the discussion of whether a measure is necessary. Then you can look for solutions together, for example by returning a parking space a little further down. In Tygron, we therefore work with clear heat indicators and labels, among other things, which show live what the effect is of a tree or of greenery instead of stone within a street or area.”
You are working at BOOT on a standard approach to make neighborhoods more heat-resilient, using Tygron. What does that approach look like and what makes it interesting for other municipalities?
“A standard approach might be a bit of a simplification. Together with our knowledge partners, we strive for a customized approach for every neighborhood, drawn up according to a standard integrated assessment framework and menu of options. The first step, the inventory, is therefore always carried out on all themes: green space, health, heat, water, and energy. We process these results in Tygron. Using various indicators, we make visible what the current situation looks like. Subsequently, we work together with the municipality to see where tasks converge and which specific challenges play a role within a neighborhood.”
“The municipality then chooses which form of elaboration is desired: an integrated neighborhood structure plan or an integrated neighborhood design. In doing so, it also determines which form of participation is appropriate. This allows us to advise much better on, for example, the design of green, cool zones. Should such a place serve as a meeting space, or rather as a location for sports and play? And is it easily accessible for all residents? With dashboards linked via Tygron's API, municipalities and residents can monitor the current status of a neighborhood and the effects of different measure packages throughout the process. We use this information during decision-making and participation moments.”
What changes when you not only show a municipality where the problems lie, but can also try out different solutions and scenarios in a digital environment?
“The big advantage of Tygron is that you can immediately show the utility and necessity of a measure at the sketch stage. For example, there is often discussion about how many trees are needed in a street. Are two trees enough or are ten actually needed? Often, a limited number of trees is ultimately chosen, if at all successful. Then the discussion about parking starts, because five trees often also mean five fewer parking spaces. When you can show in advance that at least three trees are needed to achieve a common goal, you immediately move past the discussion of whether a measure is necessary. With Tygron, that is possible.”
“We use this a lot during multidisciplinary sessions with municipalities. The discussion is then no longer about the necessity of a tree, but about how you can find alternative space for parking together. The same applies to other themes such as water nuisance, biodiversity, and health. If you can show what is minimally required to achieve a certain goal, you can quickly make the step to concrete implementation. By setting up multiple scenarios in Tygron, for example a green scenario, a water-robust scenario, or a healthy scenario, you quickly make visible what different measures yield.”
“That also helps, for example, to involve a sewer manager in themes like health. If you can demonstrate that a rain garden, green parking, or a planted wadi delivers added value compared to a stormwater sewer, despite higher construction and maintenance costs, it becomes easier to create support. In the end, he is often the one who has to justify the investment. In addition, Tygron helps to show that deviating slightly from the standard can often yield a lot of benefits. For example, by making a footpath slightly less wide so that a hedge fits next to it.”
You are also interested in developments around AI. Where do you think AI can make a difference in the professional field in the coming years? And what does that mean for the role of professionals?
“I don't think AI will completely take over the role of professionals within our field. A large part of my work consists of providing customized advice based on conversations with municipalities and residents and finding creative solutions to complex challenges. In addition, a certain degree of political sensitivity plays a role in almost every project. Plans and designs often have to be adopted by the municipal council or align with a political direction that must be translated into concrete measures. These are matters that are currently still difficult for AI to properly understand and weigh up.”
“AI does, however, enable me as a professional to expand my knowledge of various themes more quickly and to develop tools and results that contribute to a better transfer of advice. It helps to reduce large amounts of information and diverse themes to understandable indicators and to make connections between different challenges. It can also support in detecting and resolving errors. At the same time, you must always be aware of the limitations of AI, such as hasty conclusions, hallucinations, and non-existent sources. So AI can certainly help in the role as a professional, but you must possess sound professional knowledge and a critical eye to assess whether AI-generated advice actually makes sense. This applies both to advice you draft yourself and to advice from others that you have to work with.”
Contact info:
Jonathan van Ekris, Climate Adaptation & Urban Water Advisor at BOOT
