Green Stormwater Infrastructure Design for Climate Change: Lessons from Northern Europe

Objective  Cities worldwide face a wide range of water issues, many of which are exacerbated by climate change.

Methods/process  In this article, we highlight four green stormwater infrastructure (GSI) projects of various spatial scales in Denmark, England, and the Netherlands, three northern European countries with high vulnerability to climate change impacts (especially flooding). These projects represent robust solutions for addressing future challenges of natural hazards and urban livability. They were selected based on their unique innovations, such as regenerating major transportation corridors into livable, walkable environments, creating multi-functional GSI as social amenities at a district scale, and employing the power of layered, dense planting and ecological aesthetics to generate ecosystem services.

Results/conclusion  Besides project design, we also discuss critical factors that enabled the implementation of these projects and contributed to post-construction public approval and provisioning of environmental and social benefits. These include a focus on livability, an integrated approach to regeneration and adaptation during the design process, cross-institution partnerships, leveraging of multiple funding sources, and strong public engagement to garner support for climate adaptation efforts.