Download - GRaBS

the GRaBS
project issue
Diane Smith, European and Corporate Affairs Manager at
the TCPA, introduces the special issue on the TCPA-led
GRaBS project
From the northern shores of Lithuania, the Swedish
City of Malmö and the Nieuw-West City District of
Amsterdam, the UK partners of GRaBS – the
Northwest Regional Development Agency, the
London Borough of Sutton, and Southampton City
Council – might have found much in common with
the climate change adaptation challenges that they
themselves faced. But combine the North West
European climate scenarios with those of the landlocked
cities of Graz in Austria and Bratislava in
Slovakia, with their regular extreme heat and
extreme cold; and put three Southern European
areas into the mix – Kalamaria in Greece, the
Province of Genoa in Italy, and the region of Catania
in Sicily – and the range and diversity of climate
change impacts and extreme weather conditions are
as diverse as possible in a European context.
And so the task for the GRaBS partners (set out
in the panel on the facing page) was a mighty one –
find a common approach to developing Adaptation
Action Plans and the effective use of green and blue
infrastructure to combat the impact of extreme
weather in urban areas. And significantly different in
the GRaBS approach was the priority given to the
impact of climate change on the people living in
urban areas, and not just the impact on biodiversity
and ecosystems. The GRaBS project concentrated
on the multiple benefits of green infrastructure and
effective water management to show that there are
economic and social benefits to planning for
adaptation, as well as environmental ones.
And we did it! After three years of intense work –
travelling, reading, writing, exchanging ideas,
mentoring, holding community events and
stakeholder discussions, giving political briefings
and undertaking media activities – the end of the
GRaBS project is in sight. To have one of the rare
‘special’ issues of Town & Country Planning devoted
to the project is a fitting reflection of the
significance of this project for the TCPA.
The issue opens with an excellent article by John
Handley and Jeremy Carter from the University of
Manchester, who provide an insight into why the
project was conceived – in effect to respond to the
adaptation imperatives that urban areas face – and
consider the issues of planning for this agenda.
This is followed by a preview from David
Thompson of the Committee for Climate Change
Adaptation Sub-Committee’s report on the
importance of land use planning for adaptation to
climate change.
Richard Kingston, also from the University of
Manchester, describes the development and use of
the risk and vulnerability Assessment Tool, and five of
the project partners share their experiences of GRaBS
– Lindsay McCulloch and Melanie Robertson from
Southampton City Council describes the multifunctionality
of green infrastructure; Jeff Wilson
from the London Borough of Sutton explains how
GRaBS has helped in the development of the
Hackbridge Adaptation Action Plan; Susannah Gill,
from the Mersey Forest, looks at routes to delivery
of climate change adaptation planning in the wake
of the removal of the regional tier of planning; Age
Niels Holstein, from the Nieuw-West City District
of Amsterdam, looks at some of the lessons learnt
from the GRaBS partners’ attempts to engage urban
communities in climate change adaptation; and from
Malmö, Annika Kruuse, describes the Green Space
Factor and the system of Green Points, which are
both valuable tools for securing green infrastructure
benefits in new development.
From the TCPA, Hugh Ellis and Alex House
outline the development of the UK’s Planning and
Climate Change Coalition; Henry Smith explains
the principles underlying the development of
Adaptation Action Plans by the GRaBS partners; and
John Deegan, lead TCPA Trustee for GRaBS, gives a
thoughtful perspective on the benefits of the project
and sets out some ideas for next steps.
The issue closes with an interesting article by
Robin Jones from Groundwork on sustaining and
managing green infrastructure through the Colne
Valley Partnership.
250 Town & Country Planning June 2011 : GRaBS Project – INTERREG IVC; ERDF-funded