Teaching and application of planning and regulatory instruments relevant to blue-green infrastructure

Coaches: Prof. Dr. Moritz Reese and Felix Klickermann (UFZ)

The coaching module “Legal Framework” provides the coaching cities with the legal foundations for the planning, implementation and financing of blue-green infrastructure and offers opportunities to exchange views on legal issues, barriers and possible solutions. Project-specific legal advice is not included.

As part of a first intermunicipal expert meeting focusing on legal issues, the participating cities received joint training on the following topics:

• Overview of legal issues related to the development of blue-green infrastructure;
• Financing of municipal facilities for sustainable stormwater management – options and scope for action;
• Liability risks in the operation of blue-green infrastructure and how to avoid them;
• Planning instruments for the development of blue-green infrastructure;
• Environmental protection requirements, particularly groundwater and soil protection;
• Legal issues relating to blue-green infrastructure in public traffic areas.

During the course of the project, specific areas requiring more in-depth support will be identified for each city, and the cities will receive individual advice on these topics.

Relevant to the coaching are, among others, instruments and recommendations from the following literature:

• Müller/van Afferden/Khurelbaatar et al. (2023): Wege zum abflussfreien Stadtquartier - Potentiale, Wirkungen und Rechtsrahmen des ortsnahen Schmutz- und Regenwassermanagements, UBA-Texte 34/2023.
• Reese, M. (2020): Nachhaltiges urbanes Niederschlagsmanagement – Herausforderungen und Rechtsinstrumente, ZUR, 31 (1), 40-50.
• Albrecht/Eckersley/Haupt et al. (2022), Stärkung der Integration von Klimaanpassung an Hitze und Starkregen in die kommunale Planung, Berlin, adelphi.
• BBSR (2023), Rechtliche Bausteine für eine strategische Neuausrichtung der Mobilitätswende in Kommunen, EwWoSt 55/1 (10/2023).
• Tröltzsch/Bueb/Davis et al. (2025): Naturbasierte Lösungen für die kommunale Klimaanpassung stärken: Herausforderungen und Lösungsansätze, UBA-Texte 53/2025.

The remaining modules: cost, benefit, financing politics and administration blue-green infrastrcuture planning