Module governance

Module governance

Objective: Adapting institutions, processes, and decisions to the requirements of blue-green urban development.

Coach: Dr. Frank Hüesker (UFZ)

In the coaching program, cities become familiar with various policy models for managing the transformation of their infrastructure in the context of climate change adaptation. They learn about categories of policy instruments to reflect on which might best suit their own objectives. The coaching also presents criteria for successful blue-green governance, aimed at political decision-makers. Using the Leipzig Steering Network for Water-Sensitive Urban Development as an example, we can then discuss precisely what institutions of blue-green governance might look like. The toolbox includes policy instruments developed primarily within the BMBF-funded Leipzig Blue-Green project, such as the blue-green fact sheets and blue-green potential maps. However, by reviewing related research projects, studies, and concepts, we will also discuss tools from third parties.
The goals and potential of blue-green urban development, in the sense of consistently utilizing blue-green infrastructure, are generally not controversial among municipal decision-makers and experts. Rather, many cities and municipalities face implementation challenges. The paradigms of the sponge city, with its interconnected and decentralized infrastructures, clash with water infrastructures that have evolved over centuries, including the associated internal urban governance structures. Adapting the resulting governance system (comprising formal and informal institutions, processes, power relations, and actors) today—a process we call "Unpacking the Sewer"—"presents an enormous transformation task comparable to the public sewer system of the 19th century" (German Environment Agency study "Goals and Policy Instruments for Climate-Resilient Sponge Cities," p. 9). The actors, institutions, and processes involved in planning blue-green infrastructure are numerous, and relevant frameworks are being established at all political levels, from the municipal to the European level. Formal and informal political institutions define the goals, resources, and procedures for this purpose, which ideally are legitimate and serve a feasibility that is reasonable in terms of time and effort.
The actors and their interests are, on the one hand, fundamentally comparable to those of established wastewater infrastructure policy, which, particularly in West Germany, has characterized municipal public services for decades with centralized systems and regional monopolies. On the other hand, however, the decentralization of these technologies through the coupled integration of green elements is now leading to a significant expansion of this constellation of actors, the associated framework conditions, institutions, processes, and objectives. This is because an infrastructure transformation is underway with an open outcome regarding the question of what the governance of blue-green infrastructures will ultimately look like. This new blue-green governance will vary from place to place, and it remains to be seen whether a policy model comparable to classic municipal public services will emerge.
The institutionalization of blue-green governance in cities also requires improved framework conditions at higher political levels. The political framework for blue-green infrastructure is diverse; many policy areas influence the design of municipal infrastructure, and from our perspective, it is strategically important for local actors to understand and reflect on these framework conditions. At the federal level, environmental policy (water, biodiversity, climate protection, etc.) and urban development policy (housing construction, subsidized planning, etc.) are central. However, relevant policy instruments can come from all ministries, whether it be the funding of real-world laboratories by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research or tariff calculation guidelines for municipal services, which tend to originate from the Ministry of the Interior.
At the municipal level, explicit political will towards urban climate adaptation and formal decision-making on quantitative and qualitative goals, including deadlines, are crucial for successful blue-green urban development. This requires the systematic collection and provision of data, clear allocation of responsibilities, competent personnel, transparent processes, and unambiguous decision-making rules. Traditional urban planning instruments can often be adapted and used effectively. New institutions and processes must be organized to bring together relevant stakeholders, make conflicts of use transparent, and facilitate decision-making. Appropriate measures must also be initiated to foster public acceptance of the new infrastructure. New conflict patterns regarding water resources, for example, with the surrounding rural areas, must be taken into account.

Further information and various planning tools developed in the context of the Leipzig BlueGreen project can be found here: Report “Water-Sensitive Urban Development in Leipzig” and in the handbook “Planning Coupled Blue-Green Infrastructures” 2025. Regarding the overarching political framework, the presentations from the UBA (German Environment Agency) expert conference BlueGreen Governance 2024 and the policy paper Urban Water Transition 2023 are recommended.
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