The Coaching-process
From autumn 2025 to spring 2027, the scientists of the BlueGreen City Coaching will support the following ten major cities in implementing blue-green infrastructure:
Aachen, Braunschweig, Darmstadt, Freiburg, Göttingen, Gütersloh, Herne, Magdeburg, Mainz and Regensburg.
The selection of the cities deliberately reflects different challenges, potentials, and stages of implementing blue-green infrastructure.
A total of around 150 municipal experts are participating in the coaching. Among them are representatives from climate protection and climate adaptation departments, environmental departments, parks and green space departments, urban planning departments, mobility and civil engineering departments, lower water authorities, climate, environmental and planning divisions, nature conservation authorities, the fire brigade, city planning directors, heads of transport planning departments, managing directors of municipal utilities and wastewater utilities, and many more.
The coaching of the cities is led by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ) in cooperation with the German Institute of Urban Affairs (Difu). It comprises the four coaching modules: Blue-Green Infrastructure Planning, Legal Framework, Politics and Administration, and Costs, Benefits and Financing.
Within this project, we understand "coaching" as accompanying and advising municipalities in the implementation of blue-green infrastructure. We assume that the solution to the problem—namely overcoming barriers to the large-scale implementation of these infrastructures—already exists within each municipality. In addition to providing technical advice, the aim is to work together with the coaching cities to identify structures, processes, and patterns of cooperation that either hinder or facilitate problem-solving. The coaches support the municipal stakeholders in developing and implementing their own solutions.
The coaching is designed as a process in which individual and intermunicipal consulting and exchange formats alternate. On-site coaching sessions are planned for each of the ten municipalities, and digital consulting services can also be requested. All ten municipalities participate in cross-city expert meetings, where current topics are presented and discussed and intermunicipal exchange of experience is encouraged.
The coaching process is divided into four phases (project start: September 2024, project end: August 2027, the project is currently in Phase 3):
Phase 1: A scientific and transdisciplinary analysis of the challenges and potentials of the large-scale implementation of blue-green infrastructure in urban areas by experts from Difu and UFZ.
Phase 2:Tendering, application and selection phase for participating cities with the support of the German Association of Cities, including intensive exploratory discussions. Following the selection of the ten coaching cities, concrete coaching assignments for the implementation of blue-green infrastructure were jointly developed in ten introductory workshops.
Phase 3:Depending on the individual coaching assignment, the coaches provide different technical and methodological input to the municipalities. This includes expertise on the functioning and city-wide potential of blue-green infrastructure, the legal framework, and the practical organization of the planning, implementation, and operation of blue-green infrastructure. Together with the cities, site-specific solutions are developed.
Phase 4: The collaboration with the municipalities results in concrete implementation strategies that can be submitted to municipal decision-making bodies for approval. The scientists systematically compile the findings from the city coaching process and prepare them for transfer to additional municipalities.Coaching in the Ten Cities
- One introductory workshop on site and joint definition of a coaching assignment
- City-specific coaching sessions
- Three intermunicipal expert meetings for municipal experts
- Development of one implementation strategy for each coaching city and its respective assignment
- Based on these, development of model solutions for other cities