Hybrid Conference URP 2020 on 26.11.2020

Session 13: Implementing Multifunctional Blue-Green Infrastructure – Challenges and Opportunities

On 26.11.2020, the international hybrid conference Urban Rural Partnerships - URP 2020 took place in Leipzig at the UFZ. The Department of Environmental and Biotechnological Centre as the head of the RES:Z project Leipzig BlueGreen organised a session on the topic of multifunctional blue-green infrastructures together with the partner Tilia GmbH. We were particularly pleased about the participation of colleagues from the funding measure from Hamburg (BlueGreenStreets) and Suttgart/Kaiserslautern (IWAES). All participants presented the goals and initial results of their projects. The discussion focused on the question of how the implementation and expansion of blue-green infrastructures can be advanced. The main messages were that the systematic change towards decentralised, multifunctional blue-green infrastructures can only succeed in a co-design process between local authorities, citizens, science and business. The responsibility for the operation and maintenance of new integrated water and energy systems also needs to be discussed more intensively so that the solutions can become part of sustainable urban neighbourhoods in the long term.