City Blues final event built mutual agreement on stormwater as a resource

The clearest message from the day was that one size does not fit all. Nature-based solutions must respond to each city’s climate, catchment, available space, existing infrastructure and local needs. However, retrofitting them in dense urban areas remains difficult, where space is limited and underground infrastructure creates further constraints.

Cities therefore need strategic plans that connect individual measures across the whole catchment instead of treating them as isolated projects. Collaboration between planners, stormwater experts, landowners, maintenance teams and other stakeholders is essential to make this catchment-based approach work.

Professor Ivar Annus presented a key note on fitting NBS in the catchment area.

The event also offered some practical advice for cities starting this transition: allocate sufficient resources and build knowledge by learning from another cities. Study visits are a great way to learn and to see solutions in practice.

Representatives from the cities of Tartu, Stavanger, Tampere, Malmö and Aarhus discussed on their experiences with implementing NBS and involving stakeholders.

Moving forwards, new EU funding can support the cities’ further cooperation. For example. the EU Strategy for Baltic Sea Region and it’s Policy Areas “Nutri” and “Innovation” welcome new project ideas on the topics of water management, climate adaptation, biodiversity restoration and urban planning.

The event concluded with a site visit around Potsdamer Platz, where participants explored examples of blue-green solutions in Berlin.

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