Spatial Adaptation Coalition in Utrecht region
Following the national declaration of intent on Spatial Adaptation, the Utrecht region has set up the Spatial Adaptation Coalition. This coalition is intended to join forces; share knowledge, experience, and new developments; conduct a collective climate stress test; and develop a so-called spot on the horizon for the region.
The Spatial Adaptation Coalition supports the embedding of spatial adaptation in the policies and plans of the partners involved. In 2017, the coalition focused on raising awareness at the administrative, official, and political levels. In addition, attention was paid to the opportunities offered by the Environment Act to factor in spatial adaptation, and the role that stakeholder participation could play in this respect. In 2018, the coalition will focus on conducting a collective stress test, conducting a risk dialogue, and formulating a strong core message, implementation agenda and image in order to jointly set down a spot on the horizon. Sweco engineering consultants will assist in supervising the stress test process.
The essence and strength of the Spatial Adaptation Coalition in the Utrecht region is the absence of a pre-defined end result. The process has been designed to learn from one another, encourage and inspire one another, and carry out concerted (pilot) projects with the aim of anchoring spatial adaptation in the policies and plans of the partners involved by 2020.
Lessons learned from the project
- The stage of awareness differs from one party to the next; this requires appropriate attention. Proper coordination between the parties, each with different capacities, ambitions, and knowledge in the field of spatial adaptation, is essential.
- In many cases, initiatives are launched from the perspective of the wastewater chain (waterlogging). The challenge is to expand their scope to the spatial domain. This requires efforts on the parts of both municipal and external organisations (governance).
- The attainment of spatial adaptation goals does not just require efforts on the part of public organisations. Residents and businesses also play a key role in this regard (stakeholder management).
Contact person
Enrico Moens
Sweco
Enrico.moens@sweco.nl
06-55 32 81 63