Overijssel Spatial Adaptation Living Lab

The cities of Zwolle, Kampen, Zwartewaterland, Enschede, Hengelo, and Almelo in the province of Overijssel are expending their best efforts on climate-proofing the urban areas. In the Overijssel Spatial Adaptation Living Lab, they have joined forces with local residents, entrepreneurs, research institutes, the Drents Overijsselse Delta and Vechtstromen district water boards, the province of Overijssel, and the IJssel-Vecht delta collaborative. Experience gained in this Living Lab will subsequently assist in the substantiation of climate measures throughout the region.

The province of Overijssel and Climate Change

Climate change presents us with increasingly more frequent downpours that may cause significant waterlogging in urban areas. It may also cause drought and heat stress which entail an entirely different form of nuisance in the city. The Delta Programme website states: “Climate change calls for a shift in mindset: climate-proof and water-resilient design must become a matter of course in spatial (re)developments in the Netherlands.” 
The cities of Zwolle, Enschede, Hengelo, and Almelo in the province of Overijssel are working hard on climate-proofing their urban areas. To this end, the government bodies (Vechtstromen district water board, the cities, and the province of Overijssel) have entered into close collaboration with residents, entrepreneurs, and knowledge institutes. Experience gained in the Living Lab subsequently helps substantiate climate measures in the entire region.

Overijssel Spatial Adaptation Living Lab

In the context of drawing up a Delta Plan on Spatial Adaptation, the first Spatial Adaptation Living Labs were launched in 2016 under the Delta Programme, with the goal of developing an innovative approach to the climate-proof and water-resilient design of urban areas.
In 2016, the three major cities in the district of Twente were designated as the first Spatial Adaptation Living Lab in the Netherlands, together with the IJsssel-Vecht delta. The elevated cities in Twente and the low-lying IJssel-Vecht delta are learning from one another through both the similarities and differences in the issues facing them.

Programmes of the Living Lab participants

A Living Lab is defined as: “In a well-defined area, creating room for innovative measures and knowledge development, collaborating in public-private partnerships that foster participation and co-creation, designing multi-issue projects in order to attain climate goals. All of this in a continuous circle of exploration, implementation, evaluation, learning, and adjustment.”

The two demarcated sections of the Overijssel Living Lab (the elevated cities in Twente and the low-lying IJssel-Vecht delta) are substantiating this in their respective programmes, comprising both measures to adapt the city to climate change and measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They are developing both technological innovations and innovative ways of collaboration. The thread that runs through all these efforts: carrying out climate projects (shovel in the ground), developing and exchanging knowledge, pro-active communication, and the pursuit of co-creation.

Picture: waterschap Vechtstromen

Living Lab action lines

In the Overijssel Spatial Adaptation Living Lab, the following focal points have been identified for activities involving the entire Living Lab:

• Establishing cross-overs between policy fields in order to link goals, expertise, and funds. For example, how do you safeguard the affordability of plans and how can you make clever use of existing resources and budgets to this end? Which technological innovations from adjacent professional fields can you employ for the attainment of climate goals?
• Developing and boosting process innovation in area processes. For example, how do you liaise with parties, and how do you set up structural, innovative collaborations? Which adaptations are required in your own administrations and organisations in order for such collaborations to work?
• Promoting resident participation in climate measures. For example, what are new ways to raise awareness and garner support? How can you ensure that initiatives by local residents will bring about structural changes?

Report on Municipal College meeting
In September 2017, a Municipal College meeting was held in the Stadkamer in Zwolle, an event that attracted a full house and featured inspiring presentations by a host of climate-active participants from the Twente region and the IJssel-Vecht delta. For those who were unable to attend, a human interest impression has been created (including photos, a 1-minute video film, and the lessons learned in the Living Lab).

Film clip and peer review report
In the fourth quarter of 2017, participants in the Overijssel Living Lab have engaged in an intensive knowledge-sharing process, involving two peer review sessions, one in Almelo at the Vechtstromen district water board premises and the other in the municipality of Zwolle. What have they discussed in the sessions, chaired by Prof. Dr Annemieke Roobeek? And what lessons have they learned? This film clip of the peer review sessions features accounts by the participants themselves. A report (pdf, 916 kB) of the peer review sessions and the presentation (pdf, 3.6 MB) used in the sessions are also available.