Due to urbanization and climate change, the Netherlands and Germany are struggling with
drought, flooding, heat stress, reduced biodiversity, and damage to economy and living
environment. Public green spaces can significantly reduce these problems while simultaneously
promoting well-being and social cohesion. However, green spaces are often created as
"decorative green" without measurable impact, limiting their effects on water management,
biodiversity, and climate adaptation. Decisions are currently made primarily on a rule-of-thumb
basis, leading to incorrect planting, high tree mortality and limited growth, high maintenance
costs, and failure of green projects. Moreover, it is currently not possible to design green
projects in ways that optimize stakeholder desires and benefits for environment, nature, and
surroundings.
To solve this problem, there is an urgent need for an integrated, data-driven solution that
provides insight into the current state and health of public green spaces, as well as how green
spaces can be (re)designed to achieve goals such as water management, heat stress reduction,
and biodiversity restoration.
In this project, a Dutch-German consortium develops the first solution for planning, real-time
monitoring, and design of green projects with realistic calculations of expected impacts.
Additionally, a knowledge database with evidence-based guidelines for effective green space
management is being built, and the developed solutions and models are being practically tested
in various pilot projects in the Netherlands and Germany.
Thus, this project bridges the gap between potential and practice of public green spaces and
makes a measurable, effective contribution to climate adaptation, quality of life, and biodiversity,
making Dutch and German city centers greener and more liveable.
