From grey to green: European cities team up to fight heat stress

Stronger together: synergies across programmes

What do Middleburg (NL), Gothenburg (SE) and Ettlebruck (LU) have in common? They are all fighting urban heat stress with the support of Interreg funding. For Cool Neighbourhoods and Cool Cities, the approaches may be different, but the goal is the same: prepare Europe’s cities for an ever-warmer climate by mitigation and adaptation of green infrastructure in cities. This is the first time that the two Interreg programmes work together in such a concrete way, showcasing complementarities between the North-West Europe and North Sea regions. Together, the projects create an extensive network of 24 partners from across 7 countries.

How do synergies contribute to project success? By working together, projects reach a wider audience, enabling shared visibility, resulting in wider policy and territorial impact as the projects can pool resources and knowledge. This was highlighted during the site visits in Middleburg where participants visited two pilot sites making climate resilient and heatproof cities.

The event began and ended with project partner meetings which allowed each project to reflect on their own approach to heat stress and how to cool Europe’s cities.

Tackling heat stress in the most vulnerable neighbourhoods

While Cool Cities looks at heat stress from a top-down approach, Cool Neighbourhoods is approaching the issue from a citizen-centric, bottom-up approach. This can be challenging in a transnational project, as some countries may be more used to top-down ways of working. But it is exactly what makes transnational cooperation so valuable. As Tiny Manhout, Lead Partner of the Cool Neighbourhoods project explains, working together, inspiring one another, and learning from each other’s experiences are key benefits of such collaboration.

In the Edelstenenbuurt neighbourhood of Middleburg, urban sustainability expert Emma Westerduin met with citizens and defined a neighbourhood plan in a co-creation process that will help make the neighbourhood a more attractive, cooler, and greener place to live. Currently, the neighbourhood is completely paved, with little to no green area and no shading or cooling features, making the citizens vulnerable to heat exposure. The proposed project will not only plant trees and make the area more liveable but will reuse the paving stones for a more sustainable renovation approach.