Building the blue-green way

Katinka Quintelier is assistant professor of Strategy and Ethics at the School of Business and Economics at VU Amsterdam. Within the impact coalition Creating Responsible Societies, she and a team of VU and UT researchers are investigating the possibilities of building blue-green (i.e. nature inclusive). A huge challenge because this requires a complete system change and a long-term focus.

'The Netherlands and also many other countries are experiencing increasing urbanisation. In this process, construction is mainly 'dead' (grey), nature has almost no place in it. We are looking how we can increase building the blue-green way. In this construction, water and nature do have a place in our cities. Urbanisation and the climate crisis have disrupted the water cycle and we increasingly have to deal with heat, drought and flooding. We want cities to cope better with these extremes. This can be done, for instance, by developing roofs that retain water or (multi-storey) car parks that allow water to pass through. We also want to ensure that nature, both flora and fauna, become an essential part of the city. This is good for the temperature and therefore also for our health and overall quality of life.

System change

This is a great aspiration but also a huge challenge because it requires a complete system change and a focus on the long term and on common good. Our construction industry is not yet set up for this. The current grey building system focuses mainly on the short term and personal interests, while funding, resources and materials are also geared to this. Take blue-green roofs, for example, which are beneficial for the neighbourhood and focus on the long term, as they can reduce the risk of flooding and heat stress, among other things. But for now, the costs are only for the owner at the time of purchase. So with blue-green building, the costs and benefits must also be shared in different ways than they are today.

Great and meaningful work

Building the blue-green way also requires a different mentality and a shared vision for the future. How do you get people to let their grass grow, let flowers bloom and leave insects alone? And how do you get the construction industry to invest in this themselves? For a start, like-minded people from different sectors need to talk to each other structurally. Think of technicians, engineers, economists, social scientists and psychologists. What do they want and need from each other in order to make the step towards building the blue-green way?  Our research team is working on this puzzle, among others. It is great, meaningful and sensible work, and what's more, we have the time on our hands. The urgency to move towards a more sustainable society is imminent and many houses need to be built. We also have the European Union on our side. The Green Deal can help us start making this huge change.

Absolute must

I really like working as a social scientist within the coalition with the technical colleagues from the UT. I really feel that from both sides there is substantial interest in each other's world and expertise. In doing so, we complement and strengthen each other. Working in a multidisciplinary fashion is an absolute must for this subject. We are now working on two recent projects: LILa and AUBE. LILa is a Living Innovation Lab at the UT which will include blue-green buildings. AUBE is a consortium of 23 European organisations to spread Adaptive Urban Building Envelopes, or in other words, buildings that make the city adaptable to drought, heat and other extremes.'

Want to know more about the projects and the coalition ? Then contact Katinka Quintelier, k.j.p.quintelier@vu.nl