Climate ResIlience Thru Involvement of LoCAL citizens (LIFE CRITICAL)

The key challenge of the LIFE CRITICAL project is the implementation of climate adaptation at affordable costs and with the support of all stakeholders, particularly citizens, in old neighborhoods where existing infrastructure does not always allow for easy solutions. The innovative approach addresses the problems that these neighborhoods face with regard to adaptation by exploiting the potential of nearby parks for climate adaptation. Crucial for this approach is the proactive involvement of citizens and co-ownership, because without their support the changes to the parks are difficult to realize.

The project aims to:

• Embrace the potential of neighborhood city parks to embed climate change adaptation measures;
• Improve the quality of parks to improve citizens quality of life;
• Encourage citizen participation, raise awareness and gain social acceptance for necessary adaptation measures, and stimulating participation in the maintenance, operation and monitoring of adaptation measures; and
• Prove the viability of the measures by a comprehensive monitoring programme.

The project includes a demonstration of citizen-driven implementation of climate measures in urban parks in Dordrecht, Netherlands and in Bradford, United Kingdom. Implementation plans of the approach will be drafted with two other cities: Ghent, Belgium and Bergen, Norway to show the transferability of the approach.

With these expected results, the project will address many European policies, including the EU strategy on adaptation to climate change, the Water Framework Directive, the Flood Directive, the EU Biodiversity Strategy, and EU social and economic cohesion policies.