The climate adaptation potential of the rural-urban fringe
exploring the climate impacts in the brussels’ territory through research by design
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.36249/60.1Keywords:
Climate adaptation, Rural-urban fringe (RUF), Research by design (RbD), Floods, Droughts, Soil Erosion, Urban Heat Island (UHI)Abstract
As global warming continues, cities need to adapt to the changing climate including aggravating floods and increased heat stress. Urban and landscape planners build such climate-proof city through the development ofgreen open spaces, who serve as climate buffers. At the rural-urban fringe (RUF) the green open spaces, and farmland in particular, are changing rapidly: reallocation to built-up land uses and creation of private open spaces such as gardens and horse pastures. This paper studies how these developments at the RUF affect the floods and heat stress in the nearby city. Moreover, it explores the potential of green open spaces at the RUF to alleviate climate impacts at the local as well as the metropolitan scale. The research employs research by design (RbD) on a case study: the Brussels’ RUF, and the watershed of the Vogelzang in particular. Via maps, sections and other design instruments, this paper unravels the complexity of climate adaptation in Brussels and highlights the interlinkage between the city center and the south-western RUF. Due to its’ geographical location, the watershed of the Vogelzang is of climate-strategic importance to manage floods, droughts and heat stress in the urban conglomeration. Following that analysis the paper explores how the watershed of the Vogelzang water can be climate-proofed. The RbD builds on a new master-plan for the area that proposes to develop an alternative food network in the area. The paper provides insights into the Brussels’ situation but equally feeds back into the debate about sustainable planning at the RUF. Firstly, it highlights the potential of the RUF’s green open spaces to contribute to climate adaption at the local as well as the metropolitan scale. Hence, the challenge of planning for urban climate adaptation exceeds the limitations of the urban conglomeration and planners must incorporate the RUF within the vision on local climate adaptation. Secondly, this paper illustrates how the farmland at the RUF has great potential to sustainably develop the area, including the creation of climate buffers.
References
Pielke, R. – Prins, G. – Rayner, S. ̶̶ Sarewitz, D. (2007): Lifting the taboo on adaptation. Nature, 445(February), 8–9.
Revi, A. – Satterthwaite, D.E. – Aragón-Durand, F. etal. (2014): Urban Areas. In Climate Change 2014: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability : Part A: Global and Sectoral Aspects : Working Group II Contribution to the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report, Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, p. 535–612. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9781107415379.013
Kazmierczak, A. – Carter, J. (2010): Adaptation to climate change using green and blue infrastructure : A database of case studies. URL: https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/64906/1/ [2020.12.01]
Foster, J. – Lowe, A. – Winkelman, S. (2011): The value of green infrastructure for urban climate adaptation. Center for Clean Air Policy, 750 (2), URL: https://savetherain.us/ [2020.12.01]
Tjallingii, S.P. (1996): Ecological Conditions : strategies and structures in environmental planning. [PhD thesis], TU Delft, Delft, The Netherlands
Downton, P.F. (2009): Ecopolis: architecture and cities for a changing climate. Springer Dordrecht: the Netherlands, Series Title: Future City DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4020-8496-6
Scott, A. – Carter, C. – Reed, M.R. et al. (2013): Disintegrated development at the rural–urban fringe: Reconnecting spatial planning theory and practice. Progress in Planning, 83, 1–52. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.progress.2012.09.001
Houston, P. (2005): Re-valuing the Fringe : Some Findings on the Value of Agricultural Production in Australia’s Peri-Urban Regions. Geographical Research, 43 (2), 209–223. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1745-5871.2005.00314.x
Kerselaers, E. (2012): Participatory development of a land value assessment tool for agriculture to support rural planning in Flanders. [PhD thesis], Ghent University, Applied Biological Sciences: Ghent.
Dewaelheyns, V. – Rogge, E. – Gulinck, H. (2014): Putting domestic gardens on the agenda using empirical spatial data: The case of Flanders. Applied Geography, 50, 132-143. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apgeog.2014.02.011
Bomans, K. – Dewaelheyns, V. – Gulinck, H. (2011): Pasture for horses: An underestimated land use class in an urbanized and multifunctional area. International Journal for Sustainable Development and Planning, 6(2), 195-211. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2495/SDP-V6-N2-195-211
Zasada, I. – Berges, R. – Hilgendorf, J. – Piorr, A. (2013): Horsekeeping and the periurban development in the Berling Metropolitan Region. Journal of Land Use Science, 8(2),199-214.
Verhoeve, A. – Dewaelheyns, V. – Kerselaers, E. et al. (2005): Virtual farmland : Grasping the occupation of agricultural land by non-agricultural land uses. Land Use Policy, 42, 547-556. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.landusepol.2014.09.008
Stokman, A. – Rabe, S. – Ruff, S. (2008): Beijing’s New Urban Countryside – Designing with Complexity and Strategic Landscape Planning. Journal of Landscape Architecture, 3(2), 30–45.
Weller, R. (2008): Planning by Design Landscape Architectural Scenarios for a Rapidly Growing City. Journal of Landscape Architecture 3(2), 18–29.
Shazi, S. – Frederickson, M. – Larry, M. (2013): Minimizing Urban Sprawl through Open Space Design Strategies: The Case of Tucson, Arizon. The International Journal of Architectonic, Spatial, and Environmental Design, 6(2), 107–124.
Farhat, G. (2008): The urban as infrastructural landscape. Journal of Landscape Architecture, 3(1), 56–67.
Boeckx, L. – Franken, T. – Deschamps, M. et al. (2011): Wasgebeurtenissen 11-16. november 2010. Beschrijving hydrologische gebeurtenissen 2011, a report by Waterbouwkundig Laboratorium (WatLab), Antwerp (Belgium) URL: https://docplayer.nl/25814409-Wasgebeurtenissen-november-2010 [2020.12.01.]
Van Weverberg, K. – De Ridder, K. – Van Rompaey, A. (2008): Modeling the Contribution of the Brussels Heat Island to a Long Temperature Time Series. Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology, 47(4), 976–990.
Brouwers, J. – Peeters, B. – Van Steertegem, M. et al. (2015): MIRA Klimaatrapport 2015, Over waargenomen en toekomstige klimaatveranderingen 2015, the Flemish Environmental Agency (VMM): Aalst (Belgium)
Stewart, I.D. (2007): Landscape representation and the urban-rural dichotomy in empirical urban heat island literature 1950–2006. Acta Climatologica et Chorologica, 40–41, 111–121.
Hamdi R. – Van De Vyver H. – De Troch R. – Termonia P. (2013): Assessment of three dynamical urban climate downscaling methods: Brussels’s future urban heat island under an A1B emission scenario. International Journal of Climatology, 34(4), 978–999. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/joc.3734
Denis Dujardin (2014): Inter-gewestelijk richtplan voor Neerpede-Vlezenbeek-Sint Anna Pede, Rapport deel 3 - Actieplannen. Commissioned by Leefmlieu Brussel and VLM, Brussels (Belgium) URL: https://document.environnement.brussels [2020.12.01.]
WISKERKE, J. (2009) On Places Lost and Places Regained: Reflections on the Alternative Food Geography and Sustainable Regional Development. International Planning Studies, 14(4), 369–387. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/13563471003642803
CHARRUDAS, P. – Deligne, C. (2007): La ville au milieu des marais » :dynamiques entre économie urbaine et zones humides dans la région de Bruxelles, XII e - XVI e siècle. Aestuaria, (9), 65–82.
VANEMPTEN, E. (2014): Fringe urbanism. [PhD thesis], KU Leuven, Engineering Department, Leuven,
CONDON P.M. – MULLINIX K. – FALLICK A. – HARCOURT M. (2010): Agriculture on the edge: strategies to abate urban encroachment onto agricultural lands by promoting viable humanscale agriculture as an integral element of urbanization. International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability, 8(1-2), 104–115. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3763/ijas.2009.0465
R. MUJERIEGO – J. COMPTE – T. CAZURRA – M. GULLO (2008): The water reclamation and reuse project of El Prat de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain. Water Science and Technology, 57(4), 567–574. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2008.177
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2021 JEROEN DE WAEGEMAEKER, Van Acker Maarten, Eva Kerselaers, ELKE ROGGE
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
A folyóirat Open Access (Gold). Cikkeire a Creative Commons 4.0 standard licenc alábbi típusa vonatkozik: CC-BY-NC-ND-4.0. Ennek értelmében a mű szabadon másolható, terjeszthető, bemutatható és előadható, azonban nem használható fel kereskedelmi célokra (NC), továbbá nem módosítható és nem készíthető belőle átdolgozás, származékos mű (ND). A licenc alapján a szerző vagy a jogosult által meghatározott módon fel kell tüntetni a szerző nevét és a szerzői mű címét (BY).
