Recognising barriers to implementation of Blue-Green Infrastructure: a Newcastle case study

This is a qualitative data collection. These data were collected as part of an interdisciplinary project undertaken by the Blue-Green Cities (BGC) Research Consortium (www.bluegreencities.ac.uk). The project examined the sources of uncertainty and barriers responsible for current concerns and challenges to widespread adoption of Blue-Green Infrastructure in urban flood risk management. The study consisted of nineteen semi-structured interviews with institutional stakeholders in the Newcastle, UK. There is a recognised need for a fundamental change in how the UK manages urban water and flood risk in response to increasingly frequent rainfall events coupled with planned urban expansion. Approaches centred on ‘living with and making space for water’ are increasingly adopted internationally. Nonetheless, widespread implementation of Blue-Green infrastructure (BGI) is currently hampered by barriers that impede uptake and innovation. We investigate the barriers to implementation of BGI in Newcastle, UK, through a series of semi-structured interviews with professional stakeholders. We identify and categorise 17 types of barrier and identify targeted strategies to overcome the dominant barriers. We recommend promotion of BGI’s capacity to meet the objectives of multiple organisations and Local Authority departments, in addition to managing urban water. We conclude that strong business cases, supported by monetised evidence of benefits, and collaborative, inter-agency working could advance implementation of BGI within the current flood risk management legislation.

本数据集为质性研究采集成果。本次数据由英国蓝绿城市（Blue-Green Cities, BGC）研究联盟（网址：www.bluegreencities.ac.uk）开展的跨学科研究项目收集所得，该项目聚焦城市洪水风险管理场景下，蓝绿基础设施（Blue-Green Infrastructure, BGI）大规模推广应用所面临的现存关切与挑战的不确定性来源及阻碍因素。本次研究针对英国纽卡斯尔的19名机构利益相关者开展半结构化访谈。鉴于降雨事件愈发频发，叠加规划中的城市扩张进程，英国在城市水务与洪水风险管理领域亟需开展根本性变革。以“与水共生、为水腾空间”为核心的治水模式在全球范围内的应用正日益普及。尽管如此，当前蓝绿基础设施（BGI）的大规模落地推广仍受诸多阻碍因素制约，这些因素会阻滞其应用推广与技术创新。本次研究通过对专业利益相关者开展半结构化访谈，探究英国纽卡斯尔地区蓝绿基础设施（BGI）推广落地的阻碍因素。研究最终识别并归类了17类阻碍因素，并针对主要阻碍因素提出了针对性破解策略。此外，研究建议强化蓝绿基础设施（BGI）的综合服务能力，使其不仅可服务于城市水务管理，还能契合多类机构及地方政府部门的工作目标。研究最终得出结论：在收益货币化佐证材料支撑下构建完善的商业论证框架，并推动跨机构协同合作，可在现行洪水风险管理法规框架内加速蓝绿基础设施（BGI）的推广落地。