Sustainable Urbanizing Landscape Development (SULD) decision support tool: report on other Aqua Cases [antikvár]

Executive summary This report has been developed in the context of the international co-operation project Aqua-Add (Deploying the added value of water in local and regional development), aiming at the sharing of knowledge and experience between project partners as to better deploy the potential of 'water' (economically, socially and environmentally) in urbanised landscapes and to improve the implementation of water measures in local and regional spatial development. Aqua-Add not only collects, analyses, disseminates and promotes the specific functions, services and values of green/blue spaces, but also develops and applies a Decision Support Tool (DST) that: i) demonstrates the (potential) social, environmental and economic impacts of different water management scenarios, and ii) facilitates the planning process and better informed decision making across stakeholders. The objective of this report is twofold. First, the importance of stakeholder meetings in the development and application of the Sustainable Urbanizing Landscape Development (SULD; Roebeling et al., 2007, 2014) decision support tool is assessed. In particular, the extent to which these meetings facilitated the identification, assessment and communication of different views and interests and, in turn, encouraged the effective engagement of stakeholders in the participative design of (peri-) urban development plans. Second, the application of SULD to the other Aqua Cases (Bremerhaven DE; Copenhagen DK; Debrecen HU; Imperia IT; Lyon FR; Sofia BU) is presented and discussed, to assess the impact of location-specific green/blue space and infrastructure projects on the location of residential development, housing quantity, residential development density, population density, population composition, household living space and real estate values. The importance of the stakeholder meetings has been assessed through a questionnaire provided to participating partners using a web-survey, developed along three main axes of concern: learning, facilitating and projecting. In terms of learning, over 85% of respondents indicated to have learned "Somewhat" to "A lot" through the stakeholder meetings - in particular regarding concerns and interests of other stakeholders as well as in relation to the participants' way of thinking, learning or working. In terms of facilitating, over 90% of respondents indicated to have gained new information or professional contacts through the stakeholder meetings. Also, respondents indicated to be "Satisfied" to "Completely satisfied" about the exposition and perception of points of view (over 85%), the discussion on project options (76%) and consensus formation (53%). In terms of projecting, respondents considered the stakeholder meetings "Somewhat" to "Very" useful for them (91%), the neighbourhood (86%) and the city (86%). Participants, hence, indicated they would (43%) or likely (57%) attend/organize another stakeholder meeting. The stakeholder meetings were considered an ideal place to discuss problems with other planning professionals and stakeholders, especially when held regularly and as early as possible in the project. In addition, they welcomed the use of a visually appealing and user friendly decision support tool to stimulate discussion. Based on the results from all Aqua Cases (Aveiro PT; Eindhoven NL; Bremerhaven DE; Copenhagen DK; Debrecen HU; Imperia IT; Lyon FR; Sofia BU), the following four major tendencies regarding the establishment, re-introduction or re-qualification of green and blue spaces can be derived: