Partners: City of Dordrecht, Bradford Council, Imec, Follower cities: Ghent & Bergen
Date: 2019 – 2025
Location: Northern Europe
As climate change intensifies, cities must strengthen their resilience to extreme weather events such as floods, heatwaves, and storms. Blue and green infrastructure (BGI) plays a vital role in this transformation by enhancing natural water management, cooling urban areas, and improving biodiversity. The LIFE CRITICAL project, funded by the EU LIFE Programme, is demonstrating how local parks can be adapted to improve climate resilience in older, densely populated neighborhoods. By actively involving residents in the design, implementation, and monitoring of these solutions, the project strengthens both community ties and climate adaptation efforts.
Urban areas are particularly vulnerable to climate change, with densely built neighborhoods lacking sufficient green spaces to mitigate its effects. While GBI can offer effective solutions, cities often struggle with implementation due to limited space, funding constraints, and a lack of community engagement. Without local involvement, adaptation efforts risk being ineffective or unsustainable in the long term. Additionally, many cities lack clear evidence on how specific adaptation measures improve resilience, making it difficult to justify further investment.
Approach
LIFE CRITICAL is transforming urban green spaces in Dordrecht (NL) and Bradford (UK) through three key principles: community involvement, strategic adaptation, and robust monitoring. By engaging residents in the design and implementation of green and blue infrastructure, the project ensures solutions are effective and locally supported. A strong monitoring programme provides clear data on climate resilience benefits, guiding future investments. Bax consolidates and communicates the results of the project, developing a practical playbook for replication, with Ghent (BE) and Bergen (NO) set to test and refine its guidelines.
Impact
Two green spaces in Dordrecht and Bradford are being transformed into climate resilient community spaces, enhancing neighbourhood life across both cities. The lessons learned from the interventions implemented in Dordrecht and Bradford will become a practical playbook to support other cities eager to pursue similar initiatives. Ghent (BE) and Bergen (NO) are already lined up to be the first cities to test these results and fine-tune the Life Critical replication guidelines.
