Listening to stakeholders pays!

 
In the coming years cities will have to take radical decisions to protect their businesses and citizens from the consequences of global warming.

  
This will not be achieved unless they get their inhabitants and local organizations involved. The US State of Louisiana, Tatabánya in Hungary and the Dutch port metropolis of Rotterdam demonstrate how the involvement of stakeholders can be of value.

In the US State of Louisiana, the inhabitants are closely involved in projects that reflect on the future of the Mississippi delta. "The diking of the Mississipi, oil and gas exploration, hurricanes and storm damage over the years have been causing large areas of the delta to disappear. The delta is no longer fed with new sediment and is slowly sinking away. This is causing the swamps, the natural defence against this annually recurring natural disaster, to disappear", says Steven Slabbers of Bosch Slabbers Landscape + Urban Design, who is involved in various projects in Louisiana.

In the meantime, at a regional level, a coastal protection plan has been set up and, in the immediate surroundings of New Orleans, work is being carried out on the reinforcement and renewal of the existing defence systems. For the settlements outside New Orleans, Bosch Slabbers is currently working on a best practices manual, together with partners from Portland and Louisiana. In close cooperation with the local population, defence concepts are being developed in such a way as to read more »

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Author of this article
Jaco Boer

Contacts

Steven Slabbers
Director Bosch Slabbers Landscape + Urban Design
s.slabbers{at}bosch-slabbers.nl

Barbara Botos
Strategic and Environmental Manager,City of Tatabánya
kornyezet{at}tatabanya.hu

Corjan Gebraad
Senior Consultant Climate Programme Agency, City of Rotterdam
c.gebraad{at}bsd.rotterdam.nl