Stiemer Vallei, Genk

Technical Solutions:

• To build SuDS into the exemplar in Genk, it was necessary to take a step backwards and explore how to build engagement and capacity for SuDS more fundamentally in the region. This is being achieved through the nature-based solution SuDSengagement and demonstrator as part of the SuDS & Soda project.
• Bringing a co-creative approach into tendering procedure enables the combining of different departmental goals into the Technical design.
• Building relations to break through silo thinking and overcome system boundaries in external organisations can unlock more multifunctional NbS design and financing. Bringing cities authorities together to influence this can bring more pressure to this than individual administrations.
• Failed funding proposals can represent a step forward in implementation if they act as a catalyst for multidisciplinary design collaboration.
• Recognition for the value of an NbS team and an NbS project can equate to recognition for a nature-based solution approach more broadly, particularly in relation to how they engage with their colleagues.

Governance:

• City-wide Thematic Working Group meetings are valuable for facilitating discussions with responsible actors in relation to 'safe-guarding' the vision of the masterplan during project development. They can also create new working dynamics, creating direct collaborations with external partners that would previously have been managed by another City Authority department.
• Collaboration with existing partners on new NbS approaches can create new symbiotic relationships, and can simplify procurement processes if collaboration covers different phases of planning and delivery.
• By changing the way of working into a co-productive way, a collaborative governance model is created that can bridge communication gaps. This can be particularly beneficial when seeking innovative solutions for tendering NbS.
• Having a narrative that relates to wider city and Sustainable Development Goal strategies helps embed NbS approaches into policy plans by, for example, convincing decision-makers of the project's significance and herewith creating new relations. This increased support leads to a new discourse around the project's significance and the implementation and scaling of NbS.
• Budgeting processes can have unwritten rules and important power relations that are challenging to navigate. It can be beneficial to form alliances with senior decision-makers to help navigate this.
• Taking ownership for policy plan actions can be an effective mechanism for ensuring that NbS becomes embedded at a higher governance level.
• The Stiemer Deals are an effective mechanism for unlocking ‘dormant’ capacity but require a novel way of governing by the city team (e.g. with regards to the contact point and facilitating the network) and collaboration with the purchasing department.
• When trying to drive change in local entrepreneurship around NbS, actors to facilitate change embedded locally allows long-term relationships to develop.
• Replication of the governance model to other sectors can provide insights into generic elements of a governance model.
• Working with a tailored communication strategy enables connecting activities to communication in a very initiative way, improving project governance.

Financing and business models:

• There is a need to embed NbS into the City’s economics department. To do this, there is a need for capacity in terms of nature-based economy expertise and knowledge.
• New policy plans bring new financing challenges, but it can help to open up new funding opportunities.
• Collaborations developed, even during failed funding proposals, can create opportunities for new funding sources.
• Building a strong narrative to embed an NbS programme into city policy plans can represent a pathway for securing financing.
• Preparing a clear budget with detailed plans can make it easier for influential advocates to back a proposal for city funding.
• Embedding NbS programmes in policy plans can secure city budget as match-funding for external funds.
• When working on tenders/applications that ask for complex solutions, fitting proposals into the system of the tender/application can represent a barrier.
• Citizen-orientated NbS public-private partnerships, can represent an effective financing approach.

Nature-based enterprises:

• Stimulation of entrepreneurship opportunities is an effective driver for securing NbS financing as part of regeneration processes.
• Nature-based enterprise creation, incubation, and acceleration is a unique challenge requiring sector specific understanding. This can be challenging for a city NbS team without such expertise.

Co-production:

• Including co-production processes with other departments into the preparation of tendering processes can help overcome gaps between vision and implementation.
• Co-production activities with external strategic actors can be an effective way of increasing delivery capacity by up-skilling partners to deliver their own projects independently.
• Knowledge collected in co-production processes can increase knowledge and capacity of community groups.
• ‘Clean-up’ campaigns can represent a gateway for wider engagement.
• Mapping and contacting local stakeholders based on spatial location, combined with mapping the social fabric of the area, can build a sense of belonging through the campaign.
• External organisations can help to build bridges between communities and the city team.
• Stiemer Deals proved to be a very effective co-production innovation for engaging actors and raising awareness.
• Co-producing a purchasing strategy with volunteers from non-government organisations can represent a barrier if volunteers are reluctant to take responsibility, particularly if there is a lack of clarity in relation to the role.
• Being locally embedded is important in relation to co-producing entrepreneurship due to the importance of the role of place.
• Building relationships with partners and citizens via informal, ‘fun’ activities strengthens more instrumental co-production initiatives.
• Including citizens (Friends of the Stiemer) in soundboard meetings with experts increases the awareness of experts for the impact on citizens and increases the commitment of the Friends of the Stiemer

Impact assessment:

• Implementing a new policy plan also creates a need for new indicators to monitor its process.
• Implementing indicators does not need to mean entirely new processes and resources. It can be possible to utilise and/or supplement existing data generation processes.

Reflexive monitoring:

• The reflexive monitoring process has been one of the main success factors for the Genk Stiemer exemplar. A lot of effort was put into integrating the learning process into the overall governance and implementation strategy of the exemplar. A key insight has been the realisation that reflexive monitoring is a process that runs parallel to the regular project management, but at the same time is sufficiently interlinked.
• Many of the learning outcomes of the learning process have a relevance that exceeds the Stiemer programme. Many barriers sit at organisational level of the municipality. The Stiemer programme offers great opportunities for organisational learning.
• The learning process ensures that the right things are done while the project management ensures that the things are done right. With the Stiemer programme, it is one of the first times for our urban transformation processes that we have succeeded to bridge the essential but very often missing link between the strategic ambitions of the city of Genk and the plethora of actions that are undertaken.