Urban Development Plan for Climate Adaptation - Berlin

Sustainable Urban Drainage System, Postdamer Platz, Berlin

Berlin’s 2016 Urban Development Plan for Climate Adaptation (StEP KONKRET) is a sectoral plan, which provides a framework for the city's adaptation measures. The plan aims to ensure the desired quality of life in the city by promoting measures to create a heat-adapted city and water-sensitive urban development. StEP Klima KONKRET also focuses on the integration and use of no-regret measures that make social, economic and ecological sense, even without considering the impacts of climate change. The plan seeks to develop and foster tools and ways of integrating adaptation measures in processes, programmes and projects at all levels of planning and showcases best practice examples from local projects and other cities on, for example, the use of blue-green roofs, vaporization patches and shading. StEP Klima KONKRET is also developing packages of measures and strategies for seven building structures and surface types commonly used in Berlin. The plan is part of Berlin's urban planning development plan and was developed by the Senate of Berlin with support from an urban planning office and a rainwater engineering company. The plan also complements and advances the StEP Klima Plan (2011).

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Sectoral strategy, plan, or law

Challenges addressed

Water management (e.g. reuse)
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Heat stress and heat island effect
Human health, comfort and well-being

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

Nature-based solutions are prominently featured across the four fields of action defined in the plan: implementing green facades and roofs, courtyards, blue-green streets, planting new trees, bioretention areas, rainwater gardens, urban wetlands (e.g. plant-covered water areas or floating vegetation islands, near-natural wetlands with reeds), parks and sustainable urban drainage systems.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Blue areas

Green areas for water management

External building greens

Urban green space connected to grey infrastructure

Good practice characteristics:

Support multifunctional NBS

Sustainable in the long-term

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

Senate of Berlin Department for Urban Development and the Environment

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The Senate of Berlin (Department for Urban Development and the Environment) coordinated the development of the plan and commissioned an urban planning office (bgmr landschaftsarchitekten) and rainwater engineering company (Ingenieurgesellschaft Prof. Dr. Sieker mbH). This plan builds on scientific evidence and existing vulnerability and climate analyses (Concept for Adaptation to the Consequences of Climate Change in Berlin, AFOK) ) provided by the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) and the Institute for Ecological Economic Research (IÖW) in close collaboration with the departments responsible for the plan and the Environment Atlas. As part of the development of the plan, actors from urban society and the actors in urban society and key figures in the Berlin administration were interviewed. The evaluation of these interviews was supplemented by their experiences and information from other projects.

Involvement of non-governmental actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private sector, corporate, business

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups / NGOs

Type of actor involvement:

Civil society consultation through e.g. workshops, surveys

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

The plan highlights the need to develop and implement local adaptation concepts in cooperation with local actors. In some neighborhoods, concepts for climate protection and adaptation have been developed and select districts have set up climate management that takes care of both climate protection and climate adaptation. These initiatives provide a good basis to involve residents and interested local groups in implementing adaptation measures.

Type of non-governmental actors involved:

Co-design of NBS, implemented by government

Implementation of NBS (e.g. with government funds)

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public national budget

Public local authority’s budget

Funds provided by non-governmental organization

Budget:

Unknown

Details about instrument financing:

No information was publicly available on the costs associated with the plan.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Yes

To monitor the implementation of adaptation measures, the Concept for Adaptation to the Consequences of Climate Change in Berlin (AFOK) proposed three monitoring indicators: the state of the measure, the impact of the measure and the response to the measure. Moreover, the Senate has established ehe digital monitoring and information system (diBEK) of the Berlin Energy and Climate Protection Programme (BEK) 2030. This system aims to review and present the implementation and effectiveness of climate protection measures and adaptation to the consequences of climate change. Monitoring reports are published annually covering the following fields of activity for climate adaptation: i) human health and population protection; ii) buildings, urban development green and open spaces, iii) environment and nature; iv) industry and trade and v) education.

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

StEP, StEP KONKRET and AFOK’s implementation has been underlined by the Berlin energy transition law passed in 2016, which brings together the Senate's various strands of climate action. Adaptation measures that can be implemented in the short and medium term from an administrative perspective were transferred to the Berlin Energy and Climate Protection Programme (BEK) 2030. Overall, several adaptation measures are being implemented in Berlin's districts, which are documented in the annual monitoring reports.

Success factors and lessons learned:

During the development and implementation of the comprehensive adaptation plan, the Berlin Senate recognised the need to adapt existing urban development instruments (subsidies, standards, zoning plans, environmental audits, urban development contracts, competition tendering) as well as landscaping programmes and planning instruments. The Senate also acknowledged that the understanding and acceptance of the proposed adaptation measures needs to be strengthened in the population to ensure the plan's successful implementation. Accordingly, stakeholder consultation processes (including e.g. citizens, businesses, property owners and developers, association for architects, research and financing bodies) are being conducted throughout the development and implementation. The adaptation plan also aims to learn from other experiences on a regional, national and international level. To enhance climate adaptation in Berlin, the Senate will give greater considerations to neighbourhood planning and development as well as the urban development concepts and plans and the urban landscape strategy. In addition, new fields of activity, for example in the areas of health care and and Berlin's economy will be explored.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

SenStadtUm (2016). Stadtentwicklungsplan (StEP) Klima KONKRET, Klimaanpassung in der Wachsenden Stadt. Senatsverwaltung für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt, Berlin. http://www.stadtentwicklung.berlin.de/planen/stadtentwicklungsplanung/download/klima/step_klima_konkret.pdf

Naumann, S., Davis, M., Iwaszuk, E., Freundt, M., Mederake, L., 2020: Addressing climate change in cities – Policy instruments to promote urban nature-based solutions. Ecologic Institute, the Sendzimir Foundation: Berlin, Krakow. https://www.ecologic.eu/sites/default/files/publication/2020/3205-Addressing-climate-change-in-cities-2.pdf

Further documents

Weblinks:

https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/themen/klima-energie/klimafolgen-anpassung/anpass…

https://dibek.berlin.de/?lang=de#caption_c4

Photos

@Ewa.Iwaszuk