Together towards
a long-term strategy
Six different organizations, each with their own specific expertise, join forces to make this experiment a success.
City of Ghent
For years, Ghent has been striving to become a climate-neutral city by 2050, resistant to the effects of climate change.
Since 2014, the Climate Adaptation Working Group from the City of Ghent has coordinated the accumulation of knowledge on topics such as drought, heat, flooding and biodiversity. Meanwhile, all city departments are incorporating the topic into their plans and projects.
European network
The City of Ghent attaches great importance to cooperation and knowledge exchange with other organizations and cities in Flanders and Europe. It has a lot of experience in the realization of complex subsidized projects and plays an important role in Eurocities, the largest European city network. To make Rewild the City a success, the City of Ghent gathered 5 organizations, both knowledge institutions and NGO’s, and 3 European transfer cities.
www.stad.gent
Ghent University
MICT, the interdisciplinary imec research group for Media, Innovation & Comtemporary Technologies at Ghent University, brings a lot of experience in human-centered research.
The group has broad expertise in studying human behavior, including within the field of sustainability, and has a strong background in qualitative and quantitative research. This makes it possible to better understand behavior and motivations.
User-oriented research
Within Rewild the City, MICT's work includes the question of why private owners do or do not deseal their properties. The focus is clearly on user-oriented research, which is entirely in line with the project's objectives. MICT-UGent is also contributing to the monitoring and evaluation of Rewild the City.
www.ugent.be/mict
Eco-city (Hogent)
The research centre Eco-city (Hogent, University of Applied Sciences and Arts) takes on a committed role in an urbanizing society.
It focuses on a liveable, socially just and sustainable way of living together in the city and asks the question how people manage to do so. What challenges does this involve? And how can we support this living together? Eco-city brings together social, cultural, spatial and ecological insights. It always puts the citizenship of the most vulnerable groups first. In doing so, it works with citizens, professionals, policymakers and students.
Search for opportunities
Within Rewild the City, Eco-city joins the search for barriers and opportunities for desealing and greening and for ways to involve citizens. Eco-city is especially curious to learn how, through desealing and greening projects, you can empower people who are in a vulnerable position in society.
www.hogent.be
DRUM (Hogent)
Hogent's Research Centre for Sustainable Land Use and Mobility (DRUM) investigates how land use, mobility, housing and real estate contribute to sustainable living environments.
The research focuses on 5 themes: sustainable land use and the realization of the building shift, property valuation, sustainable and shared mobility, housing quality and circular construction with wood. With data-driven spatial research, DRUM supports both policy and practice. To turn knowledge into action, it works closely with governments, citizen networks and urban partners.
No net land take
For Rewild the City, DRUM is pioneering by constructing 2 policy-supporting GIS models: a no-net-land-take model and a desealing model. These will be important tools to safeguard the remaining open space in a faster way and to actively deseal and green in well-chosen built-up areas. This is good for both a more climate-robust and inclusive living environment.
www.hogent.be
Breekijzer
Breekijzer (which means Crowbar) is a young association actively establishing a desealing culture in Flanders.
As an open centre for knowledge and practice, the organization gathers and disseminates expertise, supports local governments in building a desealing policy, and campaigns to keep the topic firmly on the agenda. For Breekijzer, desealing is not an end, but a powerful means to create space: for nature, water, crops, rest, play and so much more. Because ‘uncovering makes youdiscover’.
Rewild the City?
Within Rewild the City, Breekijzer takes a closer look at the broader picture and strives to break down entrenched systems that stand in the way of desealing. It does so by making better use of recurring opportunities and addressing ditto barriers. To be able to align theory and practice, Breekijzer also supports innovative actions within the project.
www.breekijzer.be
Ghent Environmental Front
The environmental organization Gents MilieuFront (Ghent Environmental Front) strives for a better environment and more sustainable mobility in and around Ghent.
It does so with original actions, constructive cooperation with policymakers and solid lobbying. Together with the residents of the various neighbourhoods, volunteers set up initiatives to make the city greener. A good example is the Facade Garden Brigade, which has already planted thousands of facade gardens throughout the city.
One step further
The Ghent Environmental Front uses Rewild the City to go one step further. Within this project, it examines how it can help Ghent residents not only to plant a strip of greenery in front of their home, but also to transform the courtyard behind the house into a cozy little garden.
www.gentsmilieufront.be
University of Antwerp
The Research group for Urban Development (University of Antwerp) is developing knowledge for the sustainable transformation of cities.
The group is known for its evidence-based support of complex planning processes, as well as the development of adaptive trajectory approaches and innovative financing solutions for climate adaptation measures. The research group has extensive experience in policy-relevant research in cocreation with stakeholders.
Innovative financing
Within Rewild the City, the University of Antwerp further develops its existing expertise on innovative financing of nature-based solutions in an urban context and applies it to the Ghent projects. Together with its partners, the research group is shaping innovative experiments on desealing and greening in companies.
www.uantwerpen.be