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Blue-green infrastructures are being built to protect cities from flash floods. But how do they affect biodiversity, water quality and the people living in the cities?

08 Oct 2021 - 08 Oct 2025

The Research Council of Norway

    • Insufficient space for resilient function of biodiversity, stormwater and recreation in our cities
    • Socio-political barriers and lack of collaborative and integrated management
    • Knowledge gaps on blue-green infrastructures performance and benefits

    Heavy rain events frequently cause flash floods in urban areas. Blue-green infrastructures are being built to infiltrate more water into the ground, such that the ground can act as a "sponge" and keep the water before it causes damage. Such blue-green infrastructures were also built on NMBUs campus in Ås, and we have assembled an interdisciplinary group of scientists to study how these nature-based solutions affect biodiversity, water and soil quality, hydrology, and many other aspects of the ecosystem. Not at least, we want to study how they are perceived by the people.

  • Provide knowledge how these blue-green infrastructures affect biodiversity, water and soil quality, hydrology, and many other aspects of the ecosystem in an around these structures.

  • The project SPARE is lead by Isabel Seifert (NIVA).

    Susanne Schneider
    NIVA