KlimaWaGe - Commercial and industrial areas adapted to climate change. Guidelines for the development of climate change-adapted industrial and commercial areas (KIG) | Umweltbundesamt

Carrying out a climate impact analysis for commercial and industrial areas for the present and future time periods (2021-2050) in Bottrop.
Knowledge of climatic influences is also an essential part of future-proof and controlled settlement development, especially climate change adapted industrial and commercial areas development, since industrial and commercial areas can suffer significant functional losses even with minor climatic influences. In addition to the climate change adapted industrial and commercial areas development and planning, a climate impact analysis can also be part of an upstream city-wide alternative assessment and thereby identify climate change adaptation potential on areas to be newly developed, in existing areas and on areas for conversion. At best, the results and especially the basic data of the climate impact analysis are included in the formal environmental assessment.

The climate impact analysis in Bottrop was carried out in full for the 20 existing commercial areas; there was no concrete information and data for the areas of conversion and new construction with regard to concrete future development. The considered climate signals of heat and heavy rain and their impact on the sensitivity levels of the working population, function-specific and object-specific sensitivities correspond to the focus of the KlimaWaGe project. Various scenarios were created in order to depict the climatic effects to be expected in the future.

The aim is to reduce the climate impacts in industrial and commercial areas and to increase the adaptive capacity of those involved in the development of commercial and industrial areas, which as a result reduce the vulnerability of the working population, the building structures and network-related infrastructures. Consequently, the KlimaWaGe consortium aims to reduce the vulnerability of industrial and commercial areas in general, without naming the amount of the reduction in concrete terms. This follows a pragmatic and hands-on approach, against the background of dealing with uncertainty related to climate change i.a. recommend.
To achieve the goal, a SWOT analysis was carried out in the KlimaWaGe project as part of the strategy development based on extensive basic analyzes and the ideas workshop. This approach made it possible to develop a tailor-made strategy for Bottrop. In the course of the SWOT analysis, the following strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats were identified for three exemplary industrial and commercial areas in Bottrop.

Strategies were developed on this basis. Overall urban strategies, area-typical strategies for the development of existing areas, area-typical strategies for conversion, area-typical strategies for new planning

In order to take into account the uncertainties associated with climate change in strategy development, the KlimaWaGe consortium took up strategic approaches recommended in the scientific literature for dealing with uncertainties in connection with climate change consequences
● soft strategies based on collaborative approaches with consensus as the functional equivalent of legal norms;
● Consideration of the general goals of increasing adaptive capacity and reducing vulnerability,
● Pursuit of strategies for sequential realization and inclusion of a range of possible developments in planning concepts using scenario techniques,
● Pursue no-regret strategies.

In the KlimaWaGe project, the strategies primarily pursued the general reduction of the vulnerability of the industrial and commercial areas and, through the intensive participation of various planning disciplines of the city administration, partly took up approaches of soft strategies. In addition, some developed strategies have elements of no-regret strategies and strategies of sequential realization. Examples of this are the facilitation of temporary uses in the development of new industrial and commercial areas or the extensive maintenance, safeguarding and, if necessary, expansion of climate-ecological (and social) functions of green structures, taking into account the upgrading of commercial and industrial areas.

On the way from strategy to implementation, actions are the key element of the intended development of. In the context of the KlimaWaGe project, measures meant the actions and regulations that reduce the vulnerability of commercial and industrial areas - including that of the working population, land use and structural objects as well as network-related infrastructures - to the consequences of climate change (especially heat stress and heavy rain-related flooding). On the one hand, they are based on (municipal) scope for action, which can vary greatly depending on the new development, existing development or conversion, and on the other hand on the core tasks of the administration; plan, approve, control, advise and inform. In addition, the measures were focused, which are based on methods, procedures and instruments of planning practice.

The possible measures collected according to the scope for action and core tasks were transferred to a strategy-measures matrix, whereby an initial review of the measures took place with regard to a targeted, strategic suitability.
On the basis of the strategy-measures matrix, KlimaWaGe proposed measures in the form of two urban planning drafts and supplementary contractual agreements for the development of a new building area and a conversion area adapted to the heat and strength of the weather, which are prepared as examples in the measure profiles and in the context of two simulation games with local administrative employees have been tried and tested.