Product

Adaptation support tool

The Adaptation Support Tool (AST) supports nature-based climate proofing of urban environments, by offering a co-design approach and quantified output. AST was developed to enable planners, designers and stakeholders to explore which climate-proofing solutions are likely to work, to be cost effective and to fit in to a particular planning area. The tool has already been used successfully by frontrunner cities in Europe, USA and Africa.

How does it work?

The AST is built on a large database of key figures on the performance of more than 60 nature-based and other solutions for water quantity (retention capacity, run-off speed), water quality, heat stress reduction and the costs of these interventions. These key figures (and the accompanying calculation rules) were derived from a scientific literature review and best practices.

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What information can I find here?

Stakeholders can use the AST to identify their real estate and other assets, and then introduce various green-blue measures to the planning area and see how these might improve the adaptation capacity. The tool shows instantly the contribution of the different interventions according to several adaptation indicators and calculates costs. AST provides answers to questions like: What are the benefits of green roofs, green walls or even urban parks in my planning area? What are the construction and maintenance costs? How do these nature-based measures perform in comparison with traditional civil engineering measures?

Our track record

Wageningen Environmental Research developed the Adaptation Support Tool in close collaboration with Deltares and Bosch & Slabbers, as part of the Blue Green Dream project (Climate KIC). It has been used for assessing the potential effects of climate proofing buildings, streets, residential neighbourhoods, business sites and city districts. So far the AST has been applied in London, Berlin, New Orleans, Beira (Mozambique), Oaxaca (Mexico), Utrecht, Eindhoven and Tilburg (NL). Recently, several other cities have shown interest in using the AST for their planning purposes.