Results from an Urban Green Infrastructure Walk Shop during class 2025

As during the previous two years, our third year BSc students from the module Smart Solutions for Sustainable Cities were asked to design their own urban green infrastructure solution revolving around five different climate related impacts: CO2 sequestration, extreme precipitation, flood peaks, extreme temperatures, and energy consumption. 

The most common solution to prove performance was to have comparative measurements before and after a measure was installed, requiring sensors and data management before you make any green infrastructure. This might be difficult to convince stakeholders of in terms of investments, but will prove how well green infrastructure can contribute, and also, on what scale these measures are required to reach the intended better living conditions. 

We also saw the popularity of green roofs, though larger vegetation can often reach intended benefits easier, there isn't always space for this in our dense urban environments.

Here are some highlights from the results of the design session.

CO2 sequestration - playground in Enschede - more ground surface vegetation 

 

 Extreme precipitation - Twekkelerveld shopping center - bluegreen roofs

 

 Flood peaks - Enschede city center - green roofs 

 

Extreme temperatures - student housing complexes - green roofs 

Energy consumption - university library Mexico - green roofs and walls

 

 

Walk-shop during UT's Climate Event

Today we held a walk-shop during the Climate Event at University Twente. This was our program:

A speculative Climate Walk-shop: Walking to (re)imagine nature-inclusive climate solutions 

How might a sensory experience of the environment be a catalyst for reimagining nature-inclusive climate solutions?   

• What? Nature-inclusive Climate Walk-shop 
• When? November 5th, 12:45-13:45 (so enough time for a quick lunch before we leave)
• Where? Starting point at Climate Centre Event  
• For who? Anyone interested 

Re-engage with your surroundings

During this walk-shop we will explore nature-inclusive climate solutions that address affective, experiential, and cultural dimensions of nature. The activity will take the themes of the Climate Centre Event – energy, food, water – outside the walls of the conference venue to see what happens when we use our senses to re-engage with our surroundings (e.g., smell, touch, hearing). Walking in small groups, we will share knowledge that may be typically neglected from our usual professional activities, reassess place-based connections to nature and extend our perspectives on what may be climate solutions linking cultural heritage, sense of place and ecological knowledge.  

The walk-shop is co-organised by Alexandria Poole (BMS/Philosophy), Corelia-Baibarac-Duignan (BMS/KiTeS), Sean Vrielink (ET) and Eefje Hendriks (ICT) in collaboration with the RUrban Futures Collective at BMS. 

If you are interested in alternative ways of learning and innovating, please join this lunchtime walk-shop!  

Results from our participant groups today:

 

 

Participants reported learning a lot from their experiences. Aside from specific experiences, they also mentioned each others' knowledge, focussing on only one topic or one sense, and the whole walk-shop being a good way to open up discussion on a topic.