Richard Ashley:
Over the past six years, academics from leading UK Universities working on the Blue-Green Cities and Urban Flood Resilience research projects have produced world class research outputs demonstrating the multiple benefits of Blue-Green infrastructure, resilience of urban water systems under climate and population change, opportunities to use stormwater as a resource, citizens’ interactions and interoperability of Blue-Green systems. In parallel, local partners in Newcastle, including Newcastle City Council, Northumbrian Water, the Environment Agency and Newcastle University, have explored what these approaches mean for the city and developed working relationships which seek to influence a Blue-Green Vision for Newcastle. This led to the signing of the Newcastle Blue and Green Declaration in February 2016.
This event showcased progress with implementation of Blue-Green infrastructure in Newcastle and the wider NE, celebrated the achievements of the Declaration signatories, and welcomed new signatories. Blue-Green infrastructure successes and ambitions were presented and the Urban Flood Resilience team disseminated their research outputs.