The city of Leuven in Belgium has pronounced green ambitions and wants to realize these based on an integral green plan for the city. A guiding policy instrument that spatially outlines a desired green structure, and determines which concrete actions are needed to realize this, both short and long term. Team Felixx and Witteveen+Bos have been selected to develop this Strategic Green Plan in collaboration with the city. To a certain extent, the climate challenges we face are unpredictable. To anticipate this, we need to transform cities into resilient and adaptive systems. A proven strategy is making use of the landscape as a natural basis for this transformation. Leuven's greening ambition has been used to broaden the focus of the Green Plan and to develop it on the basis of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). NBS are measures and strategies for (re)designing the city, based on natural principles. By applying and switching these strategies, Leuven can once again become part of its natural system. As a result, the city no longer needs to take measures to protect itself against natural forces, but can make use of them. The Strategic Green Plan examines the natural framework of Leuven and identifies the Nature-Based Solutions that integrate this framework with the city's development plans. It links different agendas and interweaves existing policy documents into one coherent instrument, with the aim of a green and healthy city. For several years now, Felixx has been developing as an expert in the field of Nature-Based Solutions, and has published A Catalog of Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Resilience (2021) on behalf of the Worldbank. In addition to research, Felixx realizes projects based on NBS at all scale levels. A large-scale coastal defense project is currently being realized in Shenzhen, the development vision based on NBS is being drawn up in Almere, work is being done in Antwerp on the Water Master Plan for Oude Landen, and in Cartagena Felixx is part of Water as Leverage together with Witteveen+Bos to improve the water system of the city.
