Dr inż. Agnieszka Dudzińska-Jarmolińska (UW) presented the results of her research conducted as part of the CoAdapat project in Paris (April / May 2022)
Title of the speech: “THE SECRET OF WOODEN FENCES – OR ABOUT HOW SMALL TOWNS CAN LEARN TO RENEW THEIR LANDSCAPES – FROM THE WORLD METROPOLIS, ON THE EXAMPLE OF NEW INVESTMENTS IN PARIS”
Below is an abstract of the speech:
“The present times pose new challenges for us, related both to our everyday life and the spaces we live in. One of them is the effects of climate change, which we feel both in small and large urban agglomerations. This entails the need for the so-called adaptation, preparing for the negative consequences of these changes. However, the adaptation of urban spaces to climate change is often discussed in the context of large cities, forgetting the much smaller ones, which are also exposed to numerous – often extreme weather events. Therefore, it is necessary to modify the approach to shaping the urban fabric, especially in the spaces of small towns, so that they become resistant to the challenges of the present and more attractive to their inhabitants.
Such changes are best initiated during the modernization or revitalization of the city, using cheap but efficient solutions based on nature – the so-called NBS. This is all the more important when we analyze the investments implemented in small towns as part of the processes related to their revitalization, where the pro-environmental aspects are often not taken into account (e.g. by implementing projects of city squares, where there is not enough greenery or there is even no her not at all).
Therefore, an important question is: how to adapt small towns to climate change in order to strengthen their local character and often unique landscape. There are very few examples of such investments, and learning from the implementation of adaptation plans for larger cities may turn out to be quite problematic, for example due to the scale, costs or architectural form of projects, which are generally not adequate to the scale, landscape and expectations of inhabitants of smaller cities. Despite these doubts, Paris has quite interesting examples of adapting specific spaces in the city.
In the latest investments that are being built in the capital of France, special attention is paid to the aspect related to increasing permeable areas, rainwater retention, improving biodiversity, creating an idyllic and unique landscape that seems alien to large metropolises. Interestingly, in order to strengthen this effect of small-town idyll, new pro-ecological investments are surrounded with small wooden fences. At the same time, a specific analogy arises to the sentimental villages emerging in European cities in the 18th century – an example of which can be the village of Marie Antoinette, separated from the complex of Versailles gardens. Such planning and design activities not only adapt the city to climate change, but also they increase its attractiveness, but most of all allow their inhabitants to stay and observe the bustling nature.
The purpose of this speech is to present simple tools (NBS) for adapting urban spaces to climate change, cataloged during a research trip to Paris as part of the CoAdapt project (Applied Research (IdeaLab) research program under the Polish-Norwegian Research Cooperation „The research leading to these results has received funding from the EEA Grants 2014-2021 via the National Centre for Research and Development”), and which can be successfully used in small towns. This will not only improve their environmental aspects, but also contribute to building a specific landscape characteristic of smaller cities – which may increase their attractiveness not only for residents, but also for tourists. “