Strategy
"Of course this is a fantastic project, in the first place because it involves 44 cities at the same time – you won’t see that anywhere else in the world. And it also relates to climate change adaptation, which is currently a top priority.
Our strategy to tackle this challenge involves what we call our 'resilience pathway'. In effect, this approach means that we don’t see the issue as a technical problem requiring a technical solution. We start at the beginning, by drawing up a very precise outline of the current state of a city’s economic and social development, their plans and ambitions, where they want to build and the state of the infrastructure.
This is by no means a one-size-fits-all approach: you have to find a package of solutions that fits each individual city perfectly. And of course those plans must be achievable, both in terms of regulation and as regards financing. You can do this in a variety of ways, for instance with extensive business cases, by engaging commercial developers and private investors, and by finding a way to dovetail with urban development plans."