Paving the Way

Abstract

Changes in the climate have forced municipalities to rethink urban development and become more climate-resilient. One way they can achieve this is by implementing Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, or SUDS. Permeable pavements are a type of SUDS designed to let rainwater infiltrate, thereby reducing runoff and lowering peak flows. They can be used to mitigate climate change effects. Municipalities have slowly started implementing permeable pavements into their projects on a small
scale, but numerous barriers still stand in the way of widespread implementation. Various barriers are related to information sharing.

This thesis aimed to improve the innovation implementation process by examining information sharing between municipalities and companies. Grass concrete pavements, or green parking, was chosen as a case study, a relatively new permeable pavement system using open pavers, substrate, and a mix of grass seeds to allow precipitation to infiltrate while adding green to urban areas. Three main flows of information were considered: between companies and municipalities, between different departments within the same municipality, and between municipalities and other levels of government. Interviews were conducted with interviewees in various roles from both companies and
municipalities involved in the process of innovation implementation.

A network of various factors was formed, with three key issues:
• A lack of consensus on what a successful project should be.
• Uncertainty about responsibility leading to a situation where the implementation of green parking
is dependent on the motivation of individuals.
• Pilot projects are conducted by municipalities without clear goals, therefore, producing no results that can be analyzed or used for upscaling.

The second part of the thesis involved further analysis of the three key issues. Multiple recommendations for municipalities and companies were formulated. Recommendations for conducting successful pilot projects are also provided and are applicable to both green parking as well as other innovations. For municipalities, the recommendations are to make responsibilities clear, perform a life cycle cost analysis, set clear and concrete goals in their climate adaptation strategy, share successful experiences, and create a step-by-step guide for innovations to become standardized. These recommendations are mainly aimed at green parking but will also benefit the implementation of other innovations.
For companies, the recommendations are to create realistic expectations, convince the water board of the water storage capacity of the system, and conduct further research into optimizing maintenance plans. These recommendations are mainly aimed at green parking and Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). For pilot projects, the recommendations are to reach a consensus on what defines a success beforehand, set realistic goals and start small, include a follow-up plan, find partner municipalities to collaborate with, and find a balance between intensive and superficial monitoring. The results from this thesis consisted of concrete recommendations for both municipalities and companies to improve the innovation implementation process. Furthermore, the results can be a starting point for more profound research into information sharing and how it relates to innovation implementation. This can include testing the recommendations at a municipality to optimize the process, like setting up a pilot program or expanding the climate adaptation strategy.