GIFT-T! (KB-14-003-025, KB-14-002-003)

GIFT-T! contributes to a greener society by designing and managing Green Infrastructure in a way that meets what people are looking for. GIFT-T! stands for “Green Infrastructure for Tomorrow - Together”. In GIFT-T!, a new way of community based planning is developed, including accompanying tools to vision, design and realise Green Infrastructure to maximally benefit in societal and economic terms. With the help of European funding, the GIFT-T! partners have explored the scientific concepts of Green Infrastructure and ecosystem services, put it into practice in 5 live case studies. The underlying rationale of the GIFT-T! approach is that people may benefit from Green Infrastructure in social and economic ways because it delivers ecosystem services.

GIFT-T! was coordinated by Alterra, Wageningen UR. The other scientific partner was SEGEFA, a research institute involved in ecosystem valuation. Five regional organisations participated with case study area:

• Two in the UK – The Mersey Forest and Medway Council
• Two in Belgium – Flemish Land Agency and Province of Antwerp
• One in The Netherlands - Province of South-Holland

GIFT-T! described a prototype, a generic method to develop Green Infrastructure for societal and economic benefit tools, including existing tools that were known and used by the partners. To test its value and robustness, the prototype was applied by the partners in their regional context. They exchanged their experiences, made suggestions for improvement, and jointly explored the conditions for successfully using the tools. This process of joint learning was facilitated by the coordinator and resulted in the GIFT-T! approach 1.0: a generic roadmap for community based planning of GI, an accompanying toolbox, and a manual for future users.

GIFT-T! executive summary wraps up GIFT-T!’s main conclusions and is aimed at policymakers. The lessons learned of this transnational collaboration are available in work package reports and an online manual (www.gift-t.eu).