Green With Grey

The Green With Gray (GWG) project is aimed at setting up test sites at strategic locations during the next 3 years (March 2019-February 2021) that can serve as a prototype for the softening of industrial areas in the provinces of Antwerp and Flemish Brabant. GWG wants to contribute to 2 main goals of the Strategic Vision Policy Plan Spatial Planning Flanders (Strategic objective 5: Robust open space), namely a 20% reduction of the paved area in agriculture, forest and other natural environments, and an increase of 72.5 % of open space in 2040 thanks to synergistic use of space. By softening industrial sites, GWG will limit the risk of flooding, strengthen the ecological performance of river basins and implement the material cycles on the scale of an industrial zone and / or the territorial system in which it operates. Thanks to an increase in the collapsible urban area, GWG will contribute to the major challenges of water management (recycling, storage and infiltration), the connection between green areas and the development of a circular economy. Focused on providing ecosystem services in the field of water / food / energy, but also in the field of climate and air regulation, the GWG strategies will contribute to an improved metabolism of the Flemish urban landscape. These improved natural and urban ecosystems, in turn, contribute to the physical and psychological well-being of the population.