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Developing, implementing and learning about climate adaptive solutions. New solutions for climate adaptation are being developed as part of the SCAPE project. SCAPE focuses on water management solutions that can be applied to coastal areas along the North Sea and English Channel. Many lessons are being learnt as solutions are being developed, implemented, disseminated and discussed simultaneously. SCAPE (Shaping Climate change Adaptive PlacEs) is a European project in which the landscapes are adapted to reduce the impact of climate change on water management. It takes account of the natural landscape of a place and its specific requirements. For example, a polder requires a different approach to that for a valley. Urban, suburban and rural landscapes SCAPE partners are working collaboratively to develop and test solutions at six locations bordering the North Sea and the English Channel. Two of these areas are located in dense, urban areas, two in rural areas and two more on the fringe between urban and rural. The idea is to develop water management solutions that can help these areas better prepare for increasingly extreme weather conditions, such as heavy rainfall and long periods of drought, which are expected to occur more frequently in the future due to climate change. Project manager Gwenny Cooman explains: “We’re not looking for traditional, highly engineered principles where everything
