On Tuesday the 17th of January Frontrunner project 1 was launched! Changes in the weather and adaptions to it in the landscape bring new opportunities for vectors of viruses. The guest presentations of Frank Schelten (KNMI) on the expected changes of the climate in our delta and Fransje Hooijmeier (TUDelft) on the changes in land use responding to current demands, but staying within the boundaries defined in previous decades brought new questions to the table and confirmed others.

It provided valuable input for further developing the thinking in terms of ‘urban tiles’ – also used in a related project, which locations to select as living labs, and thinking about determining factors when it comes to realizing changes. Planning and design are often slow processes. Thinking ahead of how to inform relevant stakeholders on the outcomes of the project is very important. How do they want the results to be presented to them and how we can understand uncertainties and reduce these.

Urban tiles, scenarios, mosquito and bird data all combined may be very relevant input for future land use decisions.

Read more about the Frontrunner Project: Climate change and vectorborne virus outbreaks.

Date: March 8th, 2023