Integrated Climate Risk Management for Real Estate and Infrastructure in the Dutch Delta
Why Red&Blue?
Climate change presents new risks for the built environment, particularly in low-lying, densely populated areas of the Netherlands. Rising temperatures, extreme weather, and sea-level rise threaten infrastructure, property values, and urban resilience. Addressing these challenges requires coordinated investments and innovation from governments, businesses, and citizens.
Currently, the connections between climate risks, real estate, and infrastructure are not well understood. Existing strategies are often fragmented, sector-specific, and lack a shared foundation for decision-making. Red&Blue brings together scientists and practitioners to bridge these gaps, developing integrated climate risk strategies that support sustainable urban development.
Our mission
Read&Blue (Real Estate Development & Building in Low Urban Environments) is a five-year research and impact program dedicated to advancing climate risk management for real estate and infrastructure in the Dutch delta. Our goal is to:
Promote integrated strategies that guide investment and urban development.
Develop a shared understanding of climate risks and governance challenges.
Strengthen collaborative decision-making between public and private sectors.
By fostering dialogue, research, and real-world applications, we aim to drive system-wide change in how climate risks are managed in urban areas.
Key challenges we address
Fragmented governance: Climate risk strategies are often siloed across industries, limiting cooperation and long-term planning.
Economic and social pressures: Climate change affects property values, insurance, and infrastructure investments, requiring new financial and regulatory approaches.
Knowledge gaps: Decision-makers lack access to comprehensive, cross-disciplinary insights on climate risk management.
Ways in which we address these challenges
Connect with local communities and governance institutions to identify strategies towards equitable and climate-robust urban areas and infrastructures.
Developing the knowledge, tools and practical language to improve the adaptive capacity of our built environment and the resilience of society at large.
Bringing professional experts and responsible authorities together to share data, create new insights work on real-world solutions, and integrate working methods for at-risk urban environments.
Our approach
Red&Blue integrates expertise from economics, governance, law, urban planning, engineering, and climate science. Our work is structured into seven research areas (Work Packages) that guide research, knowledge exchange, and real-world application.