The Silver Lining? On the Potential of Agricultural Landscapes to Contribute to Climate Adaptation in Nearby Urban Conglomerations

As sustainable urban design (re)discovers the rural hinterland, a new environmental challenge pops up; climate adaptation. Todays’ concepts and strategies for climate adaptation of urban areas mainly build upon the impact- alleviating capacities of open spaces that are located within the urban fabric; e.g. Green Blue Networks (Kazmierczak & Carter 2010) and Green Infrastructure (Foster et al. 2011). At the rural-urban fringe (RUF), however, the open spaces -and the local agricultural land uses in particular- are transforming rapidly. Thus the following research questions arise; How is the RUF linked with sustainable urban design and the challenge of (urban) climate adaptation in particular? And what is the potential of the RUF’s agricultural land uses in alleviating climate impacts?