A transformative mission for prioritising nature in Australian cities

Abstract

Australia is experiencing mounting pressures related to processes of urbanisation, biodiversity loss and climate change felt at large in cities. At the same time, it is cities that can take the leading role in pioneering approaches and solutions to respond to those coupling emergencies. In this perspective piece we respond to the following question: What are the required transformations for prioritising, valuing, maintaining and embracing nature in cities in Australia? We adopt the mission framework as an organising framework to present proposed pathways to transform Australian cities as nature-positive places of the future. We propose three interconnected pathways as starting actions to steer urban planning, policy and governance in Australian cities: First, cities need to establish evidence-based planning for nature in cities and mainstream new planning tools that safeguard and foreground urban nature. Second, collaborative planning needs to become a standard practice in cities and inclusive governance for nature in cities needs to prioritise Aboriginal knowledge systems and practices as well as look beyond what local governments can do. Third, for progressing to nature-positive cities, it is paramount to empower communities to innovate with nature across Australian cities. Whilst we focus on Australian cities, the lessons and pathways are broadly applicably globally and can inspire science-policy debates for the post COP15 biodiversity and COP26 climate change implementation processes.

Reframing governance possibilities for urban biodiversity conservation through systemic co‐inquiry

“…Our research shows how new understandings, new ways of knowing-in-action, and enhanced social relations can be developed from a systemic co-inquiry to generate new governance approaches to local nature stewardship in the form of linked citizen actor-local government collaborations. These collaborations, and the network that links them, continue to develop five years after the co-inquiry period reviewed in this article (as profiled in Frantzeskaki et al, 2022 and further explored in Mumaw & Raymond, 2021).…”

Nature-Positive Design and Development: A Case Study on Regenerating Black Cockatoo Habitat in Urban Developments in Perth, Australia

“…Access to urban nature in cities also supports ecological literacy and advances nature stewardship within urban populations [20]. Indeed, it has been commented that, in Australia as elsewhere, it is paramount to empower communities to innovate with nature if progress toward nature-positive cities is to be made [21].…”

An integrated process for planning, delivery, and stewardship of urban nature-based solutions: The Connecting Nature Framework

“…Prominent amongst these papers are those that seek to clarify definitions of, and the potential for, nature-based solutions and how they fit with the ecosystem approach and natural capital ( [18,21,35,36]; e.g., [2,3,20,37,38]). This has resulted in a proposed UNEP [39] definition of nature-based solutions and the embedding of nature-based approaches into the EU Green Deal which may stimulate such initiatives for realising the ambition, such as the establishment of nature-based enterprises and nature positive financial incentives [23,40,41] and a general scaling out of the nature positive economy [13,42]. However, concerns remain in relation to the efficacy and impact of nature-based solutions for delivering on building urban climate resilience, augmenting biodiversity, and improving ecosystem services [43][44][45][46].…”