Not Simply Green: Nature-Based Solutions as a Concept and Practical Approach for Sustainability Studies and Planning Agendas in Cities

Abstract

The concept of a nature-based solution (NBS) has been developed in order to operationalize an ecosystem services approach within spatial planning policies and practices, to fully integrate the ecological dimension, and, at the same time, to address current societal challenges in cities. It exceeds the bounds of traditional approaches that aim ‘to protect and preserve’ by considering enhancing, restoring, co-creating, and co-designing urban green networks with nature that are characterized by multifunctionality and connectivity. NBSs include the main ideas of green and blue infrastructure, ecosystem services, and biomimicry concepts, and they are considered to be urban design and planning tools for ecologically sensitive urban development. Nowadays, NBSs are on their way to the mainstream as part of both national and international policies. The successful implementation of NBSs in Europe and worldwide, which is becoming increasingly common, highlights the importance and relevance of NBS for sustainable and livable cities. This paper discusses the roles, development processes, and functions of NBSs in cities by taking Leipzig as a case study. Using data from interviews conducted from 2017 to 2019, we study the past and current challenges that the city faces, including the whole process of NBS implementation and successful realization. We discuss the main drivers, governance actors, and design options of NBSs. We highlight the ecosystem services provided by each NBS. We discuss these drivers and governance strategies by applying the framework for assessing the co-benefits of NBSs in urban areas in order to assess the opportunities and challenges that NBSs may have. This way, we are able to identify steps and procedures that help to increase the evidence base for the effectiveness of NBS by providing examples of best practice that demonstrate the multiple co-benefits provided by NBSs.

Addressing Challenges of Urban Water Management in Chinese Sponge Cities via Nature-Based Solutions

“…For instance, integrating grey infrastructure with natural features and processes to deal with water-related issues in built environments is integral to WSUD and SuDs. NBS goes further though, specifically highlighting the limitations of solutions relying purely on so called "traditional" engineering approaches that actually date only from the late 19th century [23]. The concepts depicted in Figure 4 conform with the NBS concept that encompasses them, in that each aims to provide a range of ecosystem services alongside sustainable structural (i.e., engineered assets) and non-structural (i.e., changes in stakeholder behaviours) measures to deal with urban water issues [71].…”

New trends in urban environmental health research: from geography of diseases to therapeutic landscapes and healing gardens

“…Moreover, the concepts of biophilic cities, compact and sustainable cities, nature-based solutions and integrated bluegreen infrastructure have the potential to become the theoretical foundation for health-supporting landscapes (EC 2015;Ignatieva 2018;Russo et al 2017). There is a great number of research worldwide underlying the positive evidence / relationship of direct experience with natural environments to a wide range of health benefits (Beyer et al 2014;Dushkova and Haase 2020;Hartig et al 2014;Maas et al 2009;Soga et al 2016) and the key role of nature in achieving a healthy society (Brink et al 2016;Groenewegen et al 2006;Tzoulas et al 2007). It is increasing awareness among researchers and health practitioners of the potential benefits to the health from activities in natural settings and especially from regular contact with nature, which can be perceived as a preventive medical tool (Frumkin et al 2017;Groenewegen et al 2006, Maller et al 2005.…”

“…A contact with nature in cities in forms of urban gardening, sport activities and community gardens increases life satisfaction, psychological wellbeing, social inclusion and social cohesion, sense of community, and cognitive function (Soga and Gaston 2016;Wood et al 2016). Moreover, engagement with nature activities (for example, urban gardening, urban farming) was defined as not only a cost-effective health intervention and a type of nature-based solution (Dushkova and Haase 2020;Frumkin et al 2017;Williams 2017) but also as a treatment for several physiological and mental health problems, so-called «therapeutic landscape and healing garden therapy» (Hartig et al 2014;Söderback et al 2004;Wood et al 2016).The main goal of this article is to discuss the role of nature for creation of sustainable urban living spaces and to analyze, based on the literature review, the development of the concept of health-supporting landscapes for urban citizens. It suggested a historical discourse and analysis of different worldwide examples from antient time to nowadays.…”

Methodology for development of a data and knowledge base for learning from existing nature-based solutions in Europe: The CONNECTING Nature project

“…The methodology for creation of NBS data and knowledge base developed within the CONNECTING Nature project provides essential information on how to allow different users to systematically assess and analyze the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of urban NBS interventions in Europe. In our earlier publications, we presented a series of first lessons that were extracted from the data and knowledge base for the development of an impact assessment framework of NBS in Europe [10] , [11] , [12] , [13] . In this MethodsX paper, we methodologically describe the major steps/phases, challenges, and considerations of building an integrated data and knowledge base of nature-based solutions as an online platform for finding, examining and comparing different categories and models of existing nature-based solutions (NBS).…”