The Challenge of Innovation Diffusion: Nature-Based Solutions in Poland

Abstract

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are currently seen and discussed as innovations, including within the European Commission. We assume that this should result in their broader popularity and implementation in EU countries. We analyse the diffusion of NBS in Poland, a post-socialist country, in the case of which less has been written on NBS and urban green and blue infrastructure than in West European countries. In spite of the above assumption, we indicate that the rate of NBS acceptance in Poland is relatively low and their visibility is limited. Our study uses Amoeba, a tool for understanding, mapping and planning for innovation diffusion and cultural change processes to understand the reasons for this situation and to seek the methods of its improvement. We focus on two case studies, green roofs and ecological corridors, and analyse the roles played by different stakeholders, their attitudes towards these innovations and their influence on NBS diffusion in Poland, as well as the interactions between them.

Development of sustainable urban drainage systems in Eastern Europe: an analytical overview of the constraints and enabling conditions

“…Similar to observations in the international literature (Frazer 2005;Kronenberg, Bergier, and Maliszewska 2017;Badiu et al 2019), citizens recognize housing, parking, and more roads as their primary priorities, while urban nature projects (or any other activities protecting infiltration or infiltration NBS) receive a massive pushback as they usually either require or compete for a lot of space (Klimanova, Kolbowsky, and Illarionova 2018) or add extra cost to construction budgets (interviews 1, 2, 11, 16, 18, 24). There is not much appeal for green roofs or parking lots either.…”

“…(Klimanova, Kolbowsky, and Illarionova 2018). However, this segment of the planning and urban management culture does not appear to have survived the hardships of transition, as has also been observed in other countries that were part of the former Soviet bloc (Kronenberg, Bergier, and Maliszewska 2017;Badiu et al 2019). In terms of regulatory non-compliance, we found a silent consensus among public authorities to follow a relaxed approach to breaches in standards and procedures in such areas as public participation (specifically, public hearings), urban forestry, sufficiency of green spaces in city districts or even in master plans and implementation of water protection zoning in cities (Skryhan 2014(Skryhan , 2016"Twothirds" 2019;interviews 6, 7, 8, 26).…”

“…Last, but not least, our interviewees observed an overall move from a more idealistic kind of thinking to what Mulligan et al (2020, 12) described as " … more pragmatic solutions based on constraints of space, time, budget, existing conditions and findings on-site, new adjacent infrastructures, and politics". As we noted elsewhere, the academic urbanism of the late USSR epoch had many aspirational components, encouraged strategic foresight and demonstrated a lot of interest in green and blue infrastructure (Kronenberg, Bergier, and Maliszewska 2017). The overall development of urban planning practice in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine gives an impression that such USSR legacy is regarded as a kind of futile idealism that cannot be taken seriously in our pragmatic times.…”

Going beyond market-based mechanisms to finance nature-based solutions and foster sustainable futures

“…Yet, reversing biodiversity loss is dependent on addressing these underlying drivers to generate the enabling environment for NbS to be successful [12]. Dominant NbS narratives (i.e., values-driven stories that are assumed to be factual about problems and their proposed solutions, in which concepts like NbS are embedded; [13] have been called out for upholding neoliberal values and framings of nature at the expense of others [14][15][16]. Neoliberalism, as an ideology, promotes the notion of unrestrained 'free' markets, privatization, deregulation, and reduction in government spending [17] to unlock a growthfocused vision of development [18].…”

Urban Nature as an Active Means of Adapting Public Spaces to Climate Conditions: Case Studies from Copenhagen and Selected Polish Cities

“…Developed in conjunction with other municipal strategic and planning documents, it became the basis for city authorities decisions on implementing and coordinating adaptation activities, cooperating with other entities, and shaping the budget and seeking sources of investment financing. Among organizational, technical, informational and educational activities, an important role was assigned to adaptation activities related to the introduction, protection, and shaping of urban nature, based on systems and elements of blue-green infrastructure [46]. They included not only the strengthening of existing resources but also the construction and development of new elements inscribed in public spaces, introduced at different spatial scales and for different urban areas.…”