Collaborative solutions for more sustainable, resilient, greener and healthier cities
Scientific studies demonstrate the positive outcomes of the interplay between biodiversity, ecosystem services and urban green infrastructure. Therefore, NBS have emerged as the main policy driver for most transitioning cities because they can be used to create multifunctional arenas and fulfil multiple, simultaneous societal, economic and environmental objectives.
Implementing NBS in urban areas
The EU-funded CONNECTING Nature project is forming a community of cities that fosters peer-to-peer learning and capacity building among so-called frontrunner cities experienced in delivering NBS and fast follower cities wishing to implement such NBS but lacking expertise. The community will grow to include new members (multiplier cities) as knowledge and expertise increases. In all, 11 cities in Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Poland, Scotland and Spain are directly involved in planning NBS at differing spatial scales. “CONNECTING Nature will position Europe as a global leader in innovating and implementing urban NBS,” notes coordinator Marcus Collier. CONNECTING Nature is introducing and examining approaches using methods where NBS solutions are designed and created collaboratively. This will lead to resilient, environmentally friendly and healthy cities, and ultimately more sustainable living for citizens. The consortium has co-devised an NBS reference framework that brings together cities, SMEs, academia and civic society, and reflexively monitors ongoing processes to break down barriers and silos. It’s being used to co-create usable and actionable knowledge in all cities and involves a series of iterative and adaptive stages. This framework captures the diverse types of innovations emerging from NBS implementation and scaling, and facilitates learning and internal and external communication in each city. “It’s a process initiation tool that helps other cities to discover and exploit their NBS experiences and thus mainstream NBS planning into practice,” explains Collier. Project partners are developing and testing novel urban planning processes that co-produce NBS along with business and governance innovations with all the cities’ communities. They are also testing how NBS might be used to address issues of cohesion in post-conflict environments like the fast follower city of Sarajevo. The CONNECTING Nature team has created new models that identify funding and financing mechanisms establishing NBS as valid solutions for sustainable and resilient cities. Many of the cities have already succeeded in gaining financing for NBS.
Stimulating the market for new innovation
A list of commercial and social enterprises active in producing NBS and products has been compiled. The intention is to hold the first global summit on nature-based innovation and nature-based enterprises in 2021. The baseline indicators of NBS effectiveness have changed because of COVID-19, especially those involving health and well-being. CONNECTING Nature is learning to adapt. It will now capture the impacts of lockdowns and formulate a case for scaling NBS in cities with respect to pandemics and other lockdown situations. “We’re consolidating the wide range of NBS experience, industrial innovation, practical scientific knowledge and governance models that exist within European cities into transferable processes that can integrate NBS on a global scale,” concludes Collier. “Unlocking a broader NBS roll-out has the added value of making urban areas more biodiverse, thus reconnecting citizens with nature and boosting habitat connectivity and heterogeneity to build increased ecological resilience in urban areas.”
Keywords
CONNECTING Nature, NBS, co-creation, cities, urban, innovation, governance, community
