Assessing deeper levels of participation in nature-based solutions in urban landscapes – A literature review of real-world cases

It is evident that climate change and unanticipated natural events pose new challenges for humanity and the environment. Already over half of the global population resides in cities, making the urban landscape a crucial focus area. Nature-based solutions (NbS) are an opportunity to address both environmental and societal challenges in both the immediate and long term, bearing particular importance in urban landscapes, as these pose more challenges and more opportunities for greater impact simultaneously. For the successful, widespread and sustainable implementation of NbS, wider inclusion of people and employment of deeper levels of participation are crucial. This review paper aimed to examine the relationship between participation and its various applications to NbS from global literature, and more specifically, assessing the levels of participation. We used Arnstein's (Arnstein, 1969) ladder of participation to base our analysis against five essential criteria for participatory implementation. Our results demonstrate that ‘consultation’ and ‘partnership’ are the dominant levels of participation, while there is evidence supporting the adoption of deeper levels such as delegated power and citizen control. Our study argues that the role of landscape architects and urban planners should go beyond the role of experts towards facilitators and motivators, to enable wider and deeper participation of communities in defining their futures. The study contributes to the field by highlighting the potential and importance of participatory approaches, providing insights into a range of tools used to facilitate participation at various depths and offering practical and employable knowledge of application. We conclude by suggesting future pathways for empirical research

Urban heat island behaviors in dryland regions

Urban heat island (UHI) characteristics and mitigation strategies for dryland cities differ from those for wetter urban regions. Whereas the latter typically see daytime surface UHIs, the rapid heating and cooling of deserts surrounding arid cities often produces daytime ‘urban cool islands’ and nighttime UHIs. Degrees of aridness, extent of vegetation, elevation, latitude, humidity, topography, and typical building types are likely to influence dryland UHI dynamics. This study analyzes variations in thermal effects at multiple scales for 10 dryland urban regions representing varied geographies worldwide with an aim to establish a broader understanding of the spectrum of UHI patterns in dryland cities. We used GIS to assemble daytime and nighttime satellite imagery, determined land surface temperature and vegetation at a 30-meter scale, and analyzed typical neighborhood-scale examples of six land cover types in each region. The 10 regions showed large variation in thermal effects. We found a strong daytime surface UHI in only one. Nighttime heat islands were more pronounced. However, all regions showed strong small-scale variation in temperature, averaging a 12.3 °C difference between mean top-quintile and bottom-quintile surface temperatures. Samples of urban forest landscapes cooled daytime temperatures an average of 5.6 °C compared to metro averages. Irrigated lawn and multistory building land cover samples also had a substantial cooling effect. Xeriscaped landscapes amplified daytime heating. Our results indicate that UHIs for dryland cities are unlikely to be reduced by xeriscape strategies, but that shade-maximizing urban forestry and built form hold promise to reduce heat islands

Urban heat island behaviors in dryland regions

Urban heat island (UHI) characteristics and mitigation strategies for dryland cities differ from those for wetter urban regions. Whereas the latter typically see daytime surface UHIs, the rapid heating and cooling of deserts surrounding arid cities often produces daytime ‘urban cool islands’ and nighttime UHIs. Degrees of aridness, extent of vegetation, elevation, latitude, humidity, topography, and typical building types are likely to influence dryland UHI dynamics. This study analyzes variations in thermal effects at multiple scales for 10 dryland urban regions representing varied geographies worldwide with an aim to establish a broader understanding of the spectrum of UHI patterns in dryland cities. We used GIS to assemble daytime and nighttime satellite imagery, determined land surface temperature and vegetation at a 30-meter scale, and analyzed typical neighborhood-scale examples of six land cover types in each region. The 10 regions showed large variation in thermal effects. We found a strong daytime surface UHI in only one. Nighttime heat islands were more pronounced. However, all regions showed strong small-scale variation in temperature, averaging a 12.3 °C difference between mean top-quintile and bottom-quintile surface temperatures. Samples of urban forest landscapes cooled daytime temperatures an average of 5.6 °C compared to metro averages. Irrigated lawn and multistory building land cover samples also had a substantial cooling effect. Xeriscaped landscapes amplified daytime heating. Our results indicate that UHIs for dryland cities are unlikely to be reduced by xeriscape strategies, but that shade-maximizing urban forestry and built form hold promise to reduce heat islands

How to transform urban institutional green spaces into Ancillary Botanic Gardens to expand informal botanical learning opportunities in cities

Abstract Since many cities lack botanical gardens, we introduced the concept of Ancillary Botanic Gardens (ABG), which builds on the premise that organizations can expand informal botanical learning by adding a secondary function to their institutional green spaces. This study guides the application of the ABG concept in various spatial and functional contexts by offering practical and interpretive tools to organizations who are less used to working with nature but are interested in mitigating urban residents’ detachment from nature. Online maps of 220 botanic gardens were reviewed to define types of plant collections and produce an exhaustive list of physical botanic garden elements. The collected information was developed into an ABG field checklist that was tested on three case studies in Lebanon and then used to develop guidelines for ABG establishment. The guidelines and checklist are meant to empower and guide organizations interested in establishing an ABG

Pathways to coastal resiliency: The Adaptive Gradients Framework

10.3390/su10082629Sustainability (Switzerland)108262