Nature-based solutions for sustainable, resilient, and equitable cities

Nature-based Solutions for Cities brings diverse perspectives from across the globe together to describe the state of the art in advancing nature-based solutions (NBS) for cities. Our goal is to provide a handbook for graduate students, early-career professionals, and emerging and advanced scholars to begin working with NBS in ways that consider multiple perspectives, disciplines, and ways of knowing. Together, the chapters in this book aim at understanding how NBS can be better managed, planned, and engaged with, and to center questions of NBS for whom and for what NBS are planned and implemented in cities. Through chapters led by experts in both global south and north contexts, we describe key knowledge and learning for advancing the interdisciplinary science of NBS in, for, and with cities and discuss the frontiers for next-generation NBS

Towards mainstreaming nature-based solutions for achieving biodiverse, resilient, and inclusive cities

Reconnecting humanity to the biosphere must be a focus in cities. Transforming cities to be inclusive, equitable, resilient, and sustainable requires rethinking our relationship to nature, and investing in urban development, design, and governance that brings nature into the center. We provide seven key insights drawn from the chapters in this book: (1) put nature-based solutions (NBS) first in adaptation to climate change in cities; (2) make equity and justice central in the design, planning, management, and governance of NBS in cities; (3) ensure biodiversity is a priority in urban planning for NBS; (4) employ and design NBS to improve human health in cities; (5) realize NBS in cities with inclusive urban planning and innovative governance approaches that respond to local context dynamics; (6) assess the holistic value of urban nature to make a case for NBS in cities; and (7) bring art into NBS and position art as a NBS in cities

Opportunities for Increasing Resilience and Sustainability of Urban Social–Ecological Systems: Insights from the URBES and the Cities and Biodiversity Outlook Projects

Urban futures that are more resilient and sustainable require an integrated social–ecological system approach to urban policymaking, planning, management, and governance. In this article, we introduce the Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (URBES) and the Cities and Biodiversity Outlook (CBO) Projects as new social–ecological contributions to research and practice on emerging urban resilience and ecosystem services. We provide an overview of the projects and present global urbanization trends and their effects on ecosystems and biodiversity, as a context for new knowledge generated in the URBES case-study cities, including Berlin, New York, Rotterdam, Barcelona, and Stockholm. The cities represent contrasting urbanization trends and examples of emerging science–policy linkages for improving urban landscapes for human health and well-being. In addition, we highlight 10 key messages of the global CBO assessment as a knowledge platform for urban leaders to incorporate state-of-the-art science on URBES into decision-making for sustainable and resilient urban development

Nature-Based Solutions for Cities

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly being adopted to address climate change, health, and urban sustainability, yet ensuring they are effective and inclusive remains a challenge. Addressing these challenges through chapters by leading experts in both global south and north contexts, this forward-looking book advances the science of NBS in cities and discusses the frontiers for next-generation urban NBS

Urban change as an untapped opportunity for climate adaptation

Urban social–ecological–technological systems (SETS) are dynamic and respond to climate pressures. Change involves alterations to land and resource management, social organization, infrastructure, and design. Research often focuses on how climate change impacts urban SETS or on the characteristics of urban SETS that promote climate resilience. Yet passive approaches to urban climate change adaptation may disregard active SETS change by urban residents, planners, and policymakers that could be opportunities for adaptation. Here, we use evidence of urban social, ecological, and technological change to address how SETS change opens windows of opportunity to improve climate change adaptation.National Science Foundation (NSF) https://doi.org/10.13039/100000001NordForsk https://doi.org/10.13039/501100004785Peer Reviewe

Eine neue Stadtstrukturklassifikation zur Analyse der Beziehung zwischen ökologischer Funktion, Bebauung und Bodenbedeckungsstruktur: eine vergleichende Studie von Berlin und New York City

Die hier vorliegende Studie stellt einen neuen Stadtstrukturklassifikationsansatz vor. Hierzu werden Informationen zu Landbedeckung und Gebäudehöhe genutzt. Ziel der Studie ist es, eine internationale Vergleichbarkeit von Analysen der Beziehung zwischen Stadtstruktur und ökologischer Funktion zu erreichen und ein Bezugssystem zu entwickeln, was es ermöglicht, ökologische Prozesse und Muster als Resultat urbaner Landbedeckungsmuster zu analysieren. Wir haben die Klassifikation an zwei sehr unterschiedlichen Schauplätzen getestet: Im kontinentalen Berlin und in der Küstenstadt New York City. Als ökologischer Referenz-Indikator wurden Landsat- Oberflächentemperaturaufnahmen verwendet und für beide Städte verglichen, welcher Zusammenhang zwischen Stadtstruktur(-komposit) und Temperatur besteht. Die Ergebnisse zeigen, dass beide Städte viele Strukturklassen teilen und diese ähnliche Trends im Hinblick auf die Oberflächentemperatur beschreiben, trotz der erheblichen Unterschiede in Klima und Struktur von Berlin und New York. Es zeigt sich, dass etwa 68 % Berlins und 79 % von New York City von denselben 15 urbanen Strukturklassen beschrieben werden können. Die Ergebnisse zeigen auch, dass gemeinsame Strukturklassen ähnliche Temperaturmuster aufweisen und sich unser neues Bezugssystem der Stadtstrukturklassifikation auf sehr verschiedene Stadttypen anwenden lässt. Die Ergebnisse der neuen Klassifikation zeigen außerdem, den großen Einfluss von Gewässern auf die Temperaturregulation in Städten. Strukturklassen, welche Wasser beinhalten, weisen die niedrigsten Oberflächentemperaturen auf, was auf einen positiven Ausgleichseffekt von Wasseroberflächen zu hohen Lufttemperaturen hinweist und daher für Stadtplanung und Landmanagement äußerst wichtig ist, gerade in Zeiten zunehmender Hitzewellen und Sommertrockenheit

Smarter greener cities through a social-ecological-technological systems approach

Publisher Copyright: © 2022Smart city development is expanding rapidly globally and is often argued to improve urban sustainability. However, these smart developments are often technology-centred approaches that can miss critical interactions between social and ecological components of urban systems, limiting their real impact. We draw on the social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) literature and framing to expand and improve the impact of smart city agendas. A more holistic systems framing can ensure that ‘smart’ solutions better address sustainability broadly and extend to issues of equity, power, agency, nature-based solutions and ecological resilience. In this context, smart city infrastructure plays an important role in enabling new ways of measuring, experiencing and engaging with local and temporal dynamics of urban systems. We provide a series of examples of subsystems interactions, or ‘couplings’, to illustrate how a SETS approach can expand and enhance smart city infrastructure and development to meet normative societal goals.Peer reviewe

A Framework for Resilient Urban Futures

Resilient urban futures provides a social–ecological–technological systems (SETS) perspective on promoting and understanding resilience. This chapter introduces the concepts, research, and practice of urban resilience from the Urban Resilience to Extremes Sustainability Research Network (UREx SRN). It describes conceptual and methodological approaches to address how cities experience extreme weather events, adapt to climate resilience challenges, and can transform toward sustainable and equitable future