The Possibility of Including Habitat Types as Nature-Based Solutions in Spatial Planning Documents: the Case of Slovenia

Abstract

There are many forms of NBS for contemporary urban challenges that reflect individual elements or facilities in urban space, but a systematic and comprehensive implementation of NBS in urban planning documents has not yet been observed. In this paper, we use unaltered native habitat types (HTs) as innovative forms of NBS that originate from the natural or semi-natural environments of the same region as the targeted urban environment, which is the subject of urban planning. We draw on a planning approach that attributes added value (a function in addressing urban challenges such as air pollution, noise, stormwater management, and urban heat island) to HT, thus linking the concepts of NBS and HT in an innovative way to integrate them into urban planning. Based on a qualitative content analysis of spatial planning documents in the case of Slovenia, the paper presents a proposal for the inclusion of HTs as NBS in spatial planning documents at national, regional, and local levels. It was found that strategic spatial planning documents are suitable for defining the concept of NBS as a way of addressing urban challenges, while key to integrating HT as NBS into existing spatial planning practice are the spatial implementing document sat national and municipal levels, as well as the Urban Development Concept as a mandatory technical basic document for these acts