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Section 1
NBS in the Urban Context
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Chapter 1
What Are Nature-Based Solutions? The Potential of Nature in Cities
Cecil C. Konijnendijk
Abstract
Although people have always been aware of the role and importance of green space, trees, and other nature in cities, wider recognition and policy support is of a much more recent date, for example in the context of current climate and public health challenges. The nature-based solutions concept has emerged as a strong, recent attempt for “mainstreaming” of nature in political, planning, and economic areas. Starting from a description of the role of nature in cities, this chapter introduces the nature-based solutions concept and its current spread and implementation in an urban context. It also raises some questions about the next steps in implementing the concept, perhaps moving away from too much focus on a utilitarian view of nature and ecosystem and toward considering nature as a framework for all planning and decision-making.
Keywords: Green infrastructure; nature-based thinking; nature-based solutions; urban greening; urban green space; urban nature
1.1. Introduction
With most of us humans living in urban areas these days, and urbanization increasing, there has been growing focus on ways of making our cities and towns more liveable, resilient, healthy, and vibrant. Sustainable Development Goal 11, for example, specifically addresses these aspects, and among others, calls for providing access to safe green spaces to all citizens. Across the world municipal authorities and other stakeholders have made efforts to improve our cities through urban greening. Many cities can look back at greening histories extending over several centuries (e.g., Konijnendijk, 2018). With increasing urbanization as well as a series of grand challenges faced by human society today, such as climate change, public health and welfare challenges, biodiversity loss, and recently also the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a new sense of urgency and a call for intensifying greening efforts and ways of planning and developing cities in closer connection to nature. The concept of nature-based solutions (NBS), as introduced in this chapter and also the primary focus of this book, is one of the recent and most promising approaches to developing greener and better cities.
With most of the world's population experiencing at least partial lockdowns and restrictions to their movements during 2020, the local park, woodland, and even street tree plantation provided much appreciated respite and relief (e.g., Honey-Rosés et al., 2020). Studies and analysis of, e.g., smartphone and Google maps data showed clear spikes in the use of local green spaces. In countries where access to public parks was limited, residents urged authorities to grant a reopening. This reappreciation of urban nature has also been connected to a wider debate on reenvisioning public space in cities, in the light of crises, environmental equity, and the like (Honey-Rosés et al., 2020).
As mentioned, the world's cities have seen a long history of greening, but it is fairly recent that the crucial role of green spaces in developing resilient, vibrant, and healthy cities has become supported by strong scientific evidence. Obviously, the current public health and climate crises have intensified the call for more and better urban green structures. Urban green space is no longer seen as “icing on the cake,” but rather as critical infrastructure and a basic public service. In line with this, a series of concepts and approaches have emerged during the past years (e.g., Pauleit, Zölch, Randrup, & Konijnendijk van den Bosch, 2017; Randrup, Buijs, Konijnendijk, & Wild, 2020) with an underlying aim to “mainstream” urban nature and make it part and parcel to urban planning and decision-making. These concepts have included, among others, green infrastructure, urban ecosystem services, ecosystem-based adaptation, and more recently also NBS (Pauleit et al., 2019).
This chapter starts with a brief introduction of the importance of urban nature, followed by an initial presentation of the NBS concept and some of its characteristics. The final section of the chapter places the NBS concept in a wider frame, calling for a nature-based thinking approach to the development, planning, and management of the places where we live, work, and play.
1.2. Nature and Cities
As long as there have been cities, there have been urban gardens and other urban nature. Although humans have been aware of the importance of urban nature for our health and well-being for quite some time, as we sometimes intuitively kept nature close, only rather recently has high-quality research addressed (and measured) a more comprehensive range of benefits. The emergence of the concept of ecosystem services has accelerated development. Urban nature, in the shape of, for example, parks, woodland, street tree plantation, private gardens, cemeteries, wetlands, balcony plants, and the wildlife that comes with these, provides essential ecosystem services. First of all, from a supporting services perspective, urban nature fulfills important roles in terms of nutrient and water cycling (and purification), soil formation, and the like. These processes all underpin the other services that are more directly fulfilling human needs. Provisional services, such as providing food, water, fuel, and construction materials, have been in focus for many centuries, as urban dwellers were often heavily dependent on local trees and woods (e.g., Konijnendijk, 2018). Cities were initially built with the timber from local woodlands, and we've used fuelwood and other natural products for heating our urban homes. More recently, community gardening, urban agriculture, and food forestry are once again placing these benefits in focus. During recent decades, the regulatory services provided by urban nature, e.g., in terms of adapting cities to climate change through, e.g., cooling and stormwater regulation, have been widely studied. Finally, cultural ecosystem services are widely recognized, as urban green spaces and other nature provide essential settings for recreation and tourism, while they also inspire us, educate us, and make us more creative (Konijnendijk, 2018).
Relations between people and nature, however, run much deeper than the rather utilitarian perspective represented by the ecosystem service concept (“nature's gift to people”). In a fascinating article, Townsend and Barton (2018) analyze the complex relationship between humans and trees over time, primarily from what they call an evolutionary psychology perspective. As they argue, empirical studies have provided strong evidence of the relationship between trees and other aspects of the landscape and human emotions. We humans have coevolved with trees, and this still impacts our strong social as well as individual connections to trees. Trees often evoke strong (and mostly positive) reactions in people, and we are often willing to stand up for them if they come under threat.
Of course there is also a “shadow side” to urban nature, as it can bring with it disease (e.g., malaria, Dengue fever, Lyme disease), dangers from fallen branches or trunks, nuisances from roaming urban wildlife, and other negative aspects that are sometimes called “ecosystem disservices.” There is a “forest of fear” in many of us, partly linked to earlier stages of our evolution (Konijnendijk, 2018). We still have a tendency to control and design nature, and to make sure that it follows our frames as much as possible. Ultimately, of course, full control over nature will not be possible – and humans are very much part of nature themselves.
In spite of the growing body of evidence on the crucial role and benefits of urban nature, as well as increasing attention of some of the potential drawbacks and risks involved with urban greening, green space does seldom feature prominently in key policy documents. Rather than being integrated in, e.g., climate adaptation, public health, transportation, education, and other key policies, policy attention for urban green is often rather sectoral, without strong standing. Some of the initiatives that strive for greater integration of urban green space in urban development policies include the Biophilic Cities approach (Beatley, 2011), which build on E.O. Wilson's theory of biophilia referring to an innate and genetically determined affinity of human beings with the natural world. Rather than trying to control and sometimes even remove nature, biophilic cities embrace nature and make it an integral part of their fabric and development.
Biophilic and other decision-makers have an increasing body of knowledge and practice to build on. We have mapped the structure of our urban ecosystems and identified and assessed the many ecosystem services these provide. A lot of work has been done, for example, on understanding regulatory ecosystem services such as cooling, air pollution reduction, climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration, and stormwater regulation. There is also a rapidly growing evidence base on the importance of urban nature for our health and well-being. Living in green environments has been found to have positive impacts on various health indicators. The precise mechanisms – i.e., what type of green space or green element provides which benefits, and why? – are still more elusive, but research is trying to find ways of informing planners, designers, and managers of urban spaces.
1.3. The Emergence of Nature-Based Solutions in Cities
As mentioned, the NBS concept emerged as part of a string of concepts and approaches that aimed to promote the importance of nature for sustainable and resilient human societies. This “mainstreaming” of nature of something that is “nice” to something that is “necessary” (or event essential) has also aimed to bridge between different disciplines and professions, trying to move away from the sectoral “silo” thinking that has made it difficult to fully realize the sustainability and resilience potential of cities. The concept of ecosystem services was already mentioned, as was that of biophilic cities. Other important concepts include, e.g., green infrastructure planning, green urbanism, and ecosystem-based adaptation (Pauleit et al., 2017). NBS is one of the more recent additions to the list, and it starts from the premise that humankind is facing a series of major challenges and crises that urgently need solutions.
The definition and scope of the NBS concept are still under debate. Some policy actors have promoted a broad approach to NBS, including all solutions to societal challenges that are supported or inspired by nature. The European Commission, which has represented a strong voice in promoting the NBS concept in both policy and research, initially defined it as comprising
…solutions that are inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience. Such solutions bring more, and more diverse, nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient and systemic interventions.
(EC, 2015)
Organizations such as the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) have strongly argued against a too broad approach, calling for exclusion of solutions that are just “inspired by” nature (as, for example, through biomimicry in architecture and engineering). IUCN sees NBS as only pertaining to actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits (IUCN, 2016). Thus it is not only about humans deriving benefits from ecosystems, it is also about us giving back to nature, e.g., by restoring ecosystems and protecting biodiversity.
As cities are today's primary human habitat, with more than half of the world's population already being urban, and also are disproportionally impacted by challenges such as climate change and public health threats, a lot of the NBS work to date has had an urban focus, although not exclusively so. A rapidly growing body of publications, policies and guidelines, seminars and conferences, and case studies is now available (see, for example, Frantzeskaki, Borgström, Gorissen, Egermann, & Ehnert, 2017; Frantzeskaki, 2019; Pauleit et al., 2017). NBS has rather rapidly become recognized as an important delivery tool for sustainable development policies by governments at different...
