Fulfilling the Transformative Potential of Nature-Based Solutions: From Fragmentation to Integration

How can the urban space be good for the environment, the climate and for the people who live there? In this project, we will generate deeper conversations around city planning to ensure that the solutions we develop not only solve problems, but also contribute to realizing the potential for increased sustainability. Nature-based solutions are solutions to societal challenges such as floods and droughts that are based on and support nature's functions and processes. In addition to taking care of biological diversity, nature-based solutions can also be possible solutions for climate change adaptation, emissions reductions and social justice, especially in cities and towns. Research shows that it can be difficult to realize the good potential that nature-based solutions have, especially with regard to social justice. This is because decision-making processes can be difficult for most people to take part in, and because different interests and power relations can make it challenging for particularly vulnerable citizens to be seen and heard. In this project, we will develop an integrative method for nature-based solutions (from identification of the problem to the implementation of solutions) that can support such solutions’ ability to contribute to increased social justice and cohesion in the cities and towns where they are developed. The project is based on an understanding of social change as complex and as something which requires a holistic approach across both practical, political, and personal aspects. More concretely, we will carry out "integrative labs" in six cities in Norway, Sweden, Poland and Spain and develop a train-the-trainer program so that the project's results can be shared with more people and have the greatest possible impact. The project is led by Western Norway Research Institute in collaboration with Nordregio (Sweden), Lund University (Sweden), Basque Centre for Climate Change Adaptation (Spain) and Warsaw University of Life Sciences (Poland).

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are being hailed as solutions that contribute to solving many of today's most pressing social-environmental challenges in urban areas, in ways that are environmentally sound, economically viable and socially just. But implementation of NbS is slow and outcomes vary, hampered by inflexible and siloed forms of governance, conflicts over land use and costs, and social exclusion. To address these challenges, this project proposes an integrative approach to the development and implementation of NbS that accounts for 1) multiple and interlinked social-environmental challenges, 2) multiple kinds of governing entities and societal stakeholders, and 3) multiple social dimensions of change. The core of the project is the development of an “integrative lab” methodology that will be developed and implemented through a set of cases in Norway, Poland, Spain and Sweden, in collaboration with local authority and civil society partners. Through the development of the methodology as well as a facilitation module to “train the trainers” and a set of measurable indicators for “successful” NbS development and implementation, the project will contribute to the ability of all urban and rural spaces to become spaces of ecological and human thriving, marked by resource efficiency and livability.