Introducing nature-based solutions into urban policy – facts and gaps. Case study of Poznań

Abstract

Cities often don’t appreciate the benefits of green infrastructure (GI) enough. To recognise the extent to which green infrastructure and nature-based solutions (NbS) are present in the urban policy, we conducted a review of planning, strategic and programming documents of Poznań City as a Case Study. The study is aimed at 1) diagnosing of current position NbS in the tasks and directions of planning, strategic and programming documents; 2) characteristic of activities related to NbS according to the form of human-nature interaction; 3) determining the potential of including NbS in the local policy; 4) identifying the role of NbS in facing 4 main challenges in urban policy: resilience and climate change adaptation, health and well-being, social cohesion, economic development potential. The results show that a significant number of actions focus on GI changes towards its multifunctionality and better quality, while there are not many actions towards supporting citizens in using it. Also, despite urban pressure, new green spaces are still planned to be created. The role of NbS within GI in urban resilience is well recognised. Yet, the adaptation to climate change has gained a low priority so far. Linkages between GI and the wellbeing of inhabitants are well understood. However, the possibility to build and strengthen social cohesion based on GI is rather marginally noticed. The least recognised is the influence of NbS on the economic development potential. It is an area that still needs to be investigated to bring evidence in this field. We conclude that to support large-scale, nature-based solution implementation in cities, the crucial step is to bring them into the local urban agenda. An evaluation of urban policy documents based on the presented approach can serve as a guideline for identifying gaps and potentials for NbS inclusion. As a result, it can help the better organisation of urban policy and harmonisation of different sectors through NbS.