Nature-based solutions for urban waters in Romanian cities

Abstract

In the last decade, Romanian cities have gone through complex economic, social and environmental challenges. These challenges caused significant disturbances in the distribution, quantity and quality of urban waters, reducing their capacity to provide essential ecosystem services. Using a multicriteria approach, this study aims to evaluate the Romanian cities potential to implement Nature-based solutions for water management. The analysis focused on indicators linked to the spatial, morphological and socioeconomic criteria of cities under consideration and were examined towards current environmental challenges they confront. The results show that the cities potential to implement Nature-based solutions for water management is strongly linked to the severity of challenges that a city is coping, such as exposure to flood risk and heat waves, built-up density or availability of urban water surfaces and green spaces. Our study offers important insights into the potential of Romania's cities to implement Nature-based solutions that may help them in their endeavors to build resilience and achieve sustainability goals.