Abstract
Despite the recognized potential of nature-based solutions (NBSs) to support climate adaptation, there are still wide barriers for a wider uptake of such NBS in urban areas. While tailored NBS tools could facilitate and accelerate this process, a comprehensive mapping of their availability and capacity to respond to cities’ challenges is missing. This research aims to provide an overview of tools that intend to facilitate the uptake of NBS for urban climate adaptation supporting cities in overcoming their challenges. To do so, this paper (i) presents the results of interviews and workshops with municipal officers and decision-makers from different European cities that identified the challenges they experience with NBS uptake; (ii) selects and reviews NBS tools and (iii) analyzes them on their capacity to address these implementation challenges. Our research revealed four key challenges that municipal officers experience: resources availability; level of expertise, know-how or competence; the institutional setting, and collaborative governance and planning. The results from the tools’ review show that existing tools can support overcoming a lack of expertise (31), but, to a smaller extent, can also be of use when experiencing the institutional setting (13), availability of resources (11), and collaborative governance and planning (10) as a challenge. This work provides researchers and tool developers with insights into potential market saturation as well as scarcity of certain types of tools that would match cities’ challenges, highlighting needs and opportunities for new tool development.
Highlights
Sustainable development is a challenging task faced by decision-makers worldwide, which has been formalized with the adoption of the UN Sustainable Development Goals in2016 [1]
Based on the interviews and workshops, we identified four key challenges that municipal officers experience with nature-based solutions (NBSs) implementation: the institutional setting; availability of resources; level of expertise, know-how or competence; and collaborative governance and planning
It should be noted that interviewees (Amsterdam, Bologna, Bratislava, Genova, La Spezia, Milan, Savona, Torino, Utrecht, Vejle, and Warsaw municipal officers, ACT on NBS interviews, September 2019 to January 2020) and workshop participants (Amsterdam, Bologna, Bratislava, Genova, La Spezia, Milan, Savona, Torino, Utrecht, Vejle, and Warsaw municipal officers, ACT on NBS interviews, September 2019 to January 2020) that contributed to this research are already to various degrees familiar with NBSs and involved in climate adaptation planning, and already have a certain level of access to knowledge and data
Summary
These SDGs are of particular relevance at the urban scale, because the underlying issues that call for sustainable urban development and the complexity of addressing these often-intertwined issues are especially apparent for urban planning and decision making [2]. This crucial role of cities for local and global sustainable development is clearly stated in the dedicated urban goal within the UN Sustainable Development Goals (N.11) and in the New Urban Agenda [3] that aims to accelerate its realization. Cities are of specific interest for their vulnerability to climate change
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