Re-Thinking People and Nature Interactions in Urban Nature-Based Solutions
People-environment interactions within nature-based solutions (NBS) are not always understood. This has implications for communicating the benefits of NBS and for how we plan cities. We present a framework that highlights a duality in NBS. The NBS as an asset includes both natural capital and human-centred capital, including organisational structures. NBS also exist as a system within which people are able to interact. Temporal and spatial scales moderate the benefits that NBS provide, which in turn are dependent on the scale at which social processes operate. Co-production and equity are central to the interactions among people and institutions in the design, use and management of NBS, and this requires clear communication. Drawing on ideas from culture-based development (CBD), we suggest an approach to communicate the benefits of NBS in a neutral but effective way. We propose guidelines for planning NBS that allow the optimisation of NBS locations and designs for particular outcomes.
Authors
- Åsa Ode Sang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0982-0155)
- Tim Taylor (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2625-7408)
- Laurence Jones (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4379-9006)
- Tao Lin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7479-2333)
- Yaoyang Xu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3250-8744)
- Ellen Banzhaf (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4740-1202)
- Jeppe Læssøe (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3847-5672)
- Signe Iversen
- Thora Tenbrink (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7986-1254)
- Benedict W. Wheeler (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9404-5936)
- Gregor Levin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5223-914X)
- Michael Hutchins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3764-5331)
- Jun Yang (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6740-4358)
- Marianne Zandersen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3827-3990)
- Annie Tubadji (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6134-3520)
- David Fletcher (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5029-7453)
- Anne Jensen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8311-8693)
- Lingwen Lu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0479-5045)
- Steven G. Anderson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4702-300X)
- Liz Wilcox-Jones
Institutions
- University of Nottingham Ningbo China (CN)
- Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (DE)
- Bangor University (GB)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Aarhus University (DK)
- University of Exeter (GB)
- Royal Cornwall Hospital (GB)
- Aarhus Municipality (DK)
- Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SE)
- Swansea University (GB)
- UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (GB)
- Institute of Urban Environment (CN)
- Liverpool Hope University (GB)
- Tsinghua University (CN)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Sustainability
- Published
- 2025-03-29
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.3390/su17073043
- Citations
- 2
- Primary Topic
- Urban Green Space and Health
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 2.40
Funders
- UK Research and Innovation
- Sight Research UK
- European Commission
- National Natural Science Foundation of China
- Natural Environment Research Council