Public view on nature-based solutions in Budapest: assessing attributed effectiveness in addressing societal challenges

Abstract Responding to climate change requires actions that address environmental, social, and economic challenges. Nature-based solutions (NbS) offer a pathway to enhance urban resilience and adaptive capacity while supporting sustainability. Understanding public attitudes toward NbS can reveal gaps in benefit delivery, communication, and engagement for effective implementation. This paper investigates public perceptions of urban infrastructure, focusing on green spaces and NbS, through a survey of 821 Budapest residents. Although adaptation and mitigation studies in Budapest are plentiful, none has specifically examined public perceptions of NbS. Uncovering public attitude in Budapest is important because the city has the potential to showcase good practices or possible pitfalls as the most influential city in Hungary by far. Results indicate that residents value multifunctionality in urban infrastructure and expect multiple benefits from green spaces. Familiarity with the NbS concept was found to be moderate, with a positive correlation to benefit attribution. While people correlate certain types and scales of NbS with diverse benefits, a range of implementations may be necessary to address climate challenges comprehensively. Additionally, the analysis reveals some gaps between objectives attributed to NbS in research or design and benefits perceived by the public. Examining the reasons behind divergences between targeted objectives and perceived benefits can help urban managers and project designers refine NbS strategies. A profound exploration of public familiarity with the NbS concept and applied projects is essential. Enhancing public understanding can facilitate community engagement and a feedback loop that can provide insight into bottlenecks in implementations.