Enabling nature-based solutions for climate adaptation in cities of the Global South: planning dimensions and cross-cutting pathways for implementation

Abstract Despite the increasing recognition of the critical role that nature-based solutions (NBS) play in urban resilience, decision-makers in many cities across the Global South continue to prioritize grey infrastructure and engineered solutions. This prevailing approach may offer short-term economic advantages but ultimately falls short in ensuring the long-term sustainability and resilience of communities facing the challenges of a changing climate. This article aims to identify the main enabling factors that foster the application and implementation of NBS in cities, through a detailed analysis of urban NBS case studies. For this reason, the research focused on grey literature, providing insights into real-world implementation and identified 52 case studies through a thorough review of web databases and relevant publications on NBS case studies, supplemented by a web-based questionnaire distributed to identify additional cases. A qualitative methodology was employed to analyse the data collected for each case, covering various phases of each project, including planning, delivery, and stewardship. The findings indicate that enabling the implementation of urban NBS in the Global South requires attention to four key dimensions: good governance, financial feasibility and economic sustainability, social acceptance, and environmental sustainability. Additionally, the results highlight the importance of cross-cutting pathways emerging from these dimensions, such as adopting an integrated, context-specific, and data-driven approach in planning and implementation, enabling mechanisms for participatory approaches and multi-stakeholder engagement, planning for the delivery of multiple benefits by NBS, and prioritizing NBS in urban land acquisition and management policies.