Bridging Nature-Based Solutions, Governance and Landscape Architecture: Insights from the Global North and South

Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) have emerged as a prominent and rapidly expanding strategic approach for addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and socio-ecological resilience in cities, especially within European sustainability agendas where NBS are embedded in EU policy frameworks. Nevertheless, their practical implementation remains uneven across the globe, with relatively strong mainstreaming in Europe but more fragmented uptake in other regions. These disparities stem from a gap between policy-oriented NBS discourse and its translation into design and spatial practice. This study investigates how governance-related NBS research can be more effectively translated into landscape architecture and design practice. It integrates insights from narrative literature reviews, project-based experiences, and international conference sessions. We argue that effective NBS implementation requires alignment with landscape architecture (systems-multi-scale planning, design, site-specific ecological materialization and aesthetic mediation) and governance integration. Through comparative analysis of Global North and South contexts, we identify differences in institutional capacity, socio-cultural perception of nature, and knowledge systems that shape NBS implementation. We propose a multi-scale, co-creative framework connecting environmental knowledge, governance interface, and design practice. The findings demonstrate that NBS cannot succeed solely as a science and policy approach; instead, they must be spatially translated through culturally responsive and ecologically informed landscape design processes and maintenance.