The current research examines the intersection of urban nature-based solutions (NBS) and the compact city model, interrogating how processes of the compact city influence the manifestation of NBS-related trade-offs across the urban planning cycle. We conceptualise and operationalise a synthesis between the types of urban NBS trade-offs, processes of compact urbanism and environmental justice dimensions. Using the restoration of the Catharijnesingel canal in Utrecht, the Netherlands, as a case study, we examine the existing trade-offs and how compact urbanism influences them as they arise, evolve, and manifest. This conceptual and analytical framework was applied to the case study using a qualitative approach through interviews, document analysis, and site observations. The research uncovered linkages between governance approaches, the city’s metabolic flows, and socio-spatial antagonisms with the captured urban NBS trade-offs. The findings highlight the importance of accounting for what drives urban NBS trade-offs in relation to the environment within which the NBS are implemented, to interrogate environmental injustices.
This paper investigates the mainstreaming of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) into economic value chains, identifying key sectors driving demand and supply, as well as the barriers and enablers for their uptake. Employing a multi-method approach, combining a systematic literature review (SLR) with eight empirical case studies and input-output modelling, we map NbS value chains across six landscape types (urban, inland waters, coastal and marine, agriculture, forestry, mountains). The analysis reveals the public sector as the dominant actor on both supply and demand sides. Professional and technical services ranked second on the supply side, whereas residents and NGOs were notable sources of demand. Indirect effects found via the input-output model were highly differentiated between landscape types, although the public sector remained central. Unlike prior work, we cluster barriers and enablers explicitly by demand and supply side, which exposes where along the value chain interventions are most needed. We found that chains currently route through a single public coordinating node, thus mainstreaming requires policies that lower barriers for private actors, increase stakeholder involvement and improve coherence across governance levels. The case studies show that future demand is also expected to come from the private sector; however, leveraging this potential requires dedicated policy interventions. We therefore recommend coherent policy mixes that create public and private demand, communicate co-benefits, strengthen public capacity for co-creation and allow private actors to initiate NbS without routing every linkage through public coordination. The findings provide actionable entry points for policy instruments to accelerate NbS market uptake in Europe.
Sustainable livelihood adaptation against climate change-induced shocks requires adequate understanding of integrated impacts on livelihood systems and potential adaptive techniques. This study is the first attempt to address the integration of nature-based solutions (NbS) with the sustainable livelihood framework (SLF) to examine their potential for strengthening coastal livelihood adaptation to diverse climatic shocks. We employed semi-structured face-to-face questionnaire surveys (n = 164) across three coastal unions of Kalapara sub-district, Bangladesh, considering NbS-dependent livelihoods and frequent coastal shocks. The responses were analyzed to assess perceived shocks exposure across different livelihood capitals and the associated outcomes of NbS adoptions. The findings indicate that cyclones were the most commonly reported shock, followed by salinity, with statistically significant differences in how drought, salinity, and tidal flooding affect farmers versus fishermen (p < 0.001). NbS was perceived to stimulate income opportunities for farmers (76%) and fishermen (97%), and reduce production loss (e.g., 84% for farmers). Reported increased income for NbS significantly influences additional livelihood opportunities (farmers: χ² = 13.680, p < 0.001; fishermen: χ² = 5.950, p = 0.015), and increased adaptive capacity (farmers: χ² = 84.664, p < 0.001; fishermen: χ² = 11.156, p = 0.001) to shocks. Our study results suggest that NbS has the potential to enhance multiple livelihood capitals and improve outcomes when facilitated by institutional and social learning mechanisms, although their effectiveness varies by livelihood types. The findings offer insights for natural resource-dependent coastal systems worldwide and provide an evidence-based SLF for integrating NbS into climate adaptation in developing countries.
Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly advanced as responses to climate change, urban flooding, water pollution, biodiversity loss, and declining ecosystem resilience. Yet their evaluation often gives less attention to the cultural, educational, and experiential conditions through which ecological functions become publicly understood and maintained. This paper uses a structured comparative review to reinterpret six built works and proposals by Patricia Johanson through contemporary NBS and ecological-engineering frameworks: Fair Park Lagoon, Candlestick Park Endangered Garden, Ellis Creek Water Recycling Facility and Petaluma Wetlands Park, Ulsan Dragon Park, The Draw at Sugar House, and McMaster Monarch/McMarsh. Each case was compared across five substantive dimensions: societal challenge; ecological processes and water functions; biodiversity contribution; multifunctionality and co-benefits; and public access, education, and ecological legibility. Implementation status and evidence type and strength were considered separately so that conclusions remained consistent with the available evidence. The comparison identifies three recurrent patterns. First, Johanson repeatedly integrated water regulation, habitat formation, public use, and circulation rather than treating them as separate technical and aesthetic layers. Second, species-derived form and accessible infrastructure made ecological processes spatially legible and available for interpretation. Third, her late work extended this logic into flood-control and campus-retrofit settings. Evidence strength, however, varies substantially among built and proposed projects. Available sources support documented operational functions and design intentions more strongly than standardized long-term performance or claims about long-term stewardship and maintenance. Johanson’s work therefore offers a historically important design framework and a basis for future NBS evaluation, rather than a uniform performance record across projects.
Addressing the interconnected challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, and human health requires a shift from fragmented governance toward integrated actions. This study applies an analytical framework combining Latent Dirichlet Allocation topic modelling and network analysis to systematically map the Biodiversity, Climate, and Health (BCH) nexus within the Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe research portfolios. Drawing on a targeted subset of 158 policy-relevant projects from the CORDIS database, the analysis identifies underlying thematic structures and patterns of collaboration. The results show that dual-component integration (BC, CH or BH) predominates across the portfolio, while BCH relevance remains relatively rare, identifying in only 28 projects. Despite this, average project-level indicators (e.g. funding & consortium size) remain largely unchanged across dual-component and BCH relevance projects. Differences become more apparent at the thematic level, where BCH relevance is associated with ecosystem services, urban health, and nature-based solutions, whereas dual-component projects are more concentrated in circular-economy and climate-oriented domains. Research centres and higher education institutions were the predominant organisation types however, integrated BCH projects, exhibited greater involvement of private-sector organisations but lower representation of public-sector compared with dual-component projects, underscoring the need for stronger public-sector engagement to support policy translation. Together, these findings underscore the need for more balanced, cross-sectoral research strategies that strengthen biodiversity-climate-health relevance and support the translation of nature-based and other integrated approaches into coordinated and actionable policy frameworks.
