Cities worldwide are turning to co-production approaches to manage flood risk, yet fundamental disagreements persist among stakeholders about who is responsible for protection and who deserves it. While co-production promises more widespread adaptation measures through citizen involvement, especially on private land, its justice implications remain poorly understood, particularly regarding the distribution of responsibility for flood security across state and non-state actors. This study examines these tensions through the case of Amsterdam Weerproof, a local climate adaptation network (LCAN) mobilizing civil society and businesses to climate-proof the city through Nature-based Solutions (NbS). Using Q-Methodology with 24 stakeholders, including municipal officials, private companies, and NGO representatives, this research maps divergent viewpoints on just flood adaptation. Three distinct discourses emerged: 1) private-led and market-driven; 2) community-led and justice-driven; and 3) individual-led and participation-driven. These competing visions generate significant tensions around two core issues: the role of municipal authorities (facilitator versus active coordinator), and the importance of justice considerations in targeting adaptation measures. In contrast, the analysis of consensus statements revealed three possible areas of convergence, namely: 1) a shared sense of urgency; 2) a shared appreciation for nature-based interventions; and 3) a focus on voluntary actions. The findings demonstrate that pursuing climate justice is inseparable from reconciling divergent viewpoints about responsibility for adaptation. As other cities adopt similar approaches, these results offer guidance for navigating stakeholder tensions: achieving just co-produced adaptation ultimately requires grappling with the contested question of responsibility and the obligations of local governments towards safeguarding their most vulnerable residents.

Schools play a central role in children’s daily lives and are well-positioned to foster direct interactions with nature and reduce inequities in residential green space access. School-related green and blue infrastructure, including green elements in schoolyards and green and blue spaces visited during school hours, offers various opportunities for children to engage with nature. However, school staff experience several barriers to organising outdoor, nature-based activities. Despite the growing literature on these challenges, enabling factors remain poorly understood and equity issues are often overlooked. This research examines how use patterns of school-related green and blue infrastructure, as well as barriers and enablers to organising nature-based outdoor activities, vary across schools with different socio-economic profiles and school types. We combine data from a map-based survey of 72 schools in the Brussels Capital Region with 10 semi-structured interviews with primary school directors and teachers. Our analysis reveals that use of green spaces outside school premises is not significantly associated with schools’ socio-economic profile. However, compared to public schools, charter schools tend to organise more frequent and diverse nature-based outdoor activities. As school staff increasingly rely on well-maintained nearby public green spaces, their scarcity remains a major barrier to organising nature-based activities, particularly in deprived schools. Effective strategies for ensuring greater equity in outdoor learning include upscaling schoolyard greening initiatives, improving access to nearby public green spaces - particularly near deprived schools -, and strengthening school staff training.

Contact with nature has been weakly integrated into the 15-minute city concept, and children have largely been overlooked as pedestrians. A primary pathway for strengthening daily contact with nature may be visual exposure to greenery (VEG) along walking routes. The study jointly analyses children's pedestrian accessibility to urban amenities and the greenness of their walking routes, and examines spatial variations in these combined characteristics across urban zones within a 15-minute city framework. We applied network and viewshed analyses to spatially explicit data on the residential locations of the entire population of children aged 7-15 (N = 48,266) living in Lodz, Poland. This enabled us to assess potential walking accessibility, defined as the shortest walking routes from children's homes to eight types of urban amenities, as well as VEG along these routes in both close-up and distant views. We found a common tension between urban density and greenery: the more densely built-up an area, the more convenient the access to urban amenities, but the lower the VEG. However, the trade-off between greenery and densification is more nuanced. Post-socialist multifamily housing estates offer a promising balance, providing both walkable access to amenities and VEG for children. An integrated planning approach should move beyond proximity alone and allow for a more nuanced understanding of contact with greenery, explicitly accounting for seeing greenery during everyday walking trips. Context-sensitive planning is therefore necessary to capture the relationships between walking accessibility and VEG, and to better integrate proximity-based planning with urban greening strategies.

A growing body of research has identified multiple health and well-being benefits of exposure and access to green infrastructure by older adults living in cities. Existing studies, however, largely focus on the older population living in their own homes. Green Infrastructure within and around residential care facilities (RCFs)-also known as nursing/care/senior homes/centres, where older adults with reduced autonomy and mobility often relocate-remains understudied. This research addresses this knowledge gap by spatially assessing exposure and access to green infrastructure among 129 RCFs in the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium, and examining its equity implications. We employed five indicators to identify the spatial patterns of green infrastructure within and around RCFs and conducted correlation analyses and spatial regression models to examine socio-environmental inequities, considering the three different management types (public, non-profit, for-profit) and their affordability (monthly fees). Results show that overall RCFs have access to a substantial amount of greenery within RCF settings, but very scarce surrounding green infrastructure, highlighting the importance of multi-dimensional assessments. The spatial patterns also show a prevalent lack of surrounding green infrastructure in RCFs located in urban core areas (p < 0.01). Public RCFs generally offer higher green infrastructure exposure (p < 0.001), but their availability (n = 27) is limited. For-profit RCFs (n = 81) are more numerous, with a significant negative correlation between greater exposure to green infrastructure and affordability (p < 0.05), meaning that more expensive for-profit RCFs are generally greener. Our findings suggest that the ongoing privatisation of RCFs in Brussels and other cities may turn access to green infrastructure into a privilege for wealthier older adults.

Previous literature extensively documents the multifaceted benefits of Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) for children's physical, mental, and social well-being, while also recognizing the limited UGI access for children in urban areas due to safety concerns, parental constraints, and the uneven UGI spatial distribution. Although prior studies have highlighted the challenges associated with evaluating UGI accessibility and its incorporation into urban planning, and some reviews have explored its implications for children’s health, a comprehensive review of methodological approaches specifically designed to assess children’s accessibility to UGI remains lacking. This systematic review analyzes 638 studies on UGI accessibility (including 80 focused on children) to first outline the most prevalent UGI accessibility dimensions, encompassing physical accessibility (e.g., proximity), perceived accessibility (e.g., perceived barriers), and sensory accessibility (e.g., views). Second, the review classifies methodologies used to assess these accessibility dimensions into two groups: Environmental Data Analyses (EDA) (e.g., physical distance analyses) and Participant Data Analyses (PDA) (e.g., questionnaires), and discusses each in detail. Findings from both general and children-focused studies reveal several limitations in current methodologies of assessing children’s accessibility to UGI. There is a lack of consideration of physical barriers (e.g., stairs), sensory factors (e.g., views), and the absence of validated questionnaires to assess perceived accessibility. This review introduces a conceptual framework that combines EDA and PDA to advance assessments of children’s accessibility to UGI. It addresses key methodological gaps by linking specific methods to each physical, perceived, and sensory dimension, indicating their usage frequency, and striving for more equitable, child-friendly urban environments.

Transforming school environments into nature-based climate shelters not only promotes cooling and greening under extreme heat, but also fosters quality education, ecological restoration, empowerment and reconnection with nature, and provides children with healthier, safer, more playful, equitable and climate-proof spaces.

Urban areas, characterized by dense construction, often exhibit elevated land surface temperatures, leading to the formation of urban heat islands (UHIs). These UHIs pose significant environmental hazards, contributing to issues such as heat-related mortality, degraded air quality, and elevated heat stress on biodiversity and ecosystems. Moreover, the impact of UHIs is not uniformly distributed due to the heterogeneous nature of urban landscapes and socio-spatial inequities influencing factors like impervious surfaces and vegetation cover. Urban green infrastructure is increasingly valued as a nature-based solution to mitigate UHIs, offering essential ecosystem services (ES) like urban heat mitigation. To analyze the relationship between users' access and dependence on these benefits, we propose a modeling approach that integrates remote sensing, field, and socio-demographic data, along with Artificial Intelligence for Environment and Sustainability (ARIES) and GIS tools. This approach incorporates: i) indicators of UHI exposure and urban heat vulnerability indices; ii) spatial quantification of the supply and demand of urban green infrastructure related to ES for UHI mitigation; iii) spatially explicit (mis)matches of ES supply and demand balance and iv) coupled modelling. We applied it in the ‘green’ city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, in the Basque Country as a case study. Our findings evidence the unequal distribution of UHI burdens, with individuals vulnerable to heat experiencing disproportionate impacts, including higher exposure and limited access to temperature-regulating ES. This mismatch between the supply and demand of ES particularly affects disadvantaged communities. Conversely, areas associated with higher income levels indicate reduced vulnerability to heat. Incorporating environmental justice principles into UHI mitigation strategies is essential to ensure equitable outcomes for all residents. By considering the socio-spatial inequalities associated with supply-demand mismatches in ES and their impact on vulnerability to heat, our approach enables evidence-based decision-making and spatial prioritization to address the specific needs of vulnerable populations.

As cities grapple with the escalating challenges of urban heat and its impacts on vulnerable populations, particularly older adults, green spaces are increasingly promoted as effective urban cooling solutions. However, despite the extensive literature on people's access to and preferences for urban green spaces, little is known about the perception and use of these spaces as nature-based climate shelters on hot days, especially by older adults. This study focuses on Barcelona, a Mediterranean city facing rising temperatures, to explore older adults' patterns of use and preferences for urban green spaces on hot days. The research aims to: 1) analyze heat coping behaviors, emphasizing visits to urban green spaces; 2) identify crucial characteristics of green spaces for older adults; and 3) assess variations in behaviors and preferences based on socio-demographic factors. The study leverages survey data from 291 older adult residents, combining face-to-face and online formats. Results indicate that 54 % of older adults use urban green spaces for cooling on hot days, with preferences for morning or evening visits. Factors influencing non-visitation include perceived lack of thermal comfort, noisiness or crowdedness, and proximity issues. Alternative heat coping strategies include staying at home, traveling to cooler areas outside the city, visiting blue spaces, or air-conditioned indoor facilities. Preferred green space characteristics include abundant shade, leafy vegetation, accessibility factors (e.g., walkability), urban furniture (e.g., benches), and water features. Socio-demographic differences reveal higher green space use among younger age groups and residents in certain districts. Mobility limitations and lower education levels influence preferences, with mobility-challenged individuals prioritizing accessibility aspects. Lower-educated respondents are more likely to report barriers to accessing green spaces. These findings highlight the need for tailored urban planning strategies, considering sociodemographic variations, to mitigate heat-related health risks for older adults. By prioritizing green space accessibility, enhancing its quality, promoting its cooling benefits, addressing cooling inequalities and integrating climate considerations in urban green planning, cities facing increasingly pressing heat challenges can create climate-resilient and inclusive green environments that prioritize the well-being of their aging populations.

Exposure to heat poses a pressing challenge in cities, with uneven health and environmental impacts across the urban fabric. To assess disparities in heat vulnerability and its environmental justice implications, we model supply-demand mismatches for the ecosystem service (ES) urban temperature regulation. We integrated remote sensing, health, and socio-demographic data with Artificial Intelligence for Environment and Sustainability (ARIES) and geographical information system tools. We computed composite indicators at the census tract level for urban cooling supply, and vulnerability to heat as a measure of demand. We do so in the context of the mid-size city of Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country (Europe). We mapped relative mismatches after identifying and analysed their relationship with socio-demographic and health factors. Our findings show disparities in heat vulnerability, with increased exposure observed among socio-economically disadvantaged communities, the elderly, and people with health issues. Areas associated with higher income levels show lower ES mismatches, indicating higher temperature regulation supply and reduced heat vulnerability. The results point at the need for nature-based heat mitigation interventions that especially focus on the more socio-economically disadvantaged communities.

Abstract The COVID‐19 outbreak triggered a combined health, social and economic crisis, imposing multiple restrictions that altered the use and perception of public green and blue spaces (PGBS). In this article, we explored how the different stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic restrictions affected the use and perceptions of public greenspaces and seafront in gentrifying neighbourhoods, focusing specifically on women and non‐binary residents. We conducted a comparative analysis of two densely populated neighbourhoods in Barcelona, Spain, employing a participatory mixed‐methods approach including surveys, focus groups, participatory walks and semi‐structured interviews. We collected the perceptions from women and non‐binary residents for the pre‐pandemic period, the lockdown period and the period during the post‐lockdown gradual ease of restrictions. Our findings reveal that during the COVID‐19 lockdown, the use of neighbourhood PGBS was maintained or intensified, highlighting the existing deficit in the denser areas of the city. However, post‐lockdown, use patterns changed, with differences based on neighbourhood characteristics and gentrification pressures. This suggests that while COVID‐19 seemed to temporarily impact how people used PGBS, these changes were rapidly reversed once mobility restrictions were lifted. During and after the pandemic, PGBS facilitated informal care networks and community cohesion that helped residents endure the impacts of the pandemic, but the return of gentrification and touristification pressures disrupted these networks, heightening feelings of displacement and exclusion among women and non‐binary residents. The research underscores the dual role of PGBS as both essential community spaces and sites of exclusion, emphasizing the need for inclusive and just green planning strategies. Policy implications. Urban planning must prioritize the quality and accessibility of PGBS with a gender‐sensitive approach and address broader issues of gentrification and touristification to protect vulnerable populations. An environmentally just greening approach should consider proximity, safety, accessibility and design to facilitate the use of PGBS by socially vulnerable groups. Read the free Plain Language Summary for this article on the Journal blog.

With the branding of a city as green increasingly serving to amplify attractiveness andinvestment while also contributing to patterns of green gentrification, the incentive to link real estate development and green space is growing. Yet, little is known about the extent to which this incentive has generated a spatial relationship between green space and newly constructed housing at the city-wide level and in ways that can be compared between cities. This gap in knowledge makes it difficult to precisely indicate the implications for housing rights, affordability, and broader goals of urban green justice. In response, this study explores quantitative trends in 26 mid-sized North American and European cities, utilizing greening and real estate data from the last three decades. Results show that greening becomes a more significant driver of development over time and operates to attract development in a growing number of cities, although more so in US cities. Next, in order to contextualize the quantitative results, we employ qualitative field data gathered through field work in Atlanta and Amsterdam. We contrast the greening and development trajectories of these cities by examining implications for housing rights and social justice, accounting for the fact that those cities exhibit different green gentrification trends, as demonstrated in the literature. Green gentrification is indeed a proxy for understanding housing justice impli- cations in the relationship between greening and development. We find that Amsterdam's legacy of housing rights and policies acts as a protection against growing inequities embedded in the relationship between urban greening, development, and gentrification. In contrast, Atlanta embodies patterns of historic racial segregation and continued gentrification of Black neighborhoods which urban greening has further intensified. This analysis shows that greening can attract real estate development across a city, but the implications need not always be harmful to social equity.

Environmental justice considerations in ecosystem service research have increased in recent years, especially in urban assessments. Many studies have focused on the unequal distribution of urban green infrastructure and related ecosystem services from a residential perspective. However, for certain population groups, such as children, considering other frequently visited urban settings (e.g. school environments) is also essential to assess distributive environmental justice. While there is an increasing number of studies measuring children's access and exposure to green infrastructure in school environments, most of these assessments rely on coarse metrics of greenness (e.g. NDVI). In this research, we propose a multi-indicator distributive justice approach to assess schools' outdoor environmental quality. More specifically, our study examines the spatial distribution of nine school-related socio-environmental indicators, including green infrastructure elements (n = 3), regulating ecosystem services (n = 2), environmental hazards (n = 2), and socio-economic background (n = 2) for nearly all primary school settings (n = 408) located in the Brussels Capital Region, Belgium. Bivariate and spatial regression analyses show that schoolchildren from wealthier families usually attend schools with greener and better outdoor environmental quality, generally characterized by more vegetation in and around the school settings, higher levels of regulating ecosystem services provision, and lower exposure to environmental hazards. We argue that addressing these multi-faceted environmental disparities should be prioritized when planning new school greening initiatives.

Incorporating societal considerations into decisions related to invasive species management is desirable, but can be challenging because it requires a solid understanding of the ecological functions and socio-cultural and economic benefits and values of the invaded environment before and after invasion. The ecosystem service (ES) concept was designed to facilitate such decision-making by establishing direct connections between ecosystem properties and human well-being, but its application in invasive species management has not been systematic. In this Discussion paper, we propose the adoption of the ES cascade model as a framework for understanding the environmental effects, costs and benefits associated with controlling an invasive shrub (Tamarix spp.) in riparian systems of the western United States. The cascade model has the advantage of explicitly dissecting social-ecological systems into five components: ecosystem structure and processes, ecological functions, ecosystem services, benefits and the economic and socio-cultural valuation of these services and benefits. The first two have received significant attention in the evaluation of Tamarix control effectiveness. The last three have long been implicitly acknowledged over decades of Tamarix management in the region, but have not been formally accounted for, which we believe would increase the effectiveness, accountability and transparency of management efforts.

As assessing urban ecosystem services and disservices is of rapidly growing interest in a context of increasingly urbanized environments, greater scholarly attention needs to be placed on how different informants perceive these services and disservices. Previous research in urban geography and planning has already pointed at the challenges of building inclusive natural outdoor environments such as green and blue spaces in gentrifying neighborhoods, particularly those undergoing green gentrification. In response, we analyze the ecosystem services and disservices identified by community and state respondents in seven cities with gentrifying neighborhoods, pronounced social inequalities, and where natural outdoor environments were created or improved: Amsterdam, Bristol, Cleveland, Lyon, Montreal, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. We found that in cities experiencing green gentrification, interviewees - particularly community informants - reported a wide array of ecosystem services and disservices, and identified some disservices previously under-studied (i.e. physical tiredness, low attractiveness and forced displacement). Our study illustrates how differences in decision making positions can impact perceptions of ecosystem services and disservices. Our study has implications for urban environmental planning decisions that will help maximize the ecosystem services provided by urban natural outdoor environments. Only if all perceived ecosystem services and disservices are considered, will it be possible to design green just cities.

The governance of urban forests as nature-based solutions (UF-NBS) in cities presents numerous challenges for public officials as different socio-cultural, environmental, political, and economic priorities must be bridged. In this context, co-production emerges as a collaborative approach that brings together stakeholders from various sectors to generate new knowledge and address challenges at the intersection of policy, practice, and research. This study aims to investigate the experiences and perspectives of public officials involved in the design, implementation, and governance of co-production for UF-NBS. Based on 22 semi-structured interviews conducted in seven European cities, we show that public officials generally have a positive perception of applying co-production in the context of UF-NBS and express willingness to adopt the approach in the future. Meanwhile, the findings also point to important lessons such as professional facilitation, early participation, participation in networks, institutionalised planning, and the use of platforms for knowledge exchange for successfully exercising UF-NBS co-production.