Taking Nature-based Solutions to the Next Level

Presentation: Speech
Date: 20 October 2021
Location: online | Dordrecht, Netherlands
Speech: McKenna Davis

The climate crisis is impacting cities and communities across the globe. As extreme weather events become increasingly frequent, cities must work together to find effective nature-based solutions (NBS) to adapt to their changing climates. As lead partner in the BEGIN project, the Dutch city of Dodrecht welcomed cities, practitioners, researchers and citizens to join the conversation on the future of livable cities. To this end, the NEXT LEVEL 2021 conference was held as a hybrid event on the 20th of October 2021. Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis was invited as an expert to present on NBS governance and policy.

After a warm welcome from the city of Dordrecht, a panel session was convened with a variety of experts from research and practice. The discussion was structured in an interactive talk show format and focused around creating livable cities – highlighting the state of the art and current practices as well as future opportunities. These themes were explored through presentations by McKenna Davis (remote participation), as well as Ellen Kelder (City of Dordrecht), Magnar Sekse (City of Bergen), and Lien Engels (City of Antwerp), Eva Naessens (City of Ghent), Paul Sayers (Sayers and Partners), and Jens Thoms Ivarsson (Rain Gothenburg), followed by a lively discussion with the audience. The panel was followed by four parallel sessions to dive deeper into the topics of: Climate Change Adaptation & NBS; People, Society and NBS; Health, Wellbeing & NBS; and ‘Re-greening cities for multiple benefits'.

In her presentation, McKenna Davis first introduced the current state of the art regarding urban NBS governance and highlighted the associated complexities, trade-offs, and need for cross-sectoral collaboration and policy mixes. While there is no one-sized-fits-all approach to governance, she stressed the importance of involving a diversity of stakeholders at various stages of NBS – from conception through implementation and maintenance. After outlining key gaps and remaining challenges, McKenna Davis concluded with potential pathways for accelerating action through governance innovation, such as by creating more inclusive, reflexive and/or policycentric NBS governance.

The full agenda of the event and McKenna Davis's presentation are available for download.

Participation is Key – at the right time

18 - 20 October 2023
Doris Knoblauch

Publication:Video

The CLEVER Cities Guidance is an online platform conceptualized by Ecologic Institute to give you unique insight into the multifaceted world of sustainable urban development. This introductory video aims to raise not only the interest but also the engagement of stakeholders from local governments, the academic community and the public and to bridge the gap between the different target groups. The video takes you through the CLEVER Cities Guidance, clearly highlighting the concrete contribution it makes in the context of sustainable urban development.

CLEVER Cities Guidance

Year 2023

Publication:Website

The CLEVER Cities Guidance online platform developed by Ecologic Institute features insights, tools, indicators and lessons learned about nature-based solutions (NBS) emerging out of the CLEVER Cities project and its nine partner cities. Filling a gap in available resources, the Guidance focuses on (1) policy and planning strategies, (2) how to generate and measure social impacts of NBS, and (3) approaches for co-creation and engaging stakeholders.

CLEVER Cities Guidance

clever-guidance.clevercities.eu

Year 2023

Presentation:Chairing

Interactive session with Natalia Burgos (Researcher at Ecologic Institute), Santiago Sandoval (Secretary of Environment of Quito) and Agnieszka Arabas (Team Coordinator for Environment and Spatial Management, Krakow Metropolitan Area).

The CLEVER Cities project's final conference "Nature in the City – Advancing social impact through nature-based solutions (NBS)" was held on 26 and 27 September 2023. McKenna Davis, Senior Fellow at Ecologic Institute, moderated the session "Putting Theory into Practice: Mainstreaming Nature-based Solutions into Policy". The session explored the fundamental question: How can we integrate NBS into the fabric of urban policy and governance to bridge the gap between theory and action?

Putting Theory into Practice: Mainstreaming Nature-based Solutions into Policy

26 - 27 September 2023
McKenna Davis

Presentation:Speech

On 4 July 2022, McKenna Davis from the Ecologic Institute spoke to the 2nd step of this methodology: EXPLORING existing urban greening policies, plans and regulations to identify gaps and understand local needs. Representing the CLEVER Cities project, she provided insights on how to ensure coherent and coordinated policymaking and align objectives across sectors and policies. She also highlighted relevant EU policies and initiatives supporting nature-based solutions to contextualise local action towards NBS mainstreaming.

Mainstreaming Nature-based Solutions

4 July 2022
McKenna Davis

Presentation:Speech

The Urban Agenda for the EU recognizes the importance of nature-based solutions as tools for sustainable recovery and development. Yet implementation and mainstreaming at city level remain limited. Can the European Green Deal support these efforts? What role can European research projects play? To answer these questions, McKenna Davis was invited as an expert to contribute to the European Urban Knowledge Network’s (EUKN) Policy Lab on 'The Urban Agenda for the EU, its 'green' actions and the European Green Deal'. The 18 March 2021 event aimed to unravel the 'green' actions of the Urban Agenda for the EU and develop concrete messages for the ministers under Slovenia's Presidency on how to support cities dealing with regulatory obstacles when trying to reach environmental goals.

The Urban Agenda for the EU, its 'Green' Actions and the European Green Deal

18 March 2021
McKenna Davis

Publication:Policy Brief

The multifunctional character of nature-based solutions enables them to provide responses to both social and environmental challenges. This policy brief provides gaps and opportunities to sustainable urban development through NBS at local and national as well as EU and international level. It also analyses local needs from the European and international levels.

Gaps and Opportunities to Sustainable Urban Development through Nature-based Solutions

CLEVER Cities Policy Brief

Year 2020

Publication:Report

This report by Ecologic Institute explores the extent to which current policy frameworks support sustainable urban development and nature-based solutions (NBS). It reveals that a variety of different terms are used across countries in policies and discourses in support of sustainable urban development, with green (and blue) infrastructure being the most frequently used. However, while many policies were shown to have strong explicit support for sustainable urban development, these often lack mandatory policy instruments.

Multi-level Policy Framework for Sustainable Urban Development and Nature-based Solutions – Status quo, gaps and opportunities

CLEVER Cities Deliverable 1.2

Year 2019

Publication:Report

This deliverable explores four key social and economic facets of NBS in the context of urban regeneration, namely: human health and well-being; sustainable economic prosperity; social cohesion and environmental justice; and citizen safety. It defines each concept and proposes indicators for measuring their impact in order to create a shared understanding and common approach within the CLEVER Cities project. Purely environmental aspects and indicators are beyond the scope of this document and are explored elsewhere in the project.

Defining Key Concepts and Associated Indicators to Measure NBS Impact on Urban Regeneration within CLEVER Cities

CLEVER Cities Deliverable 1.1.4

Year 2018

Event: Next Level 2021
Organizer: European Regional Development Fund, Interreg IIIB North Sea Programme (ERDF, North Sea Programme), International

City of Dordrecht, Netherlands
Speech: McKenna Davis
Date: 20 October 2021
Location: online | Dordrecht, Netherlands
Language: English
Project: Co-designing Locally-tailored Ecological Solutions for Value-added, Socially Inclusive Regeneration in Cities (CLEVER Cities)
Project ID: 2812
Keywords: Adaptation

Cities

Climate

Governance

Nature-based Solutions and Green Infrastructure

nature-based solutions, cities, urban, climate change adaptation, resilience, governance, policy

Presentation slides

Davis-NextLevel-2021-web.pdf (946.63 KB)

Attachments

NEXT-LEVEL-2021-Programme.pdf (405.5 KB)

Further Links

PublicationWeb ApplicationUrban Nature Atlas – NATURVATION

Urban Nature Atlas

So far, the Urban Nature Atlas has collected evidence on 1000 nature-based solutions (NBS) interventions. With that, it provides the most comprehensive basis for the analysis of socio-economic and innovation patterns associated with urban NBS in Europe. Ecologic... Read more

Ecologic Institute 2018: Urban Nature Atlas – NATURVATION. URL: https://naturvation.eu/atlas

NewsCreating Green Cities – NATURVATION Podcast

ProjectHorizon 2020Nature Based Urban Innovation (NATURVATION)

Nature is important for the urban environment: trees grant shade during the summer months, while parks and lakes function as areas for relaxation, as places where the urban population comes together, and as space where children can experience nature and learn about it... Read more

Nature Based Urban Innovation (NATURVATION)

Duration: Nov 2016 - Oct 2020
Funding: European Commission, Directorate-General Research & Innovation (DG Research & Innovation), International

PublicationWebsiteNATURVATION – cities – nature – innovation

The NATURVATION Project has launched its website, which offers information on the project, nature-based solutions, six city profiles and much more. Alongside news and information about the project, the new website includes a blog, which will update readers on... Read more

NATURVATION Consortium (2017): NATURVATION. cities – nature – innovation. Website. URL: https://naturvation.eu/

ProjectHorizon 2020International Cooperation to Restore and Connect Urban Environments in Latin America and Europe (INTERLACE)

Photo: Ewa Iwaszuk

Cities and their peripheries are constantly confronted with challenges such as urban sprawl, climate change and pollution. These processes can exacerbate the degradation of natural ecosystems, and jeopardize ecosystem service provisioning with negative consequences for... Read more

International Cooperation to Restore and Connect Urban Environments in Latin America and Europe (INTERLACE)

Duration: Sep 2020 - Feb 2025
Funding: European Commission, Directorate-General Research & Innovation (DG Research & Innovation), International

ProjectClimate Mitigation Through Nature-Based-Solutions in Urban Poland - Fostering Awareness and Capacity (ClimateNBS Polska)

Many Polish cities are undergoing intense development, which is placing investment pressure on undeveloped land. Individual sites would be able to deliver on urban climate change mitigation and reduce GHG emissions, with the resulting social, economic and environmental... Read more

Climate Mitigation Through Nature-Based-Solutions in Urban Poland - Fostering Awareness and Capacity (ClimateNBS Polska)

Duration: Nov 2018 - Nov 2020
Funding: Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), Germany

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), Germany

PublicationBookAddressing Climate Change in Cities – Catalogue of urban nature-based solutions

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are solutions that are inspired and supported by nature. They can be used in urban settings to complement or replace "traditional" or "grey" solutions to perform functions, such as thermal insulation and stormwater retention and filtration.... Read more

English version: Iwaszuk, E., Rudik, G., Duin, L., Mederake, L., Davis, M., Naumann, S., Wagner, I., 2019: Addressing Climate Change in Cities. Catalogue of Urban Nature-Based Solutions. Ecologic Institute, the Sendzimir Foundation: Berlin, Krakow.

Polish version: Iwaszuk, E., Rudik, G., Duin, L., Mederake, L., Davis, M., Naumann, S., Wagner, I., 2019: Błękitno-zielona
infrastruktura dla łagodzenia zmian klimatu w miastach. Katalog techniczny. Ecologic Institute, Fundacja Sendzimira: Berlin, Krakow.

PublicationReportAddressing Climate Change in Cities – Policy Instruments to Promote Urban Nature-based Solutions

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are solutions that are inspired and supported by nature. They can be used in urban settings to complement or replace "traditional" or "grey" solutions to social and environmental challenges, such as air pollution, the heat island effect,... Read more

Naumann, S., Davis, M., Iwaszuk, E., Freundt, M., Mederake, L., 2020: Addressing climate change in cities – Policy instruments to promote urban nature-based solutions. Ecologic Institute, the Sendzimir Foundation: Berlin, Krakow.

Naumann, S., Davis, M., Iwaszuk, E., Freundt, M., Mederake, L., 2020: Błękitno-zielona infrastruktura dla łagodzenia zmian klimatu w miastach. Narzędzia strategiczne. Ecologic Institute, Fundacja Sendzimira: Berlin, Krakow.