Abstract
The concept of nature-based solutions (NBS) gained popularity within mainstream sustainability research agendas due to the potential to provide multifunctional solutions for resilient urban futures. Urban NBS are diverse in scale and forms (from green belts to urban parks or rain gardens) and are emerging as a means to expand the capacity of urban environments to deliver ecologically sound and socially desirable outcomes. However, the concept has been subject to serious criticism that it is detached from the real challenges regarding implementation and management, limiting the ability to deliver the most value for urban transformation–the regeneration of urban environments. This shortcoming highlights the need and opportunity to improve design-related knowledge of planning which could have an impact on the application of urban NBS and its embedding in the urban environment. The ‘three lines of work’ regenerative design tool (Mang P, Haggard B (2016) Regenerative Development and Design: A Framework for Evolving Sustainability. Wiley) is applied to develop a design framework for urban NBS to holistically examine the critical dimensions that influence concept and implementation. This analysis demonstrates the relevance of interrelated design dimensions for embedding NBS in the urban environment with diverse uses and actions, resulting in an urbanity where streets and buildings can be transformed into living eco-systems.
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Acknowledgements
I wish to express sincere acknowledgments to Prof. László Pintér, Prof. Katalin Szende, and Dr. Alexander van der Jagt for their valuable support in completing this research. I greatly appreciate the support of the research groups that helped me to organize the field visits: Centre for Economic and Regional Studies of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, LABSIMURB of Politecnico di Milano and Centre for Urban Research of RMIT University. The site visits were sponsored by the Central European University Foundation. This research project was part of NATURVATION, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under grant agreement No. 730243.
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Boros, J. (2023). The Design Framework of Urban Nature-Based Solutions for Regenerative Transformation. In: Faircloth, B., Pedersen Zari, M., Thomsen, M.R., Tamke, M. (eds) Design for Climate Adaptation. UIA 2023. Sustainable Development Goals Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-36320-7_23
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