Nature-Based Solutions in Urban Areas: A European Analysis

Currently, the world is facing resource scarcity as the environmental impacts of human intervention continue to intensify. To facilitate the conservation and recovery of ecosystems and to transform cities into more sustainable, intelligent, regenerative, and resilient environments, the concepts of circularity and nature-based solutions (NbS) are applied. The role of NbS within green infrastructure in urban resilience is recognised, and considerable efforts are being made by the European Commission (EC) to achieve the European sustainability goals. However, it is not fully evidenced, in an integrated way, which are the main NbS implemented in the urban environment and their effects. This article aims to identify the main and most recent NbS applied in urban environments at the European level and to analyse the integration of different measures as an innovative analysis based on real cases. For this purpose, this work presents a literature review of 69 projects implemented in 24 European cities, as well as 8 urban actions and 3 spatial scales of implementation at the district level. Therefore, there is great potential for NbS adoption in buildings and their surroundings, which are still not prioritized, given the lack of effective monitoring of the effects of NbS.

Automated summary

Currently, the world is facing resource scarcity due to intensified environmental impacts of human intervention. The concepts of circularity and nature-based solutions (NbS) are being applied to conserve ecosystems and transform cities into more sustainable and resilient environments. However, there is a lack of integrated evidence on the main NbS implemented in urban environments and their effects. This article aims to identify and analyze the integration of different NbS measures in European cities based on real cases, highlighting the potential for NbS adoption in buildings and their surroundings.