Urban forests as nature-based solutions: State of the art
Online
CLEARING HOUSE is an EU funded H2020 project providing evidence and tools to facilitate the mobilisation of the full potential of urban forest-based solutions (UF-NBS) for rehabilitating, reconnecting and restoring urban ecosystems.
The main aim of this first event was to promote research findings on Urban Forest Nature Based Solutions (UFNBS) that had been undertaken during the first stage of CLEARING HOUSE. The contents of the webinar included the EU Research and innovation agenda on Nature-based solutions, current UF-NBS practices in Europe and China and its scientific literature; contextual data about China; an analysis of governance, institutional and economic frameworks in Europe and China; the idea of Urban Forest as nature-based solutions; and an analysis of societal perceptions towards forests in Europe and China.
Contents
This project addresses a global challenge that unites European and Chinese cities in their quest to develop more resilient cities and liveable societies in order to improve human wellbeing. Their main focus is on tree-based green infrastructure which is the basis for “urban forests as nature-based solutions”.
Urban Forests as nature-based solutions (UF-NBS) are a subset of nature-based solutions that build on tree-based urban ecosystems to address societal challenges, simultaneously providing ecosystem services for human well-being and biodiversity benefits. UF-NBS include peri-urban and urban forests, forested parks, small woods in urban areas, and trees in public and private spaces.
This series of webinars based on CLEARING HOUSE products and activities and will be held from now on and over the forthcoming two years in order to provide knowledge insights showcasing results from the project.
- First session. Urban forests nature-based solutions: State of the art
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The main aim of this first event was to promote research findings on Urban Forest Nature Based Solutions (UFNBS) that had been undertaken during the first stage of CLEARING HOUSE.
The contents of the webinar included the EU Research and innovation agenda on Nature-based solutions, current UF-NBS practices in Europe and China and its scientific literature; contextual data about China; an analysis of governance, institutional and economic frameworks in Europe and China; the idea of Urban Forest as nature-based solutions; and an analysis of societal perceptions towards forests in Europe and China.
CRONOGRAM OF FOLLOWING WEBINARS
• Decision support for UF-NBS – introducing application & benchmarking tools (1st trimester 2022)
• Engaging less-privileged groups in UF-NBS planning and management – introducing a guideline on stakeholder mechanisms (1st trimester 2023)
• Effective UF-NBS delivery – introducing a guideline on management, policy and planning (1st trimester 2023)
• UF-NBS business models and investment cases – introducing a Sustainable Business Model Investment Approach to UF-NBS (2nd trimester 2023)
• Change management and institutional reform for UF-NBS deployment (2nd trimester 2023)
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The benefits from urban greening manifest as better good social and physical conditions, really important in the mature development of children, such as improved cardiovascular, respiratory or immune systems, as well as people with mental health disorders and intellectual disabilities that benefit from being in contact with nature.
But the building of green spaces in cities has triggered a trend in which private investors find financial value in them and displace local and vulnerable residents outside of areas of redevelopment. Green plans could be risking the lives of citizens if they don’t consider this problem and don't work with the communities that live in them leading to the increase of gender, economic and social inequalities.
Authors Galia Shokry and Isabelle Anguelovski explore the problems of environmental injustice and highlight solutions that could impact communities that approach nature to their residents in the 12 number of the Issue Papers of Metropolis. This publication explains how collaboration between metropolitan governments and residents is essential to bring fair and greener outcomes for all.
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Ariana Dickey, Cathy Oke, Judy Bush and Amy Hahs examine the impacts and development of nature in metropolitan contexts in this publication, ‘Nature in and across cities: metropolitan approaches for biodiversity’. The synthesis of their work reveals that the cooperation across different metropolitan areas is necessary to give an adequate response to the climate crisis, but it also reveals that local and regional governments by themselves can make an impact in the lives of their citizens.
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The metropolitan indicators that are measured in this paper are the Context and Governance of each of the cities, the Economic Development of the metropolitan regions, the Social Cohesion of the society, the Environmental Sustainability, and the Quality of Life their citizens are enjoying.
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The metropolitan indicators that are measured in this paper are the Context and Governance of each of the cities, the Economic Development of the metropolitan regions, the Social Cohesion of the society, the Environmental Sustainability, and the Quality of Life their citizens are enjoying.
This paper gives some insights about the largest and most populated continent containing a wide range of cultures and realities, from the Arabian Peninsula to the coastal area of the Pacific Ocean. The rapid urbanisation of its cities in the last decades is creating new challenges for governors whom this publication tries to give some key points on how to face them.
Related content
Speakers
- Georg Winkel, Head of Governance Programme, EFI Bonn
- Sofie Vandewoestijne, Project Advisor, European Research Executive Agency
- Prof Wang Chen, Professor of Urban Forest, Chinese Academy of Forestry
- Sebastian Scheuer, Humboldt Universität Berlin
- Yole de Bellis, UNIBA, Italy
- Dennis Roitsch, European Forest Institute (EFI)
- Agata Konczal, European Forest Institute (EFI)
- Clive Davies, European Forest Institute (EFI)
- Prof. Dr. Dagmar Haase, Humboldt Universität Berlin
Session date
End date
Topic
Public space and Housing
Members
