How to spread successful nature-based solutions?

How to spread successful nature-based solutions?

24 November 2021

Nature-based solutions are great because they can be small in scale, and easily repeated in other locations. The successes achieved by proGIreg’s leading cities Turin, Zagreb, Dortmund and Ningbo provide great guidelines and lessons for others keen to green post-industrial sites.

The proGIreg nature-based solutions are flexible as they can be used as additions to the existing green infrastructure and when implemented together with local stakeholders they meet the needs and demands of the end users. These solutions are designed to provide a multitude of benefits to contribute to the overall socio-economic regeneration of areas. ProGIreg’s tried and tested solutions will be implemented in the cities that have closely followed this process Cascais, Cluj-Napoca, Piraeus and Zenica, enabling them to create approaches that are comprehensive. This transfer process is captured in a framework, to help others also utilise the nature-based solutions. The framework will entail methodology and demonstrate the adaptability of nature-based solutions to specific contexts, embedding them in local planning processes, fostering citizens’ ownership of the solutions.

The proGIreg ‘follower cities’ have identified areas for potential implementation and explored which solutions would be suitable. Currently partners in the cities are consulting local stakeholders, and organising workshops and surveys to analyse needs. The next steps will entail analysis of workshop and survey results and planning for follow-up meetings. The final urban plans developed will entail the involvement of local decision makers to help integrate the nature-based solutions to local planning frameworks. The proGIreg team has supported the process in the cities by providing a set of tools and instruments to guide them through the nature-based solutions implementation. The co-design guidelines, a roadmap and replication toolkit are easy to follow guides for the cities and others interested to regenerate urban areas with nature-based solutions.

Throughout proGIreg it has been apparent that collaboration is key. ProGIreg cities are engaged in a collaborative process at two levels: (1) international collaboration between the leading and following cities, learning from past experiences and exchanging information of the current work, and (2) local collaboration between the city/municipality and local communities, stakeholders, and relevant local actors.

Learn more about the work on spreading the nature-based solutions of proGIreg in the recent case-study paper "Collaboration in planning nature-based solutions: Replication tools for place-based urban regeneration". ProGireg presented the paper and major findings at the 57th ISOCARP World Planning Congress "Planning Unlocked - new times, better places, stronger communities", held in Doha, Qatar.

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 innovation action programme under grant agreement no. 776528. The sole responsibility for the content of this website lies with the proGIreg project and in no way reflects the views of the European Union.