…from research and practice…
…for long-lasting projects in cities…
…bringing nature and coexistence closer together…
Our Knowledge Nuggets bring together key findings from the literature and insights from the Transformation Labs and in a curated evolving knowledge space. They support reflection and learning processes around the long-term embedding of Nature-based Solutions (NBS) projects.
Start exploring by clicking on one of the nuggets.
Move beyond current governance frameworks for NBS stewardship
Current governance models for NBS tend to be centralised, technocratic and top‑down, operating in departmental silos that fragment knowledge, resources and responsibilities – an approach ill suited to the open, dynamic and cross‑cutting nature of sustainable urban systems.
A systemic governance shift is needed: one that integrates NBS across their full life cycle through cross‑disciplinary collaboration, integrated resources, community engagement, and clear assignment of long‑term maintenance roles, supported by network‑based governance structures that build trust and shared problem‑solving. This also requires changing legislation, norms and planning procedures so that NBS stewardship moves from project‑by‑project exceptions to a durable, horizontally embedded practice.
Position and establish
Raise awareness and position NBS stewardship within politics, administration and society
Why: Urban NBS stewardship needs to be clearly positioned with a high level of awarneess to strengthen their recognistion and relevance for multiple positivesocial and climate adaptation benefits and to foster stakeholder engagement, political and institutional support.
Frame NBS in politics and administration as an integral contributions to health, social cohesion, biodiversity, and quality of life, going beyond only environmental projects.
Rise awareness for NBS with their multiple co-benefits and long-term stewardship as a core governance task in both internal municipal procedures and external communication.
Make the multiple positive socio-ecological values of NBS – such as human well-being, climate adaption and community-based activities – tangible for different audiences in policy documents, workshops, and public communication.
Use targeted social learning and communication campaigns to build a shared language or narrative around NBS as priorities for urban regeneration and nature-positive transition.
Embed NBS environmental learning in schools, community centres, and neighbourhood programmes so that NBS engagement end stewardship becomes part of everyday urban culture.
Anchor and mainstream
Establish cross-sectoral collaboration and integration of NBS into financing and regulatory frameworks (horizontal integration)
Why: Anchoring and mainstreaming of NBS stewardship as a stable part of urban governance are key to sustaining NBS over time, scaling their socio ecological benefits for transformative urban development.
Establish new forms of cooperation by bringing together municipal departments, external experts, and citizens in joint processes so that stewardship becomes a horizontally embedded practice rather than a project by project exception.
Mobilise often sidelined professional disciplines in urban development – such as landscape architects, urban ecologists, health professionals, and socio cultural practitioners – and giving them a clear mandate and voice in decision making – in order to improve the integration of urban NBSs in mainstream urban development practice.
Use cross cutting agendas such as climate change, sustainability, resilience, and health as entry points to align interests.
Embed NBS into regulatory tools, financing systems, planning instruments and procedures so that they become integral components of sustainability-orientated urban policy and planning.
Build durable interdepartemental relationships and promote institutional spaces – such as cross departmental task forces, stewardship committees, or urban greening boards – to institutionalise a system-based approach for bridging silos, to support transformative governance agendas and action.
Align and advance
Contribute to multi-level policies, use synergies and align with broader goals
(vertical integration)
Why: Aligning NBS with broader goals ensures legitimacy and long-term support while adapting policies to NBS transforms the concepts into actionable policy instruments.
Connect NBS projects and stewardship activities to existing policy programmes, strategies, and development goals, emphasising synergies with agendas such as climate mitigation and adaptation, health and social inclusion to strengten political and institutional relevance.
Embed NBS projects within larger strategic frameworks to ensure continuity, long-term-support and funding beyond individual political cycles.
Situate local NBS within regional, national, and international committments, such as the EU Green Deal, Urban Agenda for the EU, and the UN Sustainable Development Goals to legitimise local action and to reinforce such committments.
Design policy frameworks that set explicit development targets to be achieved through NBS (stewardship), so that the NBS (stewardship) concept becomes a practical guide for action rather than an abstract label.
Translate the NBS concept into planning instruments, procedures, and legislative tools for the implementation and long-term meintenance of NBS.
Learn and adapt
Shape reflective practices, flexible structures and iterative processes for continuous learning in a changing environment
Why: Ongoing organisational learning and flexible administrative routiines are important to steward NBS in dynamic urban environments advancing urban planning and governance to achieve transformative change.
Cultivate a learning organisation around NBS by local experimentation and innovation in urban NBS to explore new governance models and to advance urban planning and urban governance through learning about and with nature-based solutions.
Identify and empower early learners, knowledge brokers – inside and outside the administration – who can mediate between sectors, and disseminate lessons across governance levels.
Bridge expert and citizen knowledge across formal and informal settings to strengthen stewardship capacity and adaptive governance.
Invest in capacity-building programmes, expert guidelines, and peer‑to‑peer learning formats that bring together professionals, intermediaries, and citizens to share skills in NBS design, maintenance, and stewardship and to allow people to discover their capacity to effect change and become active partners.
Create and sustain institutional spaces and platforms – such as learning alliances, thematic networks, workshops, and data‑sharing systems – that support knowledge production and collaborative learning from successes and failures of NBS stewardship.
Embed reflexive learning in NBS governance by unsing the post‑implementation phase as an ongoing learning process in which actors regularly review experiences, adjust goals and instruments, and co‑create new solutions in agile procedures.
Keep policies and administrative routines flexible enough to accommodate new insights from NBS and to support iterative innovation in NBS stewardship.
Use monitoring and assessment (M&A) to document NBS performance and as a reflective practice that informs day‑to‑day management, long‑term planning, and policy reform.
Use collaborative arrangements and citizen involvement in M&A to close knowledge gaps, strengthen environmental justice perspectives.
Ensure that monitoring findings feed back into evidence-based decision‑making that is critical to mainstream NBS, and to support long-term stewardship.
Design NBS governance arrangements that can adapt over time, adjusting roles, relationships, and decision making structures in response to new knowledge – combining scientific, traditional, and local insights.
Create local organisational capacities – such as living labs – to underpin adaptability and to provdide institutional leeway fostering reciprocity and mutual trust to achieve transformative change.
Create government structures that are flexible, community based, and tailored to specific places and situations, enabling them to respond to stakeholder needs and the challenges that NBS address in urban environments.
Identify proof‑of‑concept learnings from pilot projects, and translate them into practical guidance, standards, and narratives that can be applied in other neighbourhoods and cities.
Use city‑to‑city and practitioner networks to exchange successes and failures, accelerate mutual learning, and systematically replicate and adapt effective NBS stewardship models across different urban contexts.
Collaborate and participate
Create collaborative systems of change and ensure inclusive, equitable participation
Why: Collaboration and participation are important to build trust, mutual engagment, and shared ownership around NBS, which in turn improve long‑term care and self-management and enscure environemtal justice.
Strengthen community and trust building by helping local stakeholders form cohesive networks around shared interests and visions, by beeing present at local events, and by supporting informal groups where people can build social ties, contribute meaningfully to solutions and engage in participatory management and maintenance.
Ensure participation starts as early as possible – ideally at agenda setting – and continues through an iterative, flexible process with regular information activities, quick wins, and visible milestones.
Build trust and transparency by making project information and decision making processes accessible, communicating risks and strategies proactively, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and managing expectations so that communities understand both the opportunities and limitations of the process.
Involve a diverse range of actors – such as community networks, non profit organisations, researchers, policymakers, private players, and urban planners – throughout the entire process.
Recognise people’s contributions by acknowledging and, where possible, compensating the time and effort invested in sharing experiences, suggestions, and solutions. Signal that local knowledge and effort are valued.
Move beyond purely top down control towards hybrid governance arrangements that combine formal regulations with community based initiatives, and co stewardship partnerships, backed by clear organisational mandates for management and operation, while being mindful that hybrid arrangements can constrain democratic roles if private co funding or delegated responsibilities are not accompanied by adequate support, transparency, and public oversight.
Encourage administrations to reinterpret their roles from mainly regulating and consulting to enabling, participating, and facilitating citizen led projects by offering meaningful opportunities to share power, contribute early and often, and build a durable sense of ownership and collective responsibility for long term care.
Invest in collaboration and co-production skills so that all actors can engage in effective, sustainable participatory governance.
Apply dynamic and actor-centered service design tools in paticipatory processes as collaborative instruments to co-create, visualize, and test solutions with stakeholders. Key tools include motivation atrices, value network mapping, personas, service blueprints, empathy maps, and prototyping methods like storyboards and role-playing.
Reach different groups by being particularly attentive to including vulnerable or hard to reach populations.
Provide tailored capacity building and expert guidelines adapted to local socio-political contexts and build confidence through coaching, experiential learning, mentoring, and shared work activities so people discover their own capacity to effect change and exercise empowerment and self management.
Design participation inclusive so that it genuinely broadens representation rather than repeatedly engaging the same “usual suspects” or allowing well organised interest groups to dominate deliberations.
Address distributional, procedural, and recognition justice by seeking fair access to high quality NBS, meaningful engagement in decision making, and including local knowledge, non-human nature, and cultural perspectives in visions and practices.
Pay particular attention to marginalised and less powerful groups by ensuring diversity across thematic backgrounds, roles, ages, genders, and neighbourhoods, and by tailoring processes to different needs and capabilities.
Be mindful of the potential for green gentrification or privatisation dynamics, especially when private investments and hybrid governance models are involved.
Contextualise and catalyse
Enable context-sensitive approaches and activate local capacities and resources as transformative capital
Why: NBS only deliver lasting social and ecological benefits when they are rooted in local contexts, supported by communities, and backed by stable political and financial commitments.
Tailor NBS stewardship arrangements, rules, and practices to specific locations, situations, and cultures in order to address the social challenges that NBS seek to tackle.
Emphasise benefits that directly address local demands (for example cooling, recreation, safety, or identity) as accessible entry points for NBS stewardship.
Use context‑sensitive approaches that ground in local realities and engage different socio‑cultural and demographic groups, aligning NBS with community practices and priorities and adapting management to changing stakeholder needs.
Actively integrate local and experiential knowledge to counterbalance power asymmetries and enrich decision‑making about NBS stewardship.
Combine scientific expertise with local narratives and values, and recognise current, future, and non‑human voices to guide more just and ecologically grounded decisions.
Treat citizens as equal partners whose insights and ideas complement those of municipal experts, researchers, and consultants.
Account for long‑term maintenance from the design phase onwards, including expected tasks, costs, and responsibilities, to prevent NBS from becoming financial or organisational burdens over time.
Designing with long-term maintenance in mind – such as choosing appropriate species, materials, and layouts, and clarifying who does what – helps to reduce costs, support local stewardship actors, and secure the durability of NBS benefits.
Secure consistent political commitment across party lines and legislative periods so that NBS stewardship is backed by stable mandates.
Use a mix of public, private, and hybrid financing models – for example, combining structural municipal funding for core maintenance with innovative business models, diversified funding streams, and co funding mechanisms such as public private partnerships to support resilience and long-term operation.
Secure institutional support with stable, long term resources rather than short‑term, project‑bound support for the implementation and maintenance of NBS in local contexts. This includes personnel, technical and financial support.
