Connecting Nature

 
De stad is bij uitstek de plek voor transities. Transformatieve verandering kan er opschalen en uitwaaieren. Nature-based solutions kunnen die verandering brengen: deze ‘natuurlijke oplossingen’ bieden economische, ecologische en sociaalmaatschappelijke voordelen en bevorderen veerkracht en biodiversiteit in de stad. Maar klassieke ruimtelijke planningspocessen zijn niet altijd in staat om dit potentieel te benutten, en kunnen hier zelfs in de weg zitten.
 
In het Connecting Nature-project werkt DRIFT binnen en buiten Europa samen met lokale overheden, buurten, bedrijven, NGOs en wetenschappers om lessen te bundelen van steden die al werken met nature-based solutions. Deze steden co-creëren de beleids- en praktische kennis om op natuur gebaseerde project op te schalen in de gebouwde omgeving.
 
(deze pagina gaat verder in het Engels)
 
What is the impact of the Connecting Nature Framework? 

 
City changes, problems and solutions 
Currently, over 70% of Europe’s population live in cities, expected to increase to over 80% by the middle of the century. This translates to 36 million new urban citizens facing a broad range of challenges: from unsustainable urbanization and related human health issues to degradation and loss of natural capital, climate change and an increase of natural disaster risks.
 
Nature-based solutions, which are inspired and supported by nature, contribute to biodiversity while providing multiple environmental, social and economic benefits. Examples include pocket parks to boost quality of living, communal neighborhood gardens to connect different groups and organisations, or blue-green-infrastructure that benefits local enterprises. Nature-based solutions can be a powerful way to strengthen urban resilience, resource efficiency and the green economy. Because the development and implementation of nature-based solutions is complex, it requires a new approach of co-producing knowledge and capacity.
 
How DRIFT is connecting nature
One of DRIFT’s contributions to the Connecting Nature project is that we co-produced the Connecting Nature Framework together with many academic partners, cities and SMEs across Europe. It’s a tool for city-planners and city-makers: a holistic framework that employs three phases and seven elements to help you harness the transformative potential of nature-based solutions in your city.
 
The Connecting Nature Framework
 

 
To introduce this framework, Connecting Nature created eight mini guidebooks. DRIFT produced the first, for the framework as a whole, which you can download here. And if you are not one for reading, you can also watch the video below:
 

 
DRIFT supports the Connecting Nature community of European cities with the co-production of their nature-based solutions. For this we created the second mini guidebook you see below, and we are currently working on an elaborate guidebook that will be published in May 2022.
 
We also facilitate reflexive learning by translating reflexive monitoring methods to the cities’ context. More information can be found in the third mini guidebook we produced, and here we are also working on a more elaborate version for May 2022.
 

 
DRIFT further contributes to the Connecting Nature Urban by Nature program by developing teaching materials on our three main contributions (the framework, co-production and reflexive monitoring). For example, we contributed to the Brazilian stream Webinar #2 “How to co-create nature-based solutions?” , Webinar # 7 “Reflexive Monitoring and Process Indicators for NBS” and the Caucasus Stream Webinar #3 “Is there a framework for nature-based solutions in your city?”
 
More about the project
 
Connecting (COproductioN with NaturE for City Transitioning, INnovation and Governance) Nature is a HORIZON 2020 research and innovation project on accelerating the scaling of nature-based solutions in European cities. The overarching objective of Connecting is to position Europe as a global leader in the innovation and implementation of nature-based solutions for urban sustainability issues.
 
Coordinated by Trinity College Dublin, Connecting Nature is a consortium of over 30 partners within 16 European countries, and hubs in Brazil, China, Korea & The Caucasus (Georgia and Armenia). The project partners form a community fostering peer-to-peer, transdisciplinary capacity building between frontrunner, fast-follower and multiplier cities. To this end, the project employs an open innovation ecosystem approach bringing together city governments, small and medium enterprises, academia and civil society to co-produce actionable knowledge in all partner cities and to develop a process to spread this knowledge to all involved.
 
Duration
Connecting Nature runs from 2017 to 2021.
 
Funding
Connecting Nature is funded under the Horizon 2020 program (call SCC-02-2016-2017; Grant Agreement 730222) and includes 29 partners and 5 self-funded partners.
 
DRIFT Team
Marleen Lodder (reflexive monitoring), Katharina Hölscher & Carien van der Have (co-production), Kato Allaert (framework), Wouter Mulders (communications), Marieke Verhagen & Giorgia Silvestri (education)
 
Read more
For more information about the project, visit the Connecting Nature website, follow the project via Twitter or Facebook or read more about the UrbanByNature programme: an expertise-sharing and capacity-building programme for urban practitioners around the world. 
 
Related reads:

• Blog: ‘Co-creating inclusive green cities: European examples and global learning opportunities’.  Link
• Blog: ‘Seven lessons for planning nature-based solutions in cities’. Link
• Publication: Niki Frantzeskaki, Timon McPhearson, Marcus J Collier, Dave Kendal, Harriet Bulkeley, Adina Dumitru, Claire Walsh, Kate Noble, Ernita van Wyk, Camilo Ordóñez, Cathy Oke, László Pintér, Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Climate Change Adaptation: Linking Science, Policy, and Practice Communities for Evidence-Based Decision-Making, BioScience, Volume 69, Issue 6, June 2019, Pages 455–466 https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biz042
• Publication: Frantzeskaki, N., Vandergert, P., Connop, S., Schipper, K., Zwierzchowska, I., Collier, M., & Lodder, M. (2020). Examining the policy needs for implementing nature-based solutions in cities: Findings from city-wide transdisciplinary experiences in Glasgow (UK), Genk (Belgium) and Poznań (Poland). Land Use Policy, 96, 104688.