Socio-ecological reshaping of European Cities and Metropolitan Areas
Societies in European cities are faced with environmental problems related to the quality of air and water, biodiversity loss, and advancing climate change, but at the same time need to tackle social-economic issues such as social cohesion and justice or the need to develop sustainable economic and mobility systems. All these challenges place complex demands on the use and functionality of urban space and infrastructures. Nature-based Solutions (NbS), such as Green Infrastructures (GI), are expected to play a major role in solving these issues through a redefinition and amplification of its functionality in urban areas.
Aims and scope
Based on our broad experience from case studies of NbS and together with stakeholders outside academia, we will cross current frontiers of knowledge regarding key issues of upscaling and mainstreaming of NbS by developing highly innovative ideas for improved multi-functionality, integral cost-benefit sharing and diverse stakeholder engagement.
By connecting various schools of thought with individual research foci of the team members and applying it in an integrated manner to different case study cities at different spatial scales. Socio-ecological transformation processes require different kinds of knowledge:​
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Technical knowledge (evidence base for NbS functionality / efficiency);
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Policy knowledge (governance tools and strategies for upscaling green infrastructure), and;
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Transformative knowledge (leverage points, transformative actions and methods) will be generated.
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The integration and transferability of these knowledge dimensions across case studies (e.g. with different climatological, political, social contexts) and spatial scales (building - neighborhood - city-wide-level) will be conceptually addressed and then applied to develop policy recommendations regarding upscaling and mainstreaming of urban GI in European cities.
Stakeholders will be interactively integrated at the network meetings through video conferences and interviews.