Planning a nature-based solutions project
The PLAN phase is about making problems visible. During the PLAN phase, local urban living labs consisting of key stakeholder groups are established and challenges are co-identified in a series of urban living lab workshops along with overall goals and specific objectives. Further, suitable nature-based solutions are co-identified in a series of co-creation workshops.
A summary document of key resources for the PLAN phase can be downloaded here.
Relevant knowledge resources for this phase
Types of nature-based solutions
Learn more about different types of nature-based solutions in our NBS Technical Handbook. The handbook does not offer an exhaustive catalogue of all existing NBS, but aims to provide inspiration and easily-digestible information directed towards practitioners interested in learning about the concept of NBS and different NBS interventions. The NBS Technical Handbook focuses primarily on nature-based solutions which involve the greatest amount of ecosystem intervention, with highly intensive ecosystem management or the creation of new ecosystems.
NBS business models
Before starting an NBS project, it may be important to take a look at the underlying business model. This includes assessing main project features, the value proposition, conditions for implementation, main stakeholders involved, costs, financing options and limits. In the NBS business model section you can get to know this assessment method, find an adapted version of the business model canvas, and learn how it has been applied in diverse NBS projects.
Defining pre-NBS baselines for impact monitoring
When defining the major challenges and the desired performance of a NBS in the planning stage, it will be of advantage to also look at available indicators and datasets which can help to establish a monitoring baseline. Learn more about good monitoring practices, guides the process of indicator selection, and outlines the steps needed to acquire and process the data in the performance and impact monitoring handbook.
Relevant tools for this phase
NBS Simulation Visualisation Tool
The NBS Simulation and Visualisation Tool is a user interface for the Systemic Decision Support Tool (SDST). The SDST allows to assess, ex-ante, the direct and indirect impacts of NBS measures (individual NBS) and strategies (suites of NBS) on urban heat and air quality, flooding and water quality, and sprawl, gentrification and real-estate valuation. Follow the link below to visit running versions from the UNaLab Front-Runner cities, or take a look at the Practitioners' User Guide for Municipalities to learn more about the set-up and use.
Open Nature Innovation Arena
The Open Nature Innovation Arena (ONIA) is an online collaboration environment ensuring active stakeholder participation in bottom-up innovation processes and decision-making. It allows stakeholders to collectively discuss and identify issues or concerns affecting the quality of life in the city and collaborate to propose possible ideas of solution.
Geobased citizen engagement
Involving citizens throughout every step, from analysis, to design, to evaluation of NBS is critical for success. Using the official city mobile app, offering information only when relevant to the user, will improve engagement. This is exactly what this tool facilitates for any city and communication department. UNaLab has used it to inform and invite visitors to share their opinion at the right time and place.
NBS Value Model
The NBS Value Model is a planning logic which aims to shed light on the often abstract value chain and associated beneficiary constellation of NBS. It allows to select suitable NBS based on local challenges, explore their benefits and beneficiaries, and receive suggestions on potential stakeholders to involve and related financing options to deploy in project implementation.
Co-creation Toolkit
The UNaLab Co-creation Toolkit collects a wide range of co-creation tools and methods in a user-friendly online format. It includes tools and methods suitable for the planning phase of an NBS project - when the first ideas of the innovative solutions are co-created in a real-life urban environment together with the citizens and the relevant stakeholders in the city. The tools come in a wide range of formats including games, workshops and templates.
UNaLab city stories: co-creation workshops
The nature-based solutions implemented in the UNaLab front-runner cities Tampere (FI), Eindhoven (NL) and Genova (IT) were co-created with local stakeholders and citizens. Each city organised a series of co-creation workshops in spring 2018. During the workshops, stakeholders collaboratively identified key challenges and explored nature-based solutions to be implemented as a response to these challenges in the Living Labs that were implemented in the NBS demonstration areas of each city.
A wide range of local actors participated in the workshops, ranging from professionals working in the different city departments (communication, water policy, green areas, maintenance) and private professionals (energy companies, landscape architects, building companies, urban planners) to NGOs and citizens (school children, teachers, students, residents).
LESSONS LEARNT
- Start by defining the goal of the workshop as this will have an impact on the selection of the methodology and participants. Define the expected impact of the participants’ input and how to ensure their long-term involvement. Remember that nature-based solutions are technical solutions, making it important to reflect on how different stakeholders are engaged in and can contribute to the topic.
- It can be useful to integrate the workshop into other events or planning processes of the city to save resources and to ensure the impact of short-term projects in long-term urban planning processes.
- Make sure to have a team with expertise in nature-based solutions and the chosen co-creation method involved in both the planning and execution of the workshop.
- Bring together a wide range of actors in the workshop, including technical experts, policymakers from the public administration and local residents, and provide time for mutual learning.
- If possible, organise the workshop in the area where the nature-based solutions will be implemented and involve the participants in on-site activities, in order to receive more concrete ideas. Make sure to prepare high-quality educational material for the workshop, such as maps, pictures and plans of the relevant area, to support the discussion.
- Ensure that you work on two parallel tracks in the workshop: explore ideas and content, and explore ways to collaborate during the implementation phase to ensure the long-term participation of the participants.
- To redefine the challenges and to collect several ideas for solutions, make sure that there is no hesitation among the participants to voice an opinion. The workshop facilitator should be impartial to the discussions.
