Nature-based solutions as enablers of circularity in water systems: A review on assessment methodologies, tools and indicators

Nika, Chrysanthi-Elisabeth; Gusmaroli, Lucia; Ghafourian, Mahdieh; Atanasova, Nataša; Buttiglieri, Gianluigi; Katsou, Evina

doi:10.1016/j.watres.2020.115988

Cited by 92 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 116 publications

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“…To synthesize existing knowledge on NBS and their environmental, social and economic impacts, extensive literature reviews have been carried out. Seventeen reviews specifically focused on NBS have been published since 2017, covering themes of 'public health' [25,26], 'urban redevelopment and regeneration' [27], 'urban agriculture' [28], 'built environment' [29], 'urban greening' [23], 'urban resilience' [30], 'water systems' (e.g., hydro-meteorological risk and urban pluvial flood risk) [31][32][33], and 'tourisms' [34]. Escobedo et al (2019) [35] reviewed the relationships among relevant NBS concepts of urban forests, ecosystem services, and green infrastructure.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping the Research Landscape of Nature-Based Solutions in Urbanism

Cheshmehzangi

Chan

et al. 2021

Sustainability

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Nature-based solutions (NBS) are an innovative concept that mimics the processes of natural ecosystems, popularized principally in the European Union. With a substantial body of literature amassed since the term’s inception in 2015, there is a need to systematically review existing literature to identify overarching gaps and trends, according to disciplinary focus, geographic scope, and key themes, and direct future research inquiry and policy recommendations. This review consists of bibliometric analysis and thematic analysis for NBS studies in urbanism. NBS studies were found to relate strongly with other concepts of ‘Ecosystem Services’, ‘Green Infrastructure’, ‘Climate Change’, and ‘Risk management and Resilience’, which align with four major thematic goals set by the European Commission. Within NBS scholarship, various sub-themes have emerged, namely, ‘Greening’, ‘Urban Development’, ‘Water’, ‘Wellbeing’, and ‘Governance’. Furthermore, we illustrate that the amount and thematic focus of NBS research have been unevenly distributed worldwide. Analysis of emerging trends shows a recent increase in topics, such as adaptive governance of NBS, and the incorporation of social justice in sustainability transitions. Based on an assessment of extant NBS literature, we offer some recommendations for the future direction of the research fields.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mapping the Research Landscape of Nature-Based Solutions in Urbanism

Cheshmehzangi

Chan

et al. 2021

Sustainability

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…Nature-based solutions are thus rarely assessed from a circularity perspective. Most studies focus on the main societal challenge addressed by NBS and evaluate their performance based on technical characteristics only, underestimating the enhancement of the natural environment and many of their co-benefits [39]. Another issue is that NBS_u and NBS_i are assessed as individual components, neglecting upstream and downstream processes and flows, and the interconnections and feedbacks between these processes and, consequently, the impacts to the system as a whole.…”

Section: Assessing Circularity In Citiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature-Based Solutions and Circularity in Cities

et al. 2021

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Cities worldwide are facing a number of serious challenges including population growth, resource depletion, climate change, and degradation of ecosystems. To cope with these challenges, the transformation of our cities into sustainable systems using a holistic approach is required. The pathway to this urban transition is adopting the concept of circular economy for resource management. In this way, resources are kept and reused within the city. Nature-based solutions can be implemented for these tasks, and besides the circularity, they can provide additional benefits for the urbanites and the urban environment in general. This paper describes which urban challenges related to circularity can be addressed through nature-based solutions. This systematic review was developed within the COST Action CA17133 Circular City that investigates how nature-based solutions can be used to progress the circular economy in the urban built environment.

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“…When social or ecological effects are impossible to monetise, then the project performance is evaluated with multiple non-monetary criteria, such as cost-efficient analysis, cost impact analysis, life cycle cost analysis, natural capital accounting and multi-criteria decision analysis/making (MCDA/MCDM) ( Nika et al, 2020 ; Hassangavyar et al, 2020 ). The role of non-market valuation techniques or alternative appraisal methods, e.g., MCDA/MCDM is critical in the case of NBS targeting HMRs.…”

Section: Economic Evaluation Of Nbsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nature-based solutions efficiency evaluation against natural hazards: Modelling methods, advantages and limitations

Kumar

Debele

Sahani

et al. 2021

Science of The Total Environment

130

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Nature-based solutions (NBS) for hydro-meteorological risks (HMRs) reduction and management are becoming increasingly popular, but challenges such as the lack of well-recognised standard methodologies to evaluate their performance and upscale their implementation remain. We systematically evaluate the current state-of-the art on the models and tools that are utilised for the optimum allocation, design and efficiency evaluation of NBS for five HMRs (flooding, droughts, heatwaves, landslides, and storm surges and coastal erosion). We found that methods to assess the complex issue of NBS efficiency and cost-benefits analysis are still in the development stage and they have only been implemented through the methodologies developed for other purposes such as fluid dynamics models in micro and catchment scale contexts. Of the reviewed numerical models and tools MIKE-SHE, SWMM (for floods), ParFlow-TREES, ACRU, SIMGRO (for droughts), WRF, ENVI-met (for heatwaves), FUNWAVE-TVD, BROOK90 (for landslides), TELEMAC and ADCIRC (for storm surges) are more flexible to evaluate the performance and effectiveness of specific NBS such as wetlands, ponds, trees, parks, grass, green roof/walls, tree roots, vegetations, coral reefs, mangroves, sea grasses, oyster reefs, sea salt marshes, sandy beaches and dunes. We conclude that the models and tools that are capable of assessing the multiple benefits, particularly the performance and cost-effectiveness of NBS for HMR reduction and management are not readily available. Thus, our synthesis of modelling methods can facilitate their selection that can maximise opportunities and refute the current political hesitation of NBS deployment compared with grey solutions for HMR management but also for the provision of a wide range of social and economic co-benefits. However, there is still a need for bespoke modelling tools that can holistically assess the various components of NBS from an HMR reduction and management perspective. Such tools can facilitate impact assessment modelling under different NBS scenarios to build a solid evidence base for upscaling and replicating the implementation of NBS.

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Nature-based solutions as enablers of circularity in water systems: A review on assessment methodologies, tools and indicators

Cited by 92 publications

References 116 publications

Mapping the Research Landscape of Nature-Based Solutions in Urbanism

Mapping the Research Landscape of Nature-Based Solutions in Urbanism

Nature-Based Solutions and Circularity in Cities

Nature-based solutions efficiency evaluation against natural hazards: Modelling methods, advantages and limitations

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