The Nature4Cities platform is now available for urban planners and those responsible for decision making in cities.
The Nature4Cities initiative helps cities address their urban challenges thanks to NBS, Nature-Based Solutions. Inspired by ecosystem adaptation strategies, copied from or supported by nature, NBS aim to provide social and environmental benefits.
For four years, 28 partners from nine European countries have worked together to obtain the project’s main result: a knowledge and assessment platform designed to help urban planners and decision makers address their urban challenges, maximising the impact of NBS.
Designed for the early stages of an NBS project, the Nature4Cities tools and handbooks help users gain a better understanding of NBS, obtain examples of good practices from existing projects, assess their city and neighbourhoods, define the best monitoring indicators and foresee the environmental, social and economic impact of the planned NBS.
Thanks to this one-stop shop, users can explore the handbooks and knowledge tools that cover a wide variety of topics, create their own projects and even share them with others.
Fostering inclusive NBS projects, the Nature4Cities platform has been designed for different agents: municipal politicians and technicians, to address the concerns of citizens with sustainable and efficient solutions; urban planners, so that they can gain vast experience in foreseeing the full impact of their projects; advisers, to strengthen the solutions offered to clients; researchers, to explore the numerous methodologies and knowledge produced over the project’s four years, and finally, citizens, so that they can participate in defining and improving their surroundings.
Governance Models
As part of the Nature4Cities consortium, TECNALIA has participated in the analysis of the governance, funding and business models that best adapt to the projects that form part of the NBS. A web tool has been developed (IM Pre-selection tool), which is integrated on the platform in the "Implement a NBS project” module, helping municipal technicians and urban planners to define the most suitable implementation model for each NBS project.
Furthermore, TECNALIA has carried out the study into the relationship between the implementation of NBS and the methods and tools that analyse their positive contribution to climate change mitigation and adaptation in cities.
This work has also been integrated on the platform as part of the “Diagnostic of your assessment needs” module, helping municipal technicians and the scientific community to identify the method and/or tool that best adapts to their assessment needs.
Further information
