The NATURVATION project (Nature Based Urban Innovation) was designed to help cities achieve urban sustainability by supporting a step-change in the way they use Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). NBS involve creating, restoring, or harnessing blue/green infrastructure (like green roofs, parks, or restored rivers) to improve urban life, enhance resilience, and address multiple challenges simultaneously (e.g., climate change, biodiversity loss, and well-being).
🎯 Core Goals and Approach
Despite growing interest, a significant gap existed between the potential of NBS and their practical implementation. NATURVATION focused on three core goals:
- Evidence Base and Assessment: Develop the evidence base and assessment processes required to evaluate the benefits of NBS for sustainability.
- Innovation and Implementation: Investigate the innovation taking place, focusing on governance arrangements, business models, finance, and citizen engagement needed to implement NBS.
- Partnership and Capacity: Work with municipal governments and stakeholders through Urban Regional Innovation Partnerships (URIPs) and a Task Force to create the knowledge, capacity, and tools for delivering NBS on the ground.
💡 Main Results and Key Findings
The project successfully generated a vast body of knowledge and practical tools:
1. Building the Evidence Base
- Urban Nature Atlas: Created the first Urban Nature Atlas for Europe, which is a key unique achievement. The Atlas received over 49,000 visits and is continually cross-referenced.
- Benefits and Values: Found that NBS are generating significant benefits, and that it is possible to value these benefits in monetary terms while still recognizing the diversity of values generated.
- Tensions and Trade-offs: Identified a critical research gap, finding that past efforts often celebrated the multi-functional benefits while paying less attention to the tensions and trade-offs (e.g., related to social and environmental justice) that new forms of value introduce into the urban landscape.
2. Tools for Uptake and Decision Support
A suite of tools was developed to aid decision-making and project design:
- Urban Nature Navigator: A decision-support tool that enables multi-criteria decision-making for diverse NBS.
- Urban Nature Explorer: Supports the design stage of project development by helping to assess potential and trade-offs between different NBS options.
3. Capacity Building and Communication
- URIPs Experience: Produced the “Making Nature Bloom” report, co-produced by the URIPs, to share their real-world experiences—both good and bad—of developing NBS in six European cities.
- Training: Developed the Urban Nature MOOC (Massive Open Online Course), which had 54,000 original visitors and 14,000 course enrolments, significantly building capacity across the global community.
- Dissemination: Achieved widespread outreach, including over 140,000 website visits, publications in 20 different journals, and a final conference involving over 600 participants online.
🚀 Impact and Legacy
NATURVATION successfully achieved impact through three pathways:
| Pathway | Description |
| Build Capacity | Achieved through the Urban Nature Atlas, Navigator, and MOOC, and through peer-to-peer knowledge sharing among the URIPs and ICLEI cities. |
| Enable Uptake | Focused on workshops for specific audiences (finance, business models) and developing tools that can be integrated into existing urban planning programs. |
| Foster Cultural Change | Focused on embedding NBS into local and national policy and practice, enabling a shift in mindset within partner organizations and supporting the global NBS agenda. |
The project’s legacy includes taking the Urban Nature Atlas forward with increased global coverage, developing the Urban Nature Explorer for commercial use, and ensuring results are available through the Network Nature platform and the CitiesWithNature global network.
