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This guidebook offers a practical approach and toolbox for designing and implementing your own co-production processes. It presents co-production as a new governance approach for working on nature-based solutions in cities and offers a practical framework for designing your own co-production approach., Suggested citation: van der Have, C., Hölscher, K., Lodder, M., Collier, M.J., Dick, G., Dziubala, A., Fletcher, I., Frantzeskaki, N., Georgiou, P., Kelly, S., Malekkidou, E., McCann, S., McQuaid, S., Mulders, W., Notermans, I., Pašić, B., Prieto González, A., Quartier, M., Sillen, D., Trendafilov, I., Vandergert, P., Xidous, D. (2022). A practical guide to using co-production for nature-based solutions: a Connecting Nature Guidebook. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7501980

This Deliverable presents our underlying conceptual and methodological approach as well as analytical results by which we have co-developed co-production and reflexive monitoring methodologies for the planning, delivery and stewardship of nature-based solutions on a large scale in cities. Next to supporting co-production and reflexive monitoring processes on the ground in the Connecting Nature Front-Runner and Fast-Follower Cities, a main aim was to generate systematic insights about how cities go about designing and implementing such novel governance approaches. On the one hand, co-production is booming in cities worldwide as a mode of collaborative governance. By bringing together diverse actors – for example, civil servants, practitioners, social innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs and citizens – co-production can support the generation of transformative nature-based solutions (pertaining not only to their mere technical design but also to their financing and business models and social innovations) addressing local needs and mobilising local opportunities. We developed a comprehensive framework that supports the design, implementation and evaluation of co-production. The framework covers different types of co-production, methods, principles for process design and evaluation as well as capacities for co-production to implement the principles. On the other hand, we developed a reflexive monitoring process to support processes of ongoing learning-by-doing and doing-by-learning. Nature-based solutions planning, delivery and stewardship requires ongoing reflection as well as adaptability to respond to new insights, demands and needs. Our reflexive monitoring methodology consists of a step-wise approach with several process tools that the cities have adapted into their regular activities to create space for reflection and capturing learnings. The recording of learning objectives and outcomes helped the cities structure what opportunities and barriers they have encountered and how they have navigated them, generating insights on critical steps and lessons learned for the design, delivery and stewardship of nature-based solutions. Building on a comparative analysis of the cities, we generated several key lessons about how to adapt and implement co-production and reflexive monitoring: Overall, all cities recognised the value of co-production to engage with and empower diverse actors and reflexive monitoring to facilitate continuous learning and adaptation in real time when planning, delivering and stewarding nature-based solutions. In this way, co-production and reflexive monitoring are able to address the various governance needs for knowledge, partnerships, societal and political support and learning. Adopting new governance processes and tools that challenge conventional practices requires the creation of institutional and organisational space in cities and the acquisition of new skills and knowledge. It also requires new cultures within city governments to work across siloes. Co-production and reflexive monitoring are flexible approaches that need to be made fit to a specific city’s contexts. For example, we could distinguish between various types of co-production processes depending on different goals and settings, including different types of actors and methods. Regarding co-production, it has been challenging to reach out and motivate diverse actors to participate in co- production, including especially vulnerable and low-income communities or specific actors from the business and finance community. This requires dedicated communication and community engagement efforts and skills as well as making the process accessible to different audiences. The value of reflexive monitoring extended to the facilitation of knowledge transfer and peer-to-peer learning between Front-Runner and Fast-Follower Cities. We learned that, from the idea initiation stage, it can take a few years before the cities started implementing their learning outcomes with reflexivity changes. Based on our work with the cities and comparative analysis, we produced conceptually grounded and practice-proven, hands-on guidebooks that help urban practitioners and planners design and implement concrete steps, activities and tools for the co-production and reflexive monitoring of nature-based solutions. We have put in place several mechanisms to ensure the long-term sustainability of our co-production and reflexive monitoring work – in particular, to continue to spread knowledge for example through the OPPLA platform and the UrbanByNature programme., Suggested citation: Hölscher, K., Lodder, M., Janssen, A., van der Have, C., Kindlon, D., McCann, S., Allaert, K., Xidous, D., Albulescu, P., Sulea, C., Prieto Gonzalez, A., Gonzalez Vazquez, M. M., Trendafilov, I., Velikova, V., Van De Sijpe, K., Quartier, M., Vos, P., Dick, G., Kelly, S., Sermpezi, R., Bakola, E., Boskidis, Ioannis; Tsouris, Vasilis; García-Espina Adank, Christian; Malekkidou, Eleni; Mavroudi, M., Osipiuk, A., Dziubala, A., Madajczyk, N., Dymek, D., Pasic, B., Suljevic, N., Beslagic, L., Collier, M. J. (2022). Connecting Nature Deliverable 7: Final report of all meetings, consultations, webinars and workshops and the publication of a co-production guidebook for cities consisting of 2 guidebooks: 'A practical guide to using co-production for nature-based solutions' and 'A practical guide to using reflexive monitoring for nature-based solutions' (including infographics). Project. Brussels: DG Research & Innovation. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7443221

The Connecting Nature Framework is a process tool that has been co-produced and co-applied with science and practice partners in the project with the aim to give a hands-on and comprehensive guide to the Connecting Nature cities to develop their nature-based solution exemplars. It places the nature-based solution at the core of an interactive process that distinguishes three phases of development for a nature-based solution: planning, delivery, and stewardship. Throughout each phase, there are seven separate elements that need to be considered: Technical solutions, Governance, Financing and business models, Nature-based entrepreneurship, Co-production, Reflexive monitoring, and Impact assessment. While the first phase of the Framework development and application has focused on three Front-runner Cities (2017- 2019), we have in the second phase (2019-2022) transferred the Framework, including the generated knowledge and insights about how to apply it to different city contexts, to the seven Fast-follower and Multiplier Cities., Suggested citation: Hölscher, K., Allaert, K., Janssen, A., Lodder, M., McCann, S., van der Have, C., Asmaryan, S., Bakola, E., Beslagic, L., Boskidis, I., Collier, M. J., Connop, S., Dick, G., Dumitru, A., Dymek, D., Dziubala, A., Fletcher , I., García-Espina Adank, C., Georgiou, P., Gonzalez Vazquez, M. M., Gvilava, M., Kelly, S., Madajczyk, N., Malekkidou, E., Mavroudi, M., McQuaid, S., Osipiuk, A., Pasic, B., Prieto Gonzalez, A., Quartier, M., Rizzi, D., Sermpezi, R., Suljevic, N., Tomé Lourido, D., Trendafilov, I., Tsouris, V., Vandergert, P., Van De Sijpe, K., Velikova, V., Vos, P., and Xidous, D. (2022). Connecting Nature Deliverable 6: Connecting Nature Framework Reports for Fast-follower Cities. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7319263

The Connecting Nature Framework places the nature-based solution at the core of an interactive process that runs through three distinct phases of development: planning, delivery, and stewardship. Throughout each phase, there are seven separate elements that cities and other entities may consider to help them shape their individual nature-based solution: Technical solutions, Governance, Financing, and business models, Nature-based enterprises, Co-production, Impact assessment, and Reflexive monitoring. The Connecting Nature Framework has been co-produced by scientific partners and a set of Front-runner Cities (FRCs) – Genk, Glasgow, and Poznan. The experiences and lessons learned by the FRCs have been transferred to a set of Fast-follower Cities (FFCs) – A Coruna, Burgas, Ioannina, Malaga, Nicosia, Pavlos Melas, and Sarajevo – via the Experiential Learning Framework (ELF). The ELF has fostered peer-to-peer exchange and collaborative learning across all project activities to support the scaling out of nature-based solutions. This report details the implementation of the Connecting Nature Framework in the FFCs. Generally speaking, the cities have highlighted that the Connecting Nature Framework report and the narrative are useful tools for internal use, as a mechanism to share information on nature-based solutions (NBS). While the cities highlight the challenges with the concept of NbS, each city has reflected on how the use of the Framework has provided opportunities to create conditions for a more integrated approach that the multifunctional aspect of NbS demands. For example, Ioannina’s experience highlights the role of nature-based solutions as positive, proactive tools rather than (just) a response to societal and environmental challenges., Suggested citation: Xidous, D., Bakola, E., Beslagic, L., Boskidis I., García-Espina Adank, C., Gonzalez Vazquez, M. M., Malekkidou, E., Mavroudi, M., Pasic, B., Prieto Gonzalez, A., Suljevic, N., Trendafilov, I., Tsouris, V., Velikova, V. and Collier, M.J. (2022). Connecting Nature Deliverable 14: Report on the implementation of Connecting Nature Frameworks in the Fast Follower Cities. Brussels, DG Research & Innovation. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7340457