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Reconnecting humanity to the biosphere must be a focus in cities. Transforming cities to be inclusive, equitable, resilient, and sustainable requires rethinking our relationship to nature, and investing in urban development, design, and governance that brings nature into the center. We provide seven key insights drawn from the chapters in this book: (1) put nature-based solutions (NBS) first in adaptation to climate change in cities; (2) make equity and justice central in the design, planning, management, and governance of NBS in cities; (3) ensure biodiversity is a priority in urban planning for NBS; (4) employ and design NBS to improve human health in cities; (5) realize NBS in cities with inclusive urban planning and innovative governance approaches that respond to local context dynamics; (6) assess the holistic value of urban nature to make a case for NBS in cities; and (7) bring art into NBS and position art as a NBS in cities.

This chapter centres on the planning and governance of urban nature-based solutions (NBS). We discuss on the one hand the governance of NBS, where the implementation of NBS is the goal and governance centres around questions of planning, designing, and building NBS, and on the other hand the governance with NBS, where NBS become a governance tool to achieve other goals in urban areas, such as the Sustainable Development Goals. We argue that inclusivity is critical in NBS governance and offer five dimensions of inclusive governance to be considered: cross-sectoral, epistemic, multi-species, intergenerational, and spatial inclusivity. While these dimensions highlight diverse takes on who should be included in NBS governance and how, they share a foundation in two critical principles of inclusive governance that we briefly discuss: intersectionality and inter- and transdisciplinarity.

This chapter demonstrates the mental health benefits of nature-based solutions in cities. First, factors that determine urban mental health and adverse health effects of environmental stressors in cities are explained. Second, it is demonstrated that green spaces as nature-based solutions for many societal challenges provide co-benefits for mental health by reducing these stressors. It is further discussed how nature-based solutions may target supporting mental health by providing resources for human–nature interaction, enhancing social interaction and strengthening mental resilience. Nature-based interventions that are originally intended to support persons with psychiatric illness are introduced as models for the design of mentally supportive cities. And third, two case studies illustrate the mental health benefits of urban parks with the example of Leipzig, Germany and of street trees by the example of Hyderabad, India. The two case studies were used as application cases for a recent conceptual framework as a guide for putting science into practice.

Nature-based Solutions for Cities brings diverse perspectives from across the globe together to describe the state of the art in advancing nature-based solutions (NBS) for cities. Our goal is to provide a handbook for graduate students, early-career professionals, and emerging and advanced scholars to begin working with NBS in ways that consider multiple perspectives, disciplines, and ways of knowing. Together, the chapters in this book aim at understanding how NBS can be better managed, planned, and engaged with, and to center questions of NBS for whom and for what NBS are planned and implemented in cities. Through chapters led by experts in both global south and north contexts, we describe key knowledge and learning for advancing the interdisciplinary science of NBS in, for, and with cities and discuss the frontiers for next-generation NBS.

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly being adopted to address climate change, health, and urban sustainability, yet ensuring they are effective and inclusive remains a challenge. Addressing these challenges through chapters by leading experts in both global south and north contexts, this forward-looking book advances the science of NBS in cities and discusses the frontiers for next-generation urban NBS.

Green (and blue) spaces receive attention as important components of cities that can help to mitigate the effects of climate change, support biodiversity and improve public health. Green space planning aims to transform cities towards urban sustainability and resilience. In a longitudinal study, representatives from eleven European municipalities that had previously been interviewed in 2014 were re-interviewed in 2020-2021 on changes in urban greening and related practices. The interviewees reported mainly advancements in dealing with ecological issues, such as new plans, strategies, regulations or funding programmes for climate adaptation or biodiversity support, as well as some progress in co-governance with non-governmental stakeholders. Promising developments include breaking professional silos by creating new units that can better deal with complex urban issues. In a few cases, high-level local politicians induced profound changes. These changes stimulated the development of new planning and governance cultures, resulting in more co-creation of urban green spaces. However, from a transformation studies perspective, incremental strategies dominate, and even when municipal representatives are aware that substantive changes are needed, they often lack the means to act. For more radical system change, significant extra efforts are needed.