JUSTNature - Activation of nature-based solutions for a just low carbon transition

Cities are major consumers of energy and contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. At the same time, they are already experiencing some of the worst impacts of climate change, due to concentrations of socio-economic activity and building density. In response to these challenges, the value of nature-based solutions is increasingly recognised, including their potential to mitigate the heat island effect, sequester carbon and capture air pollutants. However, neither climate impacts nor the benefits of nature-based solutions are necessarily distributed equitably among city dwellers. The JUSTNature project will combine nature-based solutions and their multiple benefits with attention to their beneficiaries – seeking equitable solutions to the climate emergency.

As part of the project, seven European cities in Belgium, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy and Malta will implement nature-based interventions, mobilising support from their local communities through city practice labs. Each lab will work towards a more equitable, low carbon future and improved environmental quality in four innovation arenas:

1) Governance of nature-based approaches,

2) NbS care and management,

3) Business models and market design,

4) Efficient technologies for nature-based solutions

The team from TUM’s Chair for Strategic Landscape Planning and Management is steering the first innovation dimension: analysing the existing institutions, policies, politics and actors that govern green space planning and management in all seven cities (including the City of Munich) and seeking to identify entry points that might enable more effective and socially-just processes and outcomes. A particular focus will be on collaborative modes of governance that seek to combine bottom-up with top-down approaches.