Mapping the current state of planning, design and implementation of nature-based solutions in the Baltic Sea Region launched

The goal of the interviews is to better understand the existing practices of NBS implementation, identify potential knowledge gaps, and outline expectations for capacity building with other project partners. The interviews are part of the City Blues project, where Taltech is responsible for thematic analyses of nature-based solutions for urban flood and stormwater management in the partner cities of Tampere, Malmö, Aarhus, Tartu and Stavanger.

“Although cities within the consortium have complementary strengths in NBS implementation operational models, there are shared expectations for mutual learning,” says professor Ivar Annus from Taltech.

Interviews with the cities provided an overview of the entire life cycle of NBS in urban catchments. Cities emphasized the need to enhance knowledge in participatory planning, design, and maintenance, as well as the potential of citizen science in monitoring these solutions. Additionally, cities recognized the numerous benefits of NBS but expressed a desire for a systemic approach to establish quantified design criteria for various multi-benefits such as recreation, biodiversity, and urban heat mitigation, concerning catchment-level NBS for flood mitigation.

Furthermore, due to the limited experience in implementing NBS, cities have incomplete information about the long-term resilience and maintenance efforts required for these solutions and therefore seek assistance in how to adequately consider these topics in planning and design stage.

The collective expertise and diverse assumptions from various cities are now being incorporated as inputs in preparing design concepts for the NBS within the City Blues project. So the work will continue in the coming months.

Text and picture: Murel Truu, Taltech

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