Assessing the Role of Nature-Based Solutions in Urban Resilience and Climate Change Adaptation

Cities are rapidly urbanizing and face immense social, economic and environmental challenges. These challenges amplify the climate change impacts, thereby posing a serious threat to urban and social resilience. With regard to climate change, ecological researchers globally advocate that nature-based solutions integrate with various ecosystems based approaches, provide biodiversity benefits and address societal challenges. However, the potential of nature-based solutions to build urban resilience and address climate change through urban planning has remained research rhetoric. This research puts forth an effort to assess the ability of nature-based solutions in building urban resilience and addressing climate change. This research incorporates a quantitative research methodology by undertaking a technical and scientific literature review about nature-based solutions, urban resilience and climate change adaptation. Accordingly, the characteristics, dimensions, areas of application, the challenges and opportunities are highlighted. The key research gap between urban resilience and nature-based solutions is identified by developing a socio-spatial framework that focuses on nature-based solutions tradeoffs and its response to urban resilience. This renewed approach highlights that nature-based solutions are cost-effective multifunctional ecosystem services and offer inclusive benefits, ranging from regenerating urban spaces to improving quality of life and reducing pollution. However, this research limits the application of nature-based solutions for urban resilience to local level urban planning and does not focus on master level urban planning. This research emphasizes nature-based solutions as an effective urban policy tool and reinforces its inclusion in local level urban planning for building climate change and urban resilience.