
 Resource depletion, climate change and degradation of ecosystems are challenges faced by cities worldwide and will increase if cities do not adapt. In order to tackle those challenges, it is necessary to transform our cities into sustainable systems using a holistic approach. One element in achieving this transition is the implementation of nature-based solutions (NBS). NBS can provide a range of ecosystem services beneficial for the urban biosphere such as regulation of micro-climates, flood prevention, water treatment, food provision and more. However, most NBS are implemented serving only one single purpose. Adopting the concept of circular economy by combining different types of services and returning resources to the city, would increase the benefits gained for urban areas. The COST Action Circular City aims to establish a network testing the hypothesis that: ‘A circular flow system that implements NBS for managing nutrients and resources within the urban biosphere will lead to a resilient, sustainable and healthy urban environment’. In this paper we introduce the COST Action Circular City by describing its main objectives and aims. The paper also serves as introduction to the review papers of the Action's five Working Groups in this Special Issue.

/pdf/implementing-nature-based-solutions-for-creating-a-4jt14th70i.pdf

Implementing nature-based solutions for creating a resourceful circular city

The European Union roadmap for implementing nature-based solutions: A review

Cities worldwide are facing a number of serious challenges including population growth, resource depletion, climate change, and degradation of ecosystems. To cope with these challenges, the transformation of our cities into sustainable systems using a holistic approach is required. The pathway to this urban transition is adopting the concept of circular economy for resource management. In this way, resources are kept and reused within the city. Nature-based solutions can be implemented for these tasks, and besides the circularity, they can provide additional benefits for the urbanites and the urban environment in general. This paper describes which urban challenges related to circularity can be addressed through nature-based solutions. This systematic review was developed within the COST Action CA17133 Circular City that investigates how nature-based solutions can be used to progress the circular economy in the urban built environment.

/pdf/nature-based-solutions-and-circularity-in-cities-85ho25qjva.pdf

Nature-Based Solutions and Circularity in Cities

Our modern cities are resource sinks designed on the current linear economic model which recovers very little of the original input. As the current model is not sustainable, a viable solution is to recover and reuse parts of the input. In this context, resource recovery using nature-based solutions (NBS) is gaining popularity worldwide. In this specific review, we focus on NBS as technologies that bring nature into cities and those that are derived from nature, using (micro)organisms as principal agents, provided they enable resource recovery. The findings presented in this work are based on an extensive literature review, as well as on original results of recent innovation projects across Europe. The case studies were collected by participants of the COST Action Circular City, which includes a portfolio of more than 92 projects. The present review article focuses on urban wastewater, industrial wastewater, municipal solid waste and gaseous effluents, the recoverable products (e.g., nutrients, nanoparticles, energy), as well as the implications of source-separation and circularity by design. The analysis also includes assessment of the maturity of different technologies (technology readiness level) and the barriers that need to be overcome to accelerate the transition to resilient, self-sustainable cities of the future.

https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8715725/file/8715726.pdf

A review of nature-based solutions for resource recovery in cities

Technical solutions and benefits of introducing rain gardens - Gdańsk case study.

In the last five years, European research and innovation programmes have prioritised the development of online catalogues and tools (handbooks, models, etc.) to facilitate the implementation and monitoring of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS). However, only a few catalogues and toolkits within European programmes are directly related to mainstreaming of NBS for food production (i.e., edible NBS). Therefore, the main aim of this paper is to present existing NBS tools through the eyes of productive urban landscapes. We reviewed 32 projects related to NBS and 50 tools were identified and characterised. Then, the six tools already available and provided indicators were further analysed in terms of their format and knowledge domains. Our main conclusion demonstrates that there is a lack of tools capable of supporting users for planning and implementing edible NBS; calculating the food potential of a city and/or of individual edible NBS, including the needed resources for implementation and operation (water, nutrients, energy); and assessing their urban design value, environmental and socio-economic impacts. Moreover, when they do exist, there is a resistance to share the models and equations behind the tools to allow other projects to reuse or validate them, a fact which is contrary to the open science principles upheld by many public research agencies.

Tools for Edible Cities: A Review of Tools for Planning and Assessing Edible Nature-Based Solutions

The linear pattern of production-consumption-disposal of cities around the world will continue to increase the emission of pollutants and stocks of waste, as well as to impact on the irreversible deterioration of non-renewable stocks of raw materials. A transition towards a circular pattern proposed by the concept of ‘Circular Cities’ is gaining momentum. As part of this urban transition, the emergent use of Nature-based Solutions (NBS) intends to shift public opinion and utilize technology to mitigate the urban environmental impact. In this paper, an analysis of the current research and practical investments for implementing NBS under the umbrella of Circular Cities is conducted. A combined appraisal of the latest literature and a survey of ongoing and completed National-European research and development projects provides an overview of the current enabling tools, methodologies, and initiatives for public engagement. It also identifies and describes the links between facilitators and barriers with respect to existing policies and regulations, public awareness and engagement, and scientific and technological instruments. The paper concludes introducing the most promising methods, physical and digital technologies that may lead the way to Sustainable Circular Cities. The results of this research provide useful insight for citizens, scientists, practitioners, investors, policy makers, and strategists to channel efforts on switching from a linear to a circular thinking for the future of cities.

/pdf/transformation-tools-enabling-the-implementation-of-nature-3b5jdgjc1o.pdf

Transformation tools enabling the implementation of nature-based solutions for creating a resourceful circular city

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Tools for Edible Cities: A Review of Tools for Planning and Assessing Edible Nature-Based Solutions

Transformation tools enabling the implementation of nature-based solutions for creating a resourceful circular city