Beating around the bush: A scoping review of trade-offs for just planning and governance of urban nature-based solutions
Charlotte Stijnen, Niki Frantzeskaki, Katinka Wijsman
Abstract
Urban nature-based solutions (NBS) are increasingly embraced by academics and practitioners for their ability to contribute to sustainability by addressing various urban challenges such as air quality , urban heat stress, urban flood mitigation, biodiversity loss, and social cohesion . Research in the literature places a significant focus on the identification of synergies and win-win scenarios of urban NBS. However, this has caused a blind spot in necessary research on trade-offs. Specifically, the existing research on trade-offs lacks a holistic overview of empirical evidence on urban NBS trade-offs from diverse fields of research, and current discussions on trade-offs inadequately reflect on the political nature of the choices and consequences of trade-offs when planning and governing for and with urban NBS. This paper addresses these issues by providing an overarching typology of urban NBS related trade-offs and the environmental justice implications thereof through a scoping literature review of empirical research on urban NBS trade-offs from different fields of research. The review provides an overview of the variable understandings of trade-offs of NBS, the usage of spatial and temporal scales when addressing them, and categorizes trade-offs according to stages of the planning cycle. We identify three main groups of urban NBS trade-offs, namely, rigid, governance, and functional trade-offs, and illustrate their different manifestations across the planning cycle. The typology sheds new light on research of urban NBS trade-offs by explicitly placing an environmental justice perspective on the types of trade-offs, and linking these types with the planning cycle. Thereby, this paper contributes to a new understanding of urban NBS trade-offs for planning and governance by illuminating the implications of choices for who or what is recognized, participates, and benefits from nature in the city.