Bridging local and global vulnerabilities for an integrated assessment of nature-based solutions
Camacho, David (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Langemeyer, Johannes (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Segura Barrero, Ricard (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Vervoort, Gaël (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Barton, David N. (Norwegian Institute for Nature Research)
Villalba, Gara (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)

Date:	2025
Abstract:	Nature-based solutions (NBSs) can address socio-ecological challenges in urban environments, such as climate change adaptation and biodiversity conservation, but their local and global impacts are often not fully assessed. We develop a stepwise multi-criteria analysis to determine cross-scale NBSs impacts based on their capacity to alter social-ecological vulnerabilities and apply the framework to optimize green roof implementation in Oslo. NBSs impacts are calculated using diverse methodologies (e. g. , life-cycle assessment, spatial modelling) and related to local-scale vulnerabilities-heat, heavy rainfall, lack of habitat for pollinators, air pollution, and lack of nature interaction-via spatial indicators and broad-scale vulnerabilities linked to earth system boundaries such as climate change and changes in biochemical flows. Stakeholder workshops serve to weigh the relative importance of impacts on vulnerabilities. Results show that green roofs reduced local-scale vulnerabilities to heatwaves and heavy rainfall but increased broad-scale vulnerability to climate change due to construction, implementation, and removal, creating trade-offs across spatial scales. Consequently, maximizing green roofs was not the most effective strategy. Instead, green-roof implementation of 68 % maximizes desired impacts while minimizing undesired ones. Our approach provides a novel local-to-global integrated framework to examine cross-scale trade-offs and synergies of NBSs, supporting its effective planning in cities.
Grants:	European Commission 818002 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PRE2020-095791 European Commission 869324 Agencia Estatal de Investigación PCI2022-133011 Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CEX2019-000940-M
Note:	Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UAB
Note:	Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-M
Rights:	Aquest document està subjecte a una llicència d'ús Creative Commons. Es permet la reproducció total o parcial, la distribució, i la comunicació pública de l'obra, sempre que no sigui amb finalitats comercials, i sempre que es reconegui l'autoria de l'obra original. No es permet la creació d'obres derivades.
Language:	Anglès
Document:	Article ; recerca ; Versió publicada
Subject:	Cross-scale ; Earth system boundaries ; Nature-based solutions ; Risk ; Urban greening ; Urban vulnerability
Published in:	Sustainable Cities and Society, Vol. 130 (July 2025) , art. 106508, ISSN 2210-6715

DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2025.106508

17 p, 7.9 MB

The record appears in these collections:
Research literature > UAB research groups literature > Research Centres and Groups (research output) > Experimental sciences > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA)
Articles > Research articles
Articles > Published articles