Submit to Sustainability Review for Sustainability Propose a Special Issue

Journal Browser

Climate Actions from Theory to Practice: Nature Based Solutions and Adaptive Governance Models

Special Issue Editors
Special Issue Information
Keywords
Published Papers

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Sustainability in Geographic Science".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2021) | Viewed by 21356

Share This Special Issue

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Angela Colucci

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Co.O.Pe.Ra.Te. ldt, Pavia, Italy / REsilienceLAB coordinator, Italy
Interests: climate change; territorial/complex systems resilience; resilience practices/transition initiatives; adaptive governance; nature-based solutions implementation; urban design; strategic planning and design; environmental planning

Prof. Dr. Adriana Galderisi

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor

Department of Architecture and Industrial Design, University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli Aversa, Aversa (CE), Italy
Interests: disaster risk reduction; urban resilience; spatial planning; sustainable development
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

A large mobilisation connecting citizens and scientists is pushing towards urgent policies to deal with environmental, social, economic and political issues related to climate change. The global dimension of climate change requires a thorough review of the current development models and the implementation of effective strategies at different geographical levels, from global to national and local scales. The civil society mobilisation is also confirmed by the worldwide phenomenon of grassroots initiatives and their increasing growth, pervasiveness and spread. These initiatives provide both innovative ideas and effective responses to the need of enhancing sustainability, resilience and ecological functionality of complex territorial systems.

This Special Issue, by focusing on “implementation” strategies, aims to link two widespread concepts in climate change discourse: nature-based solutions (NBSs), largely intended as one of the most promising practices addressing both mitigation and adaptation issues, and adaptive governance, which refers to innovative governance models capable of promoting and stimulating synergies among different stakeholders, siloed disciplinary knowledge and sectors of intervention, favouring new alliances for a more effective design and implementation of climate actions.

NBSs have been clearly recognised as promising tools to better cope with climate change. However, the significant difficulties in their implementation as well as in integrating them into the ordinary planning tools have been largely highlighted. Hence, it is crucial to understand if new governance models, based on more integrated and collaborative approaches, could support more effective cross-scale and cross-sectoral interactions, thus promoting NBSs implementation as well as their integration into large-/urban-scale transformation processes.

This Special Issue will host articles providing new ideas, tools and governance models for climate change policies, specifically, on NBSs. Suggested topics are: climate actions based on innovative and crosscutting solutions, implemented NBSs projects, implemented plans and projects for enhancing territorial sustainability, applied “models” of adaptive governance in both institutional-led and community-led practices.

Manuscripts should emphasise the “operational” dimension, focusing on implementation issues as well as on the effectiveness of science/policy and science/practices interfaces for climate action.

Dr. Angela Colucci
Prof. Adriana Galderisi
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Climate change
Nature-based solution
Green infrastructures
Ecosystem services
climate change polices implementation
Climate action
Resilience practices
Adaptive governance
Implementation tools

Published Papers (6 papers)

Download All Papers

Research

Jump to: Review

28 pages, 8446 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Verona Adapt. Modelling as a Planning Instrument: Applying a Climate-Responsive Approach in Verona, Italy

by Marika Tomasi, Sara Favargiotti, Martina van Lierop, Lorenzo Giovannini and Andrea Zonato

Sustainability 2021, 13(12), 6851; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13126851 - 17 Jun 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 3505

Abstract

In response to the global challenges brought on by climate change, cities around the world are adapting, innovating through nature-based strategies for sustainable development. Climate adaptation requires new interdisciplinary approaches in which different disciplines as well as research and practice proactively co-create and collaborate on adaptation to reduce the ongoing effects of anthropogenic climate change. Although awareness on climate adaptation is on the rise, new approaches for urban development are still in development. Moreover, existing approaches mainly focus on local-scale levels or lack a crossover with urban and landscape planning. The present contribution offers an example of an integrated approach bridging urban climatology, landscape planning, and governance to assess and develop climate adaptation solutions linking city and district levels. The city of Verona was taken as a case study to test this approach and its implications for the development of a green and blue infrastructure with a climate-responsive master plan for the district of Verona South. Through critical reflection on the application of the approach to the case study, we aimed to identify its potentials and barriers. Based on this reflection, we provide herein recommendations on how climate modelling can be integrated into planning, as well as on how urban planners and urban climatologists can support each other in making credible and salient climate adaptation solutions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Actions from Theory to Practice: Nature Based Solutions and Adaptive Governance Models)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 7953 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Territories in the Middle of the Ford. Mapping and Knowledge for Nature-Based Approach in the South Italy

by Giuseppe Guida, Giovanni Bello and Valentina Vittiglio

Sustainability 2021, 13(11), 6351; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13116351 - 03 Jun 2021

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2467

Abstract

The paper investigates a particular phenomenon of the industrialization of Southern Italy, starting from the second post-war period, and, in particular, the unsolved relationship between some large industrial areas and the territories of the medium and small cities on which such productive “plates” have been installed. The town planning policies and instruments with which the industrialization of Southern Italy was planned, on the contrary, foresaw a strong integration between urban fabric and industrial agglomerations. Through the case study of the province of Caserta, the research illustrated by the paper investigates, first of all, the policies that supported this process of industrialization and what the territorial effects of this phenomenon were. Next, the paper illustrates the method of knowledge and mapping of the territory of the case study of the industrial development area of Caserta. The data will be collected in a GIS platform that will return the following condition that is nowadays not available: analytical maps of the brownfield areas and the identification of the areas still intact, agricultural or green areas, urban areas and infrastructures, which trace a cognitive framework addressed to the project in which it will possible to experiment some possible eco-innovative and nature-based solutions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Actions from Theory to Practice: Nature Based Solutions and Adaptive Governance Models)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

15 pages, 2675 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatial Planning and Climate Adaptation: Challenges of Land Protection in a Peri-Urban Area of the Mediterranean City of Thessaloniki

by Elisavet Thoidou

Sustainability 2021, 13(8), 4456; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13084456 - 16 Apr 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2794

Abstract

The growing interest in climate change and related risks has triggered efforts to address both its causes and impact. Climate action is mainstreamed in various public policies in which spatial planning has a key role and operates as a coordinating framework as well as one that enables specific interventions. At the same time, land, an indispensable element of spatial planning, is gaining attention as a natural resource that is closely related to climate change. Increasing need for land protection raises the need for a renewed role of spatial planning of all types and levels. This paper examines issues of land protection related to climate change in a peri-urban area of the Thessaloniki metropolitan area in Greece and seeks to identify how the types of spatial planning contribute to land protection. It is argued that when viewing land protection from a climate adaptation perspective, a renewed relationship between the types and levels of spatial planning that demands emphasis be placed on their cooperation and the enabling of novel approaches such as nature-based solutions becomes apparent. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Actions from Theory to Practice: Nature Based Solutions and Adaptive Governance Models)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

25 pages, 6235 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Mainstreaming of NBS in the SECAP of San Donà di Piave: The LIFE Master Adapt Methodology

by Filippo Magni, Francesco Musco, Giovanni Litt and Giovanni Carraretto

Sustainability 2020, 12(23), 10080; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su122310080 - 03 Dec 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3254

Abstract

Climate change is a global phenomenon that poses local risks to sectors across society and the economy. All these growing risks have led the Municipality of San Donà di Piave—located within the Metropolitan City of Venice (CMVe)—to strengthen, over the years, its commitment to the adaptation to climate change in its plans and policies. Nature-based solutions can offer a perfect example of sustainable solutions to cope with climate change mitigation and adaptation challenges. In this context, thanks to the support of the LIFE Master Adapt project, San Donà di Piave, applying its methodologies and creating new territorial information, was able to insert, within its Action Plan for Sustainable Energy and Climate (SECAP), important and structural Nature-Based Solutions (NBSs) for the entire municipal area. This experience demonstrates how this process of mainstreaming adaptation actions and NBSs is possible at all levels of government of the territory. It also highlights the virtuosity of replicability in other contexts of the CMVe and the transition from theoretical concepts to concrete actions (NBSs) for adaptation into existing plans. This process happened with a climate-proof modification of the existing planning attitude, whether mandatory or voluntary. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Actions from Theory to Practice: Nature Based Solutions and Adaptive Governance Models)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

36 pages, 1359 KiB

Open AccessReview

Nature-Based Solutions for Water Management in Peri-Urban Areas: Barriers and Lessons Learned from Implementation Experiences

by Nancy Andrea Ramírez-Agudelo, Roger Porcar Anento, Miriam Villares and Elisabet Roca

Sustainability 2020, 12(23), 9799; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12239799 - 24 Nov 2020

Cited by 24 | Viewed by 5388

Abstract

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are defined by the European Commission as “actions that are inspired by, supported by, or copied from nature…” and that solve societal challenges and multiple benefits. As a result, NBS are often promoted as alternative responses that solve complex societal challenges such as watershed management, while delivering a systemic approach of multiple benefits for well-being, human health, and sustainable use of resources. Despite rising interest in NBS, further identification of experiences implementing NBS could advance our understanding of the operationalization of this comprehensive concept. For this purpose, we analyzed 35 peer-reviewed articles on implementation experiences of NBS for water management in peri-urban areas, on aspects related to (i) NBS problem–solution: water challenges, ecosystem services, scales, and types; (ii) NBS governance and management. From the insights of the analysis, this paper asks what lessons are learned, and which barriers are identified, from implementing NBS for water management in peri-urban areas? As a result, this study presents a detailed analysis of each aspect. We conclude by highlighting accountancy, monitoring, and communication as potential success factors for integration and development while diminishing the overall barrier of complexity, which leads to technical, institutional, economic, and social uncertainty. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Actions from Theory to Practice: Nature Based Solutions and Adaptive Governance Models)

► Show Figures

Figure 1

18 pages, 4253 KiB

Open AccessReview

Nature-Based Solutions Forming Urban Intervention Approaches to Anthropogenic Climate Change: A Quantitative Literature Review

by Jackie Parker, Greg D Simpson and Jonathon Edward Miller

Sustainability 2020, 12(18), 7439; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12187439 - 10 Sep 2020

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3066

Abstract

Discussion around anthropogenic climate change has occurred for over 100 years. However, in recent decades, these discussions have intensified due to increased confidence in scientific research highlighting adverse effects, increased knowledge breadth in climate science, and heightened public and political awareness and engagement on the topic. Climate change is now acknowledged as one of the biggest challenges and threats to modern lifestyles. Nature-based solutions (NBS), as a mediator and mitigator to adverse climate change effects, is an emerging area of expanding research collateral and practitioner literacy. To highlight current NBS knowledge, existing knowledge gaps, and research trends, a Quantitative Systematic Literature Review (QSLR) was undertaken (n = 54). This QSLR reveals the short temporal span of articles relating to NBS as a response to climate change, with most articles being of a research style format. NBS research focus areas were found to be dominated by ecological and infrastructure approaches to climate change mitigation, and ecological and technical positions were found to be most topical across the current climate change literature. Multiple knowledge gaps were identified by the review, namely the lack of broader conceptual approaches and knowledge acquisition regarding climate change responses via NBS, as well as the psychological relationship humans share with NBS and climate change, adverse or otherwise. These knowledge gaps highlight where future research inquiry may be directed to increase the value and completion of this research area. It is hoped that this QSLR will assist in increasing the profile of NBS in the multidisciplinary and complex response to anthropogenic climate change, as well as contribute to the growth in investment and implementation of NBS assets for a rigid and resilient global future. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Actions from Theory to Practice: Nature Based Solutions and Adaptive Governance Models)

► Show Figures