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NBS Catalogue

A Catalogue of Nature-based Solutions for Urban Resilience

More than half of the world's population lives in cities, and that number is rising every day. Urban areas are becoming more crowded, reducing green space and causing loss of biodiversity. Urban environments lose their resilience to mitigate the negative effects of climate change. As a result cities & towns are regularly confronted with devastating floods or heatwaves and droughts that cost millions of dollars in damage and even threaten our livelihoods.

Power of Nature-based Solutions

Nature-based Solutions (NBS) are approaches that use nature and natural processes for delivering infrastructure, services, and integrative solutions to meet the rising challenge of urban resilience. NBS can provide multiple benefits to cities and address different societal challenges, including reducing disaster risk and building climate resilience, while also contributing to restore biodiversity, creating opportunities for recreation, improving human health, water and food security, and supporting community wellbeing and livelihoods.

Suitable NBS can be considered dependent on the characteristics of the city such as the hydrological conditions. Different types of cities based on their location in the river basin.

“A Catalogue of Nature Based Solutions for Urban Resilience”

Despite a growing demand for Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) in cities, many people who make planning, financing, and technical decisions for urban resilience have little knowledge of when and how to build with nature. Our NBS catalogue provides them with guidance, real-world examples that illustrate how such approaches have worked, and technical assistance to help identify potentially viable nature-based investments that help cities address resilience challenges.

DOWNLOAD THE CATALOGUE

An integral version of the catalogue can be downloaded from the World Bank’s Open Knowledge Repository

Scalable Approach

Nature-based solutions can be applied across spatial scales and settings in and around cities. Examples include small (local) scale green spaces on buildings; bioswales and green corridors along streets and water bodies; urban parks and forests within city boundaries (city-scale), and larger areas with wetlands and forests upstream or along the coast, sheltering cities from flooding and improving availability and quality of water (regional scale).

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Schematic sections of NBS at regional, city and neighborhood scale.

Fourteen Families of NBS

To a degree, the position of a city determines the suitability of NBS types. To help select appropriate NBS the catalogue contains fourteen NBS categories. Urban Forests, Terraces and Slopes, River and Stream Renaturation, Building Solutions, Open Green Spaces, Green Corridors, Urban Farming, Bioretention Areas, Natural Inland Wetlands, Constructed Inland Wetlands, River Floodplains, Mangrove Forests, Salt Marshes, and Sandy Shores. We call these the NBS families.

The fourteen NBS typologies – so called ‘NBS Families’. 

Structure of the Catalogue

Section: Processes of NBS-Family "Urban Forest"

Richly visualized the catalogue describes and assesses each of the NBS approaches based on the following criteria:

  1. Processes- relevant for the resilience, functions and benefits of NBS, including infiltration, cooling and carbon sequestration.
  2. Functions - volumetric/quantitative capacity to regulate the effects of potential natural hazards.
  3. Benefits - capacity of NBS to deliver social, economic, and environmental benefits, such as reduction of flood, heat stress risk, human health improvement, job creation and biodiversity enhancement.
  4. Suitability - environmental, technical and urban requirements for implementation as well as information on maintenance and costs.
  5. NBS practice - key examples (worldwide) with relevant lessons learned on social, financial aspects and considerations of governance.

Diagrams: Functions and Benefits (for people) of NBS-Family "Urban Forest"

Collaboration
A Catalogue of Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Resilience” was made for the World Bank Group and Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR). The Catalogue was developed together with the World Bank team in collaboration with Nelen & Schuurmans, UNStudio, Rebel and UNSense.

The Catalogue of Nature-based Solutions for Urban Resilience has been developed as a guidance document to support the growing demand for NBS by enabling an initial identification of potential investments in nature-based solutions. The Catalogue intends to support policy makers, project developers, development professionals, urban planners and engineers with the identification of potential NBS investments, and to start a policy dialogue on NBS in cities. The structure of the NBS catalogue and focus on application and practice of NBS families underlines the importance of moving NBS from the theoretical discussions towards actual (and global) implementation.

Axo:  Three techniques for NBS-Family "Urban Forest": Phytoremediation forest, Ecological forest corridors & Agroforestry

Year

2020 - 2021

Type

Research, Infrastructure, Landscape

Client

World Bank Group
GFDRR - Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery 

Publications

A Catalogue of NBS for Urban Resilience - World Bank
Biind
Architecten Web
CG Concept
Openbareruimte.nu 
Rooilijn

Team & partners

Michiel Van Driessche
Eduardo Marin Salinas
Nadya Nilina
Cherk Ga Leung
Zofia Krzykawska
Elan Redekop van der Meulen
World Bank
Nelen & Schuurmans
UNStudio
Rebel
UNSense

List
  1. Nature Based City of Almere
  2. Oude Landen, Antwerpen
  3. Strategic Green Plan Leuven
  4. Leutje Leidraad, Groningen
  5. Rijnvliet, Edible Neighborhood
  6. Vief Kwartier
  7. Eemsdelta Campus
  8. The Newton
  9. Astridplein, Antwerp
  10. Dennenheuvel, Bloemendaal
  11. Regulateur Gruno district
  12. Jonas Amsterdam
  13. K64 keflavík airport area masterplan
  14. Railroad Zone Amsterdam
  15. From node to place
  16. Masterplan Flora Campus Westland
  17. Alongside the Schie
  18. New Space - Design Guideline Liveability of Public Space, Groningen
  19. From Airport to Birdport
  20. Brabant Water, Eindhoven
  21. Brouwershaven
  22. Brainport Industries Campus
  23. Hondsrug Park Amsterdam
  24. Yangmeikeng Sea Boulevard
  25. Healthy Tracks
  26. Towards a healthy city by foot
  27. Floating Gardens, Amsterdam
  28. The Unbound Amsterdam
  29. Seaside Gardens, Gufunes
  30. Brainport Smart District Helmond
  31. The Swan, Zwolle (NL)
  32. Spatial Framework Blankenburg Süden, Berlin
  33. 'Typhoon-proof' Shenzhen's East Coast
  34. Circular City Bodø 2.0
  35. A green entrance for the airport
  36. Public Space Alpen
  37. Cartesius Quarter
  38. Historic Delfshaven
  39. Isle of Dikes
  40. Smakkelaarsveld Utrecht
  41. Darmstadt Masterplan 2030+
  42. Bao’An G107 Corridor
  43. Master Plan Ter Aar, Nieuwkoop
  44. Waterfront Novosibirsk
  45. Almazov National Medical Research Centre
  46. Strategic Urban Green Study
  47. Public Space Strategy Kanpur
  48. Quartierlandschaft Dietenbach
  49. ImageWharf
  50. Ódinstorg Square
  51. Overloon War Museum
  52. Lokhalle Leverkusen
  53. Ludlstrasse Munich
  54. Redevelopment Strategy Vogabyggð
  55. City life in the woods
  56. Schie Quarter Schiedam
  57. Socio-technical city of the future
  58. Buji River
  59. Vaskhnil Novosibirsk
  60. Precincts Canterbury Cathedral
  61. Maritime Campus Almere
  62. Resilient Riverscape Berat
  63. Sijthoff
  64. Strategic Plan Shkodra
  65. Ekaterinburg City Campus
  66. Transformation Strategy Gufunes
  67. Transformation Strategy Chelyabinsk
  68. Fish Market Leuven
  69. Zinder Culture Cluster
  70. Redevelopment plan Bergschenhoek centre
  71. Food Innovation Strip Ede-Wageningen
  72. S4 Highway Hangzhou
  73. Strategic Plan Fier
  74. Strategic Plan Elbasan
  75. Kronenburg Business Park
  76. Dharavi Mumbai
  77. Ásbrú Enterprise Park
  78. Asylum Seekers Center Ter Apel
  79. Berlin Am Volkspark
  80. The Museum of the 20th Century
  81. Gardabaer
  82. Metropolitan Westerpark Amsterdam
  83. Science and Technology City Chongqing
  84. Yue Xiu 353 Transformation
  85. 5YN3RGY
  86. Erlongshan Recreational Park
  87. Danxia Recreational Park
  88. Campus Lelystad
  89. Proto Tamansari
  90. City Gardens Tyumen
  91. Park Somerlust Amsterdam
  92. Bandar Lampung Park
  93. R&D Campus Fengxian
  94. S-West Eindhoven
  95. Biodiversity based dairy farming
  96. Heidelberg Creative Quarter
  97. Barendrecht Vrouwenpolder
  98. Mobility transformation of Haarlem Europaweg
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