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6 Urban Design Projects With Nature-Based Solutions

• Written by Camilla Ghisleni | Translated by Tarsila Duduch
• Published on July 24, 2022

Extreme natural events are becoming increasingly frequent all over the world. Numerous studies indicate that floods, storms, and sea-level rise could affect more than 800 million people worldwide, ultimately costing cities $1 trillion per year by the middle of the century. This suggests that urban survival depends on addressing urban vulnerability as a matter of urgency to protect the city and the population.

Given the background, many urban design projects started to introduce nature-based solutions (NBS) to provide sustainable management of ecosystems to tackle different environmental challenges. These solutions can reconnect the population with nature, mitigate air pollution, improve thermal comfort in the cities, reduce the effect of urban heat islands, and manage stormwater runoff, among many other benefits to the environment , and to the physical and mental health of urban dwellers. Moreover, NBS can also contribute towards creative designs that can cost much less than traditional solutions.

Below, we have selected six urban projects that embody nature-based solutions addressing different challenges of the contemporary world.

Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park, Singapore

Nature-based solutions require stepping outside the comfort zone, trying creative non-obvious alternatives, and close collaboration between many different work fronts. This process is challenging, but not impossible, as we can see in the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park in Singapore .

A few decades ago, the city decided to channelize the Kallang River creating a linear fenced canal that was a clear dividing line between the park and community. In dire need of an upgrade, the concrete canal could be redesigned but Singapore's national water agency decided to naturalize the river by restoring the original riverbed and floodplain. The 2.7 km straight concrete drainage channel was torn down and transformed into a meandering 3.2 km long natural river.

The result is a blue-green infrastructure project that provides flood prevention and improved water quality, increasing the benefits of the canal to the community. Combining natural materials, civil engineering techniques, and plants that can filter and absorb water was essential to stabilize the riverbanks and prevent erosion.

The National University of Singapore carried out a cost-benefit analysis that reported that rebuilding the concrete canal would cost about US$94 million (133 million SGD, Singapore dollars). Naturalization, on the other hand, cost just under US$50 million (70 million SGD) and further contributed to expanding and reconnecting the park areas to the city.

In other words, besides all the environmental benefits from the improved flood management and water quality, and the positive impact on people's physical and mental well-being by bringing them closer to nature, this NBS has also generated significant financial savings, achieving great results for a fraction of the cost of traditional solutions.

Green Corridors, Colombia

Over the past few years, city authorities of the Colombian city of Medellín have transformed the verges of 18 roads and 12 waterways into a green paradise. The Green Corridors project consists of planting trees along thoroughfares to mitigate the effects of urban heat islands caused mainly by the overuse of concrete and asphalt.

For example, the Avenida Oriental, one of the busiest roads in the city, was remodeled and had over 2 kilometers of paving on the pedestrian island and sidewalks replaced by gardens. More than 600 trees, palms, and thousands of smaller plants of carefully selected species have been planted, allowing the native wildlife to return to the area. Today we can see many different birds, such as parakeets and parrots, also butterflies, and even squirrels traveling through the city.

The initiative focused on areas that most lacked green spaces and managed to reduce air temperature by more than 2°C. The Green Corridor project won the 2019 Ashden Award for Cooling by Nature Award, supported by the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program.

Rain Garden, Brazil

Similar to the previous project, this one also addresses the issue of impermeability of the urban landscape. Rain gardens are specifically designed to reduce the flow rate, total quantity, and pollutant load of stormwater runoff. This practice is used to treat urban runoff using plants, stones, and other natural or engineered elements. Suspended solids are filtered out of the water as it moves down through the soil and interspersed plant roots. These gardens can be executed near sidewalks, roads, flowerbeds, or even inside lots.

In 2019, the first rain garden in the city of Rio de Janeiro was installed at the Fundição Progresso Cultural Center , kicking off with an action called Dia da QuebrAção (Wrecking Day) in which the concrete sidewalk in front of the building began to be removed, to be replaced with 200 square meters of green space. Cecilia Herzog and Daniel Gabrielli, who were in charge of the project, say that bringing nature back to urban life and learning from it, cooperating with all species, and using nature's techniques for the benefit of the city, is a major paradigm for the 21st century.

Lineal Gran Canal Park, Mexico

Like the green corridors in Medellín, this linear park in Mexico City is based on environmental regeneration, through reforestation of the urban fabric and restoration of soil permeability, which has resulted in an increase of 16% in the relative humidity of the air and a reduction of up to 5% in temperature, mitigating the effect of heat islands.

The park provides many environmental benefits, but furthermore, it symbolizes the reclaiming of a neglected space. It was built over the capital's historic Grand Canal structure, integrating more than 70,000 square meters of land that used to be divided by this harsh line in the urban fabric. The intervention focused on recovering the native vegetation and riparian forest of the old canal, transforming the area into a 100% permeable public space.

Stormwater Wetland Park, China

This park is located right in the middle of the city, in an area that is listed as a protected regional wetland. The site is surrounded by roads and dense development on four sides, so water sources were being cut, and the wetland was under threat. The architects' strategy was to transform the dying wetland into a ‘green sponge,’ an urban stormwater park which not only rescues the disappearing wetland but also provides multiple services for the new urban community.

The project follows four guidelines. First, the central part of the existing wetland was left untouched, allowing it to evolve and transform naturally. The second strategy was to create a ring of ponds and mounds surrounding the former wetland using simple cut-and-fill techniques, which creates a buffer zone for the core of the wetland and a welcoming landscape filter between nature and the city. Third, a network of paths and urban furniture on ground level, allowing visitors to experience walking through a forest. And finally, the fourth strategy was to create elevated walkways that connect the scattered mounds with platforms and viewing towers that frame different perspectives of the natural landscape.

This nature-based solution has transformed the wetland into a multifunctional stormwater park that collects, filters, stores rainwater, and infiltrates the aquifer while being productive and pro-life, providing new recreational and aesthetic experiences for the city. The park has greatly contributed to the survival of the natural environment while also acting as an effective drainage green infrastructure for the area, which was frequently affected by floods from June to August.

Urban Farming in several countries

Urban farming has been a growing practice in many cities around the world through independent or governmental initiatives. The city of San Francisco, for example, is giving tax breaks for allowing communal urban farming on empty lots. In Tokyo, five rooftop community vegetable gardens located on top of train stations were inaugurated in 2014. In Barcelona, independent initiatives run by retired people created large vegetable gardens in abandoned peripheral areas.

Meanwhile, the 'Quintais Susentáveis' (sustainable backyards) initiative in the state of Roraima, northern Brazil, stands out because it combines sustainable production based on agroecology, food & nutrition security with income-generating activities for vulnerable people, promoting social and labor inclusion. The program educates families in sustainable production and also encourages them to sell their products in local markets. This allows many possibilities, including the production of seedlings and organic compost.

The project also relies heavily on collaborative activities. The plant species are selected with community participation through a survey carried out to understand the family's eating habits so that everyone feels included in the process.

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6个基于自然解决方案的城市设计项目

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How Eight Cities Succeeded in Rejuvenating their Urban Land

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SINGAPORE, July 13, 2016 – The single most crucial component in rejuvenating decaying urban areas around the world is private sector participation, according to a report released today from the World Bank and the Public Private Infrastructure Advisory Facility (PPIAF) during the World Cities Summit taking place in Singapore this week.

“ Urban regeneration projects are rarely implemented solely by the public sector.  There is a need for massive financial resources that most cities can’t meet,” said Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez, Senior Director for the World Bank’s Social, Urban, Rural and Resilience Global Practice .  “Participation from the private sector is a critical factor in determining whether a regeneration program is successful – programs that create urban areas where citizens can live, work, and thrive .”

Every city has pockets of underused land or distressed urban areas, most often the result of changes in urban growth and productivity patterns. In developing countries, which are absorbing 90 percent of the world’s urban population growth, decaying inner cities are home to an increasing number of poor and vulnerable citizens. These areas marginalize and exclude residents, and can have a long-term negative effect on their upward mobility.

Regenerating Urban Land: A Practitioner’s Guide to Leveraging Private Investment looks at regeneration programs from eight cities around the world – Ahmedabad, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, Santiago, Singapore, Seoul, Shanghai, and Washington DC – documenting the journeys they have faced in tackling major challenges in this area. 

Building on the experience of cities from different regions around the world, the report looks at projects for inner cities, former industrial or commercial site, ports, waterfronts, and historic neighborhoods. While the cases vary in many aspects, what they have in common is significant private sector participation in the regeneration and rehabilitation of deteriorating urban areas. 

The report singles out successful policy and finance tools in each city case study, and points out issues and challenges the city faced during the process. It identifies four distinct phases for successful urban regeneration: scoping, planning, financing, and implementation. Each phase includes a set of unique mechanisms that local governments can use to systematically design a regeneration process.

For example, in Singapore, the polluted Singapore River was no longer used for trading activities as large-scale container ports gained prominence. 

“ Capitalizing on the Singapore River’s historical importance and potential for redevelopment, the government launched a transformational program that preserved cultural heritage, improved the environment, and opened the area for recreational pedestrian use.  Similar efforts elsewhere can rejuvenate cities and regional economies,” said Jordan Schwartz, Director of the World Bank’s Infrastructure & Urban Development Hub, based in Singapore .

Yet there is no “one size fits all” approach when looking for solutions to cities’ declining areas.  The report stresses that while the tools presented in the report yielded successful results in many cities around the world, no one solution is universally applicable to all cities and situations .  The report also emphasizes that with strong political leadership, any city can start an urban regeneration process, but the successful use of land-planning and finance tools depend on sound and well-enforced zoning and property tax systems.

“No two cities are alike, so to meet this challenge, the World Bank created an online decision tool, based on the specific issues the city faces and its current regulatory and financial environment ,” said Rana Amirtahmasebi, author of the report. “ Local governments can use the information curated in this report to begin to reverse the process of economic, social, and physical decay in urban areas, moving toward the sustainable, inclusive development of their cities.”    

Illustrating the transformation, other case studies from the new report include:

• The city of Santiago (Chile) lost almost 50 percent of its population and 33 percent of its housing stock between 1950 and 1990. But the city turned this around, using a national housing subsidy to specifically target the repopulation of the inner city. The private investment reached USD 3 billion throughout the life of project, stimulated by a USD 138 million subsidy.
• Buenos Aires (Argentina) found itself on the verge of becoming unsustainable, when urban sprawl moved away from downtown leaving prime waterfront land, with significant architectural and industrial heritage, vacant and underused. To tackle this problem, the city used a self-financing urban regeneration initiative in Puerto Madero to redevelop the unused 170-hectare land parcel to an attractive mixed-use waterfront neighborhood. The total investment reached USD 1.7 billion, with USD 300 million invested by the city through the sale of land.
• Seoul (Republic of Korea) experienced a major decrease in residential and commercial activity in its downtown, where small plots, narrow roads, and high land prices made development too costly. From 1975 to 1995, Seoul lost more than half its downtown population, while substandard housing for mostly squatters and renters was more than twice the city’s average. Seoul launched the Cheonggyecheon revitalization project to redevelop an 18-lane elevated highway into a revitalized stream with green public space totaling 16.3 hectares, dramatically increasing real estate values and the variety of uses for the downtown areas.
• In Ahmedabad (India) , the closure of mills along the Sabarmati Riverfront caused unemployed laborers to form large informal settlements along the riverbed, creating unsafe and unclean living areas and reducing the flood management capacity.  In response, the city created a development corporation to reclaim 200 hectares of riverfront land on both sides and paid the project costs through the sale of 14.5 percent of the reclaimed land, while the rest of the riverfront was transformed into public parks and laborers resettled through a national program. 
• In the 18-square kilometer inner city of Johannesburg (South Africa) , a series of targeted regeneration initiatives achieved a decline in property vacancy rates from 40 percent in 2003 to 17 percent in 2008, and a similar jump in property transactions.  Since 2001, for every rand (R) 1 million (about USD 63,000) invested by the Johannesburg Development Authority, private investors have put R 18 million into the inner city of Johannesburg, creating property assets valued at R 600 million and infrastructure assets valued at R 3.1 billion.

For the full report and toolkit, please visit: https://urban-regeneration.worldbank.org/

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The Urban Design Case Study Archive is a project of Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design developed collaboratively between faculty, students, developers, and professional library staff. Specifically, it is an ongoing collaboration between the GSD’s Department of Urban Planning and Design and the Frances Loeb Library. This project received funding from the Veronica Rudge Green Prize for its development and was originally envisioned by professors Peter Rowe and Rahul Mehrotra.

As a collection of case studies, the project aims to support the study of the built environment in urban areas through a rich data model for urban design projects and their related descriptions, interpretations, drawings, and images. It makes use of excellent data entry tools that support the sophisticated search and visualization needed to support its pedagogical aims and scholarly research. Each case study includes digital photographs of the urban context, the projects themselves, and other graphic representation such as site plans, sections, and elevations, as well as texts, commentary, articles, analyses, bibliographies, people involved and interviews to facilitate and encourage discoverability and a flexible navigation within and across case studies depending on research interests.

The project launched in 2023 with urban design projects awarded the Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design and will continue to cover urban design projects of excellence across the globe. We thank the funders, faculty, staff, students, and the developers Performant Solutions, LLC for bringing this project to fruition.

Veronica Rudge Green Prize in Urban Design

Rahul Mehrotra, John T. Dunlop Professor in Housing and Urbanization

Peter Rowe, Raymond Garbe Professor of Architecture and Urban Design and Harvard University Distinguished Service Professor

Ann Whiteside, Librarian/Assistant Dean for Information Services

Bruce Boucek, GIS, Data, and Research Librarian

Alix Reiskind, Research and Teaching Support Team Lead Librarian

Ines Zalduendo, Special Collections Curator

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Boya Guo, DDes ‘22

Liene Asahi Baptista, MAUD ‘23

Yona Chung, DDes ‘25

Priyanka Kar, MAUD ‘24

Sarahdjane Mortimer, MAUD ‘23

Enrique Mutis, MAUD ‘24

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Ben Silverman

With special thanks to all the image contributors who have generously granted us copyright permission to include their images in the Urban Design Case Study Archive.

Urban economic development in Africa: A case study of Nairobi city

Subscribe to africa in focus, jacob nato , jn jacob nato policy analyst - kenya institute for public policy research and analysis @jacobnato1984 humphrey njogu , hn humphrey njogu principal policy analyst - kenya institute for public policy research and analysis @humnjogu rose ngugi , rn rose ngugi executive director - kenya institute for public policy research and analysis aloysius uche ordu , and aloysius uche ordu director - africa growth initiative , senior fellow - global economy and development , africa growth initiative @aloysiusordu ede ijjasz-vasquez ede ijjasz-vasquez nonresident senior fellow - global economy and development , africa growth initiative @ede_wbg.

February 17, 2023

Below is a viewpoint from the  Foresight Africa 2023 report, which explores top priorities for the region in the coming year. Read the full chapter on Africa’s cities .

In most countries, urbanization leads to substantial productivity gains supported by scale, density, and agglomeration. Better connected people and firms lead to savings in transport and logistics, technological and information spillovers, and more efficient labor markets. However, Africa’s urbanization has not realized the full potential and benefits of such agglomeration. The economic transformation and benefits of urbanization, observed in other regions, are yet to be achieved in sub-Saharan Africa.

To understand the barriers, and unlock the economic opportunities of urbanization, the Africa Growth Initiative (AGI) at the Brookings Institution developed an “ Urban Economic Growth Framework for African cities .” The framework focuses on the three primary constraints limiting a city’s ability to benefit from agglomeration and generate productive jobs: Accessibility, the business environment, and public sector governance. The framework provides specific indicators and ways to identify these three critical constraints, with a view to inform and guide policymakers on specific actions and appropriate policies.

As a start, the AGI framework was applied to the city of Nairobi (Kenya’s capital), to analyze Nairobi’s key challenges and possible solutions for growth and employment.

Unemployment and underemployment in Nairobi are a top concern, especially as youth makeup 48 percent of the total unemployed workforce (15 to 64 years). While the labor force in Kenya has been growing at an average annual rate of about 3 percent, Nairobi needs to generate many more (and better) jobs to offer improved livelihood opportunities to its large youth demographic. At the national level, Kenya has registered good progress in creating jobs, especially in the digital and gig economy. The report recommends two areas of focus. First, in coordination with the national government, Nairobi City County needs to support the gradual formalization of the large number of informal jobs and enterprises by easing business registration and motivating registration through targeted support programs. Second, better education and skills in targeted economic sectors are required to enhance productivity and earnings. Nairobi city should ensure that tertiary institutions provide training and skills consistent with emerging technologies.

[Nairobi] city has enormous potential to achieve the benefits of urban agglomeration and create productive jobs by paying particular attention to its challenges in accessibility and infrastructure, business environment, as well as public sector governance and finance.

Furthermore, enterprise data in Nairobi shows that businesses are likely to transition from micro- to medium-, and to large enterprises as the owners’ levels of education attainment rises.

Accessibility within the city: Accessibility is vital for connecting workers to firms and firms to markets. Despite the excellent progress made on infrastructure development, there is a high concentration of unpaved roads in Nairobi’s high-density informal settlements.

Consequently, as shown in the report, most jobs are not accessible within one hour of public transport commute i.e., commuting time by bus, matatu (shared taxi), or foot. The city also has a mismatch in zoning and land use. Nairobi therefore needs a new approach to urban planning that considers population growth, infrastructure, housing, and land use. Equally important is updating the land appraisal system and creating more public spaces.

Business environment: Many businesses in the city face several challenges, including complex processes to access licenses and permits, insufficient finance, expensive land, rigid labor regulations, inefficiency in tax administration, and crime risk. For example, a business takes about 92 days to secure an electricity connection. A firm loses about KSh 2.3 million per year due to power outages on average. These are critical areas for Nairobi to enhance its business environment. Furthermore, it is essential to coordinate the implementation of business policy reforms between the national and county governments.

Public sector governance and finances: The devolution process in Kenya has given Nairobi City County a total of 14 constitutional functions. The city faces important challenges in terms of financing, despite the commendable increase in revenues and fiscal transfers from KSh 9.51 billion in FY 2013/14 to KSh 19.42 billion in FY 2020/21. Still, the city faces several financing shortfalls, from high levels of pending bills and fiscal deficits, to delays in receipt of equitable fiscal transfers. These challenges call for proper budget planning, improved budget execution, and higher levels of the city’s source revenue.

The application of the AGI Urban Economic Growth Framework to Nairobi City County shows that the city has enormous potential to achieve the benefits of urban agglomeration and create productive jobs by paying particular attention to its challenges in accessibility and infrastructure, business environment, as well as public sector governance and finance.

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• Published: 20 October 2022

A new urban narrative for sustainable development

• Michael Keith   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-9448-2674 1 ,
• Eugenie Birch 2 ,
• Nicolas J. A. Buchoud 3 ,
• Maruxa Cardama 4 ,
• William Cobbett 5 ,
• Michael Cohen 6 ,
• Thomas Elmqvist   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4617-6197 7 ,
• Jessica Espey   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5140-7463 8 ,
• Maarten Hajer 9 ,
• Gunnar Hartmann 10 ,
• Tadashi Matsumoto 11 ,
• Susan Parnell   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-5702-1684 8 ,
• Aromar Revi 12 ,
• Debra C. Roberts 13 ,
• Emilia Saiz 14 ,
• Tim Schwanen 15 ,
• Karen C. Seto   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-4928-2446 16 ,
• Raf Tuts 17 &
• Martin van der Pütten 18  

Nature Sustainability volume  6 ,  pages 115–117 ( 2023 ) Cite this article

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Our planet is rapidly urbanizing. Research has recognized the complexity of city-driven dynamics, but our political realities have yet to catch up. A new narrative of sustainable urban development must become central to global policymaking to help humanity respond to the most pressing social and environmental challenges.

Almost all growth of the human population this century will be accounted for by a growing number of city dwellers 1 . This demographic reality has elevated political attention to urban issues. Between 2012 and 2015, a dialogue on urban issues within the United Nations (UN) General Assembly resulted in the inclusion of a dedicated Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) on cities and human settlements within the 2030 Agenda. SDG 11 committed national governments to “make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable” 2 . This goal is of major significance. By including a commitment focused on cities within a nationally determined agenda, countries recognized both the importance of a place-based approach to development and the unique nature of the challenges facing urban communities of all shapes and sizes 3 .

Before 2015, cities and urban areas had been neglected, with their only forum for international dialogue the UN Conferences on Housing and Urban Development in 1976 and 1996 and the biennial World Urban Forum 4 . While these conferences helped focus collective attention on issues of urban poverty and infrastructure, they did not acknowledge the importance of cities as the drivers of economic growth and climate-resilient development 5 , 6 . The dedicated SDG gave urban practitioners, policymakers and local government representatives a formalized space in policy dialogues that acknowledged varied roles for local, national and multilateral actors in urban governance.

Beyond SDG 11, the commitment to localize the 2030 Agenda and “work closely on implementation [of the goals] with regional and local authorities” opened up opportunities for local governments to engage across the spectrum of national planning processes 2 . In 2016, the parallel but complementary Habitat III conference attempted to highlight further the urban imperative and while it did not succeed in gaining high-level international traction, it did provide a normative and operational framework for global urban policy 7 . Furthermore, in 2020, six international organizations (including the European Union, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development and the World Bank) agreed upon a harmonized definition of urban settlements, following a decades-long and hotly contested debate 8 .

Together these agreements have helped to shape a ‘Global Urban Agenda’, which has continued to gain ground among technical audiences, exemplified by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change’s commitment to issue a Special Report on Cities and Climate Change in its 7th Assessment cycle and recent discussion of urban challenges in the reports of Working Groups II and III 6 , 9 . However, the turbulence of recent world events and the need for post-pandemic reconstruction is limiting the political and fiscal space for upscaling and even maintaining global urban deliberations. This is despite the fact that the pandemic revealed opportunities for more systemic interventions to reduce future pandemic and climate change risk in cities and towns 6 .

A close look at the outcomes of the major global macroeconomic and political meetings of the past decade, such as the G20 or G7, show that issues of urban development have been consistently undervalued in national discussions 10 . Cities and many subnational governments were on the front line of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the disproportionate burden they face was not acknowledged in the outcome statement from the extraordinary G20 summit on COVID-19 (ref. 11 ). This is in spite of evidence suggesting that most cities are financially ill-equipped to cope with post-pandemic challenges; “lower exports, a decline in tourism revenues and remittances, and an acute contraction of economic activities are translating into a precipitous drop in tax revenues” for local authorities, making it incredibly hard to cope with increased vulnerability and service demand 12 .

Furthermore, urban governance challenges were ignored in the Declaration from the 75th General Assembly of the UN in 2020, which specifically discussed the necessity for a reinvigoration of multilateralism to help deal with modern social, economic and environmental crises. The 2021 report of the UN Secretary General did shine some light on the role of local governments and call for the creation of an Advisory Group on Local and Regional Governments to help Member States engage local government in recovery efforts, but this is not enough 13 .

Creating a new urban narrative

To prevent political backsliding and to keep the spotlight on how to govern complex urban dynamics, urban stakeholders need to organize themselves into a coherent epistemic community, with clear political messaging. New bridges need to be built, such as with long-term investors, both public and private, to avoid the risks of geopolitical fragmentation. During the period 2012–2015, the urban community demonstrated unprecedented coordination, mobilizing in support of an Urban SDG and orchestrating a related campaign (#UrbanSDG), as well as establishing a Global Taskforce: a common platform for local and regional government associations. Now, halfway through the SDG project, this community needs to regroup, reignite these platforms and call for a renewed focus on urban and place-based development, with clear ambitions for the next 5–10 years.

First, this community needs to coalesce around a new narrative of what urban sustainable development really is, building on recent literature that foregrounds complexity and systems thinking. Complexity in urban environments has a long academic tradition, with inputs from biology, computational sciences and physics, among others 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 . Complexity theory has also spawned new models and planning tools, which are increasingly being used by cities and their service operators to better understand spatial organization and governance systems 18 . The fact that urban planning embraces complexity head on makes it a highly practical and pertinent approach to implement a global, interdependent and complex sustainable development agenda.

Second, the new narrative needs to address emergent challenges; for instance, the necessity to foster resilient and equitable social systems rather than focusing only on economic development, better integrating the climate change, health and well-being, and biodiversity agendas, and ensuring disaster-resilient infrastructure 6 , 19 . Urban inequality also constitutes a series of pressing challenges, including the inequities exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as healthcare coverage, but also socio-economic inequalities in housing and labour markets and differentiated climate vulnerabilities 20 . It is crucial to respond to the failure of existing urban development models that have resulted in unplanned, informal urban expansion in many cities in the Global South.

Third, this community needs to engage meaningfully with policy experts and social scientists who are immersed in the complex architecture of the international governance system and can help place key messages at the top of political agendas 21 . Engaging at this level is essential to garner political commitment and to help change power dynamics within countries that might otherwise be reluctant to empower local government leaders. It is clear from the limited attention to local and regional government in international dialogues that current modes of engagement (for example, via the Major Groups to the UN) are insufficient. Similarly, the vast reservoir of expertise that exists in the field of south–south cooperation too often remains untapped. Urban stakeholders need to capitalize on the techniques that proved so effective during the SDG deliberations and focus on delivering unified, concise messaging, framed in ways that resonate with political decision-makers and communicated by partners who can access the various organs of the international system.

But it is not just about smarter lobbying. We need to embrace a new and changing political geography, which, alongside global governance hubs such as New York or Geneva, or Washington DC, includes regional fora such as the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA) or the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), major macroeconomic fora such as the G20, and regional unions, such as the African Union, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and others 22 . According to the Deputy Secretary General of the UN, these regional entities must play a key role in helping countries to achieve their sustainable development objectives, acting as ‘think-tanks’ and hubs for regional partnership 23 . Engaging with countries in their own regional context is particularly important to address the regionalized nature of urban concerns and governance.

Cities as sites of international decision-making

The struggle to secure a global focus on cities began nearly a decade ago and culminated in a commitment to localization, place-based development and a dedicated Urban SDG. Since then, the world has been torn asunder and the focus on cities as sites of sustainable development action has eroded. Given the complexity of sustainable development, a place-based approach to development is imperative.

Urban stakeholders need to once again come together and articulate a coherent narrative that can be used to galvanize attention to cities as key international decision-making spaces. Yet, the lessons of the past decade — from financial, economic, health and environmental crises — show that urban stakeholders need to join forces at a wider scale than ever before. It is not just about looking back to the epic narrative of SDG 11. Recoupling urbanization with social progress, and within planetary boundaries, depends on our shared ability to articulate these interconnections, to galvanize attention and to create a larger political space for cities as key sites of international decision-making.

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Acknowledgements

This piece emerged from a workshop sponsored by UKRI’s PEAK Urban programme, grant reference ES/P011055/1.

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Michael Keith

Penn Institute for Urban Research, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA

Eugenie Birch

Renaissance Urbaine, Global Solutions Initiative, Berlin, Germany

Nicolas J. A. Buchoud

SLOCAT Partnership, Brussels, Belgium

Maruxa Cardama

Independent Consultant, Cirencester, UK

William Cobbett

Milano School of Policy, Management, and Environment, The New School, New York, NY, USA

Michael Cohen

Stockholm Resilience Centre, Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden

Thomas Elmqvist

School of Geographical Sciences, University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

Jessica Espey & Susan Parnell

Urban Futures Studio, Universiteit Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

Maarten Hajer

New Dialogues, Berlin, Germany

Gunnar Hartmann

Sustainable Urban Development Unit, OECD, Paris, France

Tadashi Matsumoto

Indian Institute of Human Settlements, Bangalore, India

Aromar Revi

Durban Municipal Government, Durban, South Africa

Debra C. Roberts

United Cities and Local Governments, Barcelona, Spain

Emilia Saiz

School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Tim Schwanen

Yale School of the Environment, Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA

Karen C. Seto

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Keith, M., Birch, E., Buchoud, N.J.A. et al. A new urban narrative for sustainable development. Nat Sustain 6 , 115–117 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41893-022-00979-5

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Published 06 February 2023

Uniquely Urban: Case Studies in Innovative Urban Development

Based on interviews with teams in countries including Mongolia, India, and Uzbekistan, the report explores the development challenges they faced. It shows how they built consensus internally and with government and private sector clients to launch programs. Explaining how lending teams are collaborating to devise solutions, it delves into ADB projects in sectors including housing, green infrastructure, and tourism, that are helping make cities more resilient.

• Introduction
• How Upstream Programmatic Interventions Drive Industrial and Urban Transformation
• How People-Friendly Urban Mobility and Green Sponge Infrastructure is Transforming a City
• A First in Viet Nam Water Sector: Utility Transitions to Nonsovereign Lending
• Nonsovereign PRC Loan Demonstrates Broad Integratation of Smart Water Technologies
• Beyond Slum Upgrades: How Affordable Housing Projects Build Resilient, Thriving Households
• ADB’s First Blue Loan Intercepts Plastics from Landfills, Oceans through Recycling, and Reuse of Ubiquitous PET
• Private Sector Team in Georgia Expands Green Bond Market in Asia, Urban Water Sector
• Integrating Urban Design, Nature, and Heritage for Tourism in a Cold-Climate Country: Preliminary ADB Lessons from Mongolia
• The Making of a Market-Based Mortgage Sector

© 2024 Asian Development Bank

Healthy Urbanism

Strategies for inclusive, equitable and sustainable places

Healthy urban development case studies

What do exemplar healthy urban developments look like? With the growing interest in ‘healthy’ buildings and places, we wanted to understand what could be considered best practice. This research involved a large review of published case studies, using professional organisations, newspaper reports, published academic research and other sources.

Our summary of each case study will be published incrementally in Spring 2022.

Are the projects ‘best practice’?

In publishing these projects, we are not endorsing them as ‘best practice’ or making any claims about whether they are good for health and wellbeing. We are hoping to learn about what the wider industry and professionals perceive ‘healthy’ development to look like.

Each case study was selected because it met our selection criteria :

• Describes an urban development project that explicitly aimed to promote or safeguard human health and/or wellbeing (including the related term of liveability)
• Urban development cases are recent, built after 2000
• Substantive data are available
• Data are available from sources that are not solely marketing material
• Design measures or processes are described (related to health and wellbeing)

How were the projects analysed?

We extracted information about each project from multiple sources and entered this into a template. The template included general project details (project size, location, type of development, etc.) and information specifically related to health.

We used the THRIVES framework as a way to consider how health and wellbeing were supported in each project. In reporting each project we explain how it relates to THRIVES through three scales of health impact (planetary, ecosystem and local) and the core principles (inclusion, equity and sustainability).

Acknowledgements

This project was funded by Guy’s and St Thomas’ Foundation, an urban health charity in London. The research team includes Helen Pineo, Gemma Moore, Karla Barrantes Chaves, Elizabeth Cooper, Vafa Dianati, Kay Forster and Isobel Braithwaite.

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Global Universities and Urban Development: Case Studies and Analysis

DOI link for Global Universities and Urban Development: Case Studies and Analysis

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The editors of "The University as Urban Developer" now extend that work's groundbreaking analysis of the university's important role in the growth and development of the American city to the global view. Linking the fields of urban development, higher education, and urban design, "Global Universities and Urban Development" covers universities and communities around the world, including Germany, Korea, Scotland, Japan, Mexico, South Africa, Finland - 13 countries in all.The book features contributions from noted urban scholars, campus planners and architects, and university administrators from all the countries represented. They provide a wide-angled perspective of the issues and practices that comprise university real estate development around the globe. A concluding chapter by the editors offers practical evaluations of the many cases and identifies best practices in the field.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Part | 2  pages, part i introduction, chapter 1 | 22  pages, the university, the city, and land: context and introduction, part ii the university, the devolving state, and development, chapter 2 | 13  pages, the university of helsinki as a developer, chapter 3 | 17  pages, katrin b. anacker and uwe altrock, chapter 4 | 28  pages, deborah peel, chapter 5 | 32  pages, toward downtown: spatial growth and university location in the tokyo metropolitan area, part iii the university as a zone of development, chapter 6 | 36  pages, mexico city and university city: a story of struggle for autonomy through land, chapter 7 | 26  pages, partnering with private corporations to build on campus: yonsei university, seoul, korea, chapter 8 | 23  pages, urban and real estate development of the central university of venezuela’s rental zone, chapter 9 | 22  pages, development of the jatinangor university area, indonesia: growth problems and local responses, chapter 10 | 29  pages, the university of oporto and the process of urban change: an ambiguous relationship, part iv the university and the contested city, chapter 11 | 16  pages, haim yacobi, chapter 12 | 28  pages, frank gaffikin, part v lessons learned, chapter 13 | 18  pages, the university, the city, and the state: institutional entrepreneurship or instrumentality of the state.

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Regional, rural and urban development

The OECD helps all subnational regions to become more equitable, inclusive and resilient by prioritising well-being. Our work addresses global trends like climate change, digitalisation, migration, jobs and demographic shifts by applying a local lens. Using a place-based approach and OECD regional data, we help improve lives for people, places and firms at the local level.

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• Local employment and economic development Regions and cities need more and better-quality jobs. The twin green and digital transitions, along with demographic change, are transforming the way we work and redefining local economies and communities. Seizing new opportunities and responding to these changes demands innovative solutions, support for small businesses, and investment in communities, alongside efforts to upskill the workforce to better match job demands. The OECD provides expertise in developing and implementing policies and local initiatives aimed at creating more and better jobs leading to tangible results for local economic development. Learn more
• Multi-level governance Multi-level governance refers to the system that supports policy and decision-making among national, regional, and local governments. When these levels of government work well together, policies are more likely to succeed, fostering development in all places. The OECD actively supports effective decentralisation and regionalisation reforms, as well as the strategic planning, implementation and performance measurement of regional policies at all levels of government. Learn more
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• Rural development A thriving rural community relies on factors such as quality services, accessible education and healthcare, environmental amenities, business opportunities, and strong social trust. The OECD analyzes and adapts policies, working closely with member countries, to address diverse rural challenges, to strengthen economies and support inhabitants while guiding governments in implementing effective rural development policies. Learn more
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• Local Employment and Economic Development Programme (LEED) We offer best practice on how to create more and better quality jobs through effective policy implementation and local initiatives. Learn more
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Aiding the Development of Sustainable Urban Environments: Improving the Sustainability of SuPy

Aiding the development of sustainable urban environments: improving the sustainability of SuPy, an open-source urban climate model, with funding from the UCL Open Source Software Sustainability call.

2 July 2024

Figure 1 (above) SuPy simulated the near-surface air temperature in a central urban area of New York during an afternoon of a heatwave day, demonstrating the potential of urban greening to reduce extreme city heat. Note the cooler area - Central Park - indicated by bluish hexagons. This is part of the results of the collaboration between Dr Ting Sun and the advanced digital tech team at ARUP.

The project focused on improving the sustainable development of SuPy, an open-source urban climate model. SuPy plays a crucial role in understanding and predicting urban climate patterns, aiding in the development of sustainable urban environments.

What we did

Three individual  workshops were held with the project leader, Dr Ting Sun (UCL Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction) and ARC Research Software Engineer Dr David Stansby. The focus of these workshops was on sustainable development strategies for SuPy, encompassing a variety of aspects such as development workflow, documentation, and deployment strategies, leading to a more sustainable development practice for the SuPy project.

Student Assistance

Approximately 200 hours of student assistance were provided to improve documentation and enhance the underlying code structure of SuPy. This assistance significantly contributed to the overall development and usability of the model.

Code Development

SuPy was successfully merged with SUEWS, simplifying the development workflow and enhancing collaboration between the two models. The code structure of SuPy was improved by adopting a derived-type-based data structure, allowing for more flexible future enhancements. In addition, a new open urban climate tool, supy-lcz-global , was jointly developed, enabling users to conduct urban climate simulations easily and efficiently.

Collaborative Project

SuPy, as the cornerstone tool, supported ARUP in delivering a global campaign called the "Global Urban Heat Map." The campaign aims to communicate the risks of overheating in global cities under changing climate conditions and promote nature-based solutions, such as green roofs.

Building on the achievements of the project, the following next steps are planned:

1. Research:

  - Coupling SuPy with a larger scale numerical weather prediction system, WRF (Weather Research and Forecasting Model), to understand heat-flood compound weather extremes in cities.

  - Enhancing the code structure to improve the performance of SUEWS in characterising the urban radiation balance, particularly in the context of high buildings.

   - Further collaboration with ARUP to establish long-term integration of SUEWS in their workflow for urban climate-related projects.

   - Exploring new collaboration opportunities with Argonne National Laboratory to conduct large-scale urban climate simulations considering human mobility allowed by their agent-based model Repast.

“ The UCL OSSS grant has provided invaluable support for me to engage in one-on-one workshops with ARC scientist David Stansby, fostering knowledge exchange and sustainable development strategies for SuPy. Additionally, the grant has facilitated approximately 200 hours of student assistance, which has significantly contributed to the improvement of documentation and code structure. In particular, this was the first research grant awarded to me since I joined UCL in May 2022, which has greatly boosted the development of my research portfolio." - Dr Ting Sun, Project Lead

The project funded by the UCL OSSS grant has successfully enhanced the sustainable development of SuPy. The project achieved several milestones, including workshops, student assistance, and development achievements. The next steps include further research on urban climate modelling with SuPy and collaboration to advance its integration into real-world projects with ARUP. The long-term impact of the project is expected to contribute to the understanding and mitigation of urban climate challenges. The support from the UCL OSSS grant has been instrumental in the success of this project, enabling the project lead and student assistants to dedicate their time and expertise to the development and improvement of SuPy.

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JSmol Viewer

Refining long-time series of urban built-up-area extraction based on night-time light—a case study of the dongting lake area in china.

1. Introduction

2. study area and data, 2.1. study area, 2.2. research data, 2.2.1. ntl research data sources, 2.2.2. other research data, 3.1. viirs-like ntl dataset generation, 3.1.1. intercalibration of ntl data, 3.1.2. conversion of dmsp/ols ntl, 3.2. calculation of the vanui index, 3.3. svm-based urban built-up-area extraction, 3.4. accuracy assessment, 4.1. assessment of extraction results, 4.2. chronological changes, 4.3. spatial change, 5. discussion, 5.1. comparisons with previous studies, 5.2. limitations of study, 6. conclusions, author contributions, data availability statement, acknowledgments, conflicts of interest.

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Chen, Y.; Ren, F.; Du, Q.; Zhou, P. Refining Long-Time Series of Urban Built-Up-Area Extraction Based on Night-Time Light—A Case Study of the Dongting Lake Area in China. Land 2024 , 13 , 1006. https://doi.org/10.3390/land13071006

Chen Y, Ren F, Du Q, Zhou P. Refining Long-Time Series of Urban Built-Up-Area Extraction Based on Night-Time Light—A Case Study of the Dongting Lake Area in China. Land . 2024; 13(7):1006. https://doi.org/10.3390/land13071006

Chen, Yinan, Fu Ren, Qingyun Du, and Pan Zhou. 2024. "Refining Long-Time Series of Urban Built-Up-Area Extraction Based on Night-Time Light—A Case Study of the Dongting Lake Area in China" Land 13, no. 7: 1006. https://doi.org/10.3390/land13071006

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Impacts of Climate Change on the Energetics and Ecosystem Material Cycles and Extreme Weather Events: An East Asian Case study

• Song, Cholho
• Lee, Woo-Kyun

Climate change is altering weather patterns around the world, and one notable effect is changes in the jet stream that controls weather systems. As the polar regions warm faster than lower latitudes, the temperature difference that drives the jet stream winds decreases, causing them to become more frequent and the air masses to stagnate. This could lead to prolonged periods of extreme weather, including deadly heat waves, floods and droughts. An example of this can be seen in 2018, when a heat wave broke record high temperatures in Korea due to blocking (a phenomenon in which air flow stagnates in the upper mid-latitudes, weakening westerly winds and causing strong north-south winds) by Rossby waves. Life-threatening heat persists without an increase in low-pressure systems that bring cooling rain.This study uses a systems ecology approach to examine the interactions between energy and material cycles in interconnected ecosystems in East Asia. The region's rapid urbanization, industrial growth, and high population density have significantly altered heat and material flows and cycles. These anthropogenic changes, together with natural climate variability, have complex and far-reaching impacts on regional climate patterns and ecosystem health.East Asia's built environment and demographics have fundamentally disrupted natural stability mechanisms. Rapid development has replaced heat-reflecting green spaces with heat-absorbing concrete structures, reducing evaporative cooling capacity. Sprawling road systems filled with vehicle heat exacerbate urban heat islands.In addition, climate-induced changes in the natural cycles of water, carbon, and nutrients link ecosystems in complex ways. Quantifying changes in cycling by evaluating historical data and models provides a basis for predicting ecosystem stability and resilience in the face of climate change. For example, a decrease in relative humidity in an area increases the risk of wildfires as moisture is removed from dead grass, fallen trees, and leaves. In areas with low relative humidity and abundant fuel-rich vegetation, the risk of wildfires may increase, particularly in winter and spring. A systematic understanding of these dynamics is essential to guide regional climate change adaptation planning.Finally, the study translates its findings into policy recommendations. By analyzing the positive impacts of increased plant cover on humidity and overall ecosystem water availability, this study provides actionable steps towards a more resilient East Asia.Acknowledgements: This research was supported by the Core Research Institute Basic Science Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF) funded by the Ministry of Education (NRF-2021R1A6A1A10045235).

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Urban District in Moscow Oblast

Methodological Approaches to the Delimitation of the Boundaries of the Moscow Agglomeration Based on Data from Mobile Network Operators

• URBAN GEOGRAPHY
• Published: 20 October 2020
• Volume 10 , pages 373–380, ( 2020 )

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• A. G. Makhrova 1 , 2 &
• R. A. Babkin 1 , 3  

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The article highlights the boundaries of the Moscow agglomeration and analyzes its spatial structure using approaches involving the concept of time geography. The study is based on a methodology for determining functional urban areas of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); mobile operators data on the localization of network users are applied. The analysis showed the impossibility of using the OECD methodology without adaptation to Russian conditions. This is because, according to this methodology, the entire territory of a “real city,” including the “bedroom districts” of Moscow and its satellite towns, lies in the core zone. Meanwhile, the suburban zone extends to the territory of almost all of Moscow oblast, in many directions beyond its borders. The proposed adapted variant of the delimitation methodology involves a reduction in the size of the core to the borders of the Moscow Ring Road (MKAD) with a corresponding decrease in the boundaries of the suburban zone. This is consistent with the approaches and ideas prevailing in Russian practice. Using the methodology of the spatiotemporal approach (concept of time geography), a “pulsating agglomeration” model was developed. This model is a way of studying and analyzing the dynamics of socioeconomic functioning of agglomerations, taking into account the different socioeconomic rhythms of the agglomeration. As part of the agglomeration, “static” (constant throughout the year) and “mobile” (seasonal) parts of the suburban area were distinguished. This allowed us to include in the analysis of “pulsation” not only the population of the structural elements of the agglomeration, but also its borders, depending on the seasons of the year.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The authors are grateful to the Department of Information Technologies of the Moscow Government for data provided on the movement of mobile subscribers.

Sections “Existing approaches to identifying and structuring agglomerations” and “Identification and Structuring of the Moscow Agglomeration” were written by A.G. Makhrova in the Institute of Geography RAS with the financial support of the Russian Science Foundation, project no. 19-17-00174 “Early Developed Regions under Socio-Economic Polarization and Shrinkage of the Active Space in European Russia.”

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Faculty of Geography, Lomonosov Moscow State University, 119991, Moscow, Russia

A. G. Makhrova & R. A. Babkin

Institute of Geography, Russian Academy of Sciences, 119017, Moscow, Russia

A. G. Makhrova

Plekhanov Russian University of Economics, 115093, Moscow, Russia

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Makhrova, A.G., Babkin, R.A. Methodological Approaches to the Delimitation of the Boundaries of the Moscow Agglomeration Based on Data from Mobile Network Operators. Reg. Res. Russ. 10 , 373–380 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970520030090

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Received : 01 April 2020

Revised : 01 April 2020

Accepted : 20 April 2020

Published : 20 October 2020

Issue Date : July 2020

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1134/S2079970520030090

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