A feasibility methodology for selecting and locating urban nature-based solutions (NbS) considering socio-economic criteria

Source abstract

Latin American and Caribbean cities face pressing urban challenges that demand effective and context-sensitive strategies for sustainable development. While Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have gained prominence as a means to address these challenges, their evaluation and spatial implementation remain limited by scale effects, trade-offs among objectives, and insufficient monitoring frameworks. Moreover, existing Decision Support Tools (DSTs) for NbS planning are predominantly expert-driven and often fail to meaningfully incorporate citizens’ needs and priorities. To address this gap, this study proposes a flexible methodological framework to support the selection and spatial prioritization of NbS across different urban scales. The framework integrates citizens’ socio-economic perceptions with regulating ecosystem services indicators through a three-phase process: (i) baseline analysis combining contextual indicators and citizen perceptions, (ii) spatial prioritization of intervention areas using a composite priority index, and (iii) NbS selection based on suitability and feasibility criteria. The main methodological innovation lies in explicitly linking social perceptions with ecosystem service deficits to guide spatial decision-making under real implementation constraints. Applied to the El Reencuentro urban renewal project in Bogotá, Colombia, the framework demonstrates that socially grounded spatial prioritization can enhance the relevance, legitimacy, and implementability of NbS, supporting more transparent and context-sensitive urban planning outcomes.