THEMATIC WORKING GROUP

The Global Roadmap for Urban Nature-Based Solutions

The Global Roadmap for Urban Nature-Based Solutions will assess knowledge, challenges, and opportunities for innovation in research and practice within and across the world regions

The Global Roadmap aims to synthesize the scientific evidence on Nature-based Solutions (NBS) and identify knowledge gaps to leverage learning from NBS implementation within and across the world regions. It will develop and compare regional profiles of the state of knowledge in research and practice in North America, Latin America & the Caribbean, Europe, the Middle East & North Africa, Africa, Asia, and Oceania.

This initiative will result in a high-level report and a series of communications serving at both global and regional levels to facilitate innovation and the effective impact of urban NBS. NATURA will launch the Global Roadmap for Urban Nature-Based Solutions at the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montréal, Canada.

Connecting Global NBS initiatives

This NATURA initiative is conceived to fill the global assessment of urban NbS knowledge gap and to leverage, connect to, and support global initiatives and policy agendas led by the Convention on Biological Diversity (UN-CBD), the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and others, while also supporting regional, national, and local policymaking and planning.

A final report prepared by the core team together with regional leads and contributing members will present synthesized findings of the project.

Executive Team

  • Timon McPhearson, The New School, USA

  • Loan Diep, The New School, USA

  • Natalie Pierson, The New School, USA

Advisory Team

  • Erik Andersson, University of Helsinki, Finland

  • Yeowon Kim, Korea University, South Korea

  • Pippin Anderson, University of Cape Town, South Africa

  • Weiqi Zhou, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

  • Harriet Bulkeley, Durham University, United Kingdom

  • Rob McDonald, The Nature Conservancy

Literature Review Team

  • Loan Diep, The New School, USA

  • Rebecca Tiernan, Arizona State University, USA

  • Natalie Pierson, The New School, USA

  • Vanya Bisht, University of Waterloo, Canada

  • Veronica Olivotto, The New School, USA

  • Sofya Krasnaya, The New School, USA

Africa Team

Leads

  • Eric Hubbard, Sierra Leone

  • Funmi Adeniyi, Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI)

  • Pippin Anderson, University of Cape Town, South Africa

Fellows

  • Inca Horn, South Africa

Asia Team

Leads

  • Baolong Han, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China

  • Chandni Singh, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, India

  • Perrine Hamel, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Fellows

  • Erich Wolff, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

  • Maitreyi Koduganti Venkata, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, India

Europe Team

Leads

  • Natalie Gulsrud, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

  • Christopher Raymond, University of Helsinki, Finland

  • Davide Geneletti, University of Trento, Italy

Fellows

  • Oriol García-Antúnez, University of Copenhagen, Denmark

  • Eugenia Castellazzi, University of Helsinki, Finland

  • Jarumi Kato Huerta, University of Toronto, Canada

Latin America & The Caribbean (LAC) Team

Leads

  • Elizabeth Cook, Barnard College, USA

  • Taícia Marques, University of Connecticut, USA

  • Cynnamon Dobbs, University of Connecticut, USA

Fellows

  • Taryn Sanchez Montesinos, University of Connecticut, USA

  • Fabiana Wutrich

Middle East & North Africa (MENA) Team

Leads

  • Yaser Abunnasr, American University of Beirut, Lebanon

  • Elie Mansour, United Nations Human Settlements Programme, Lebanon

Fellows

  • Sarah Jaroush, American University of Beirut, Lebanon

  • Serkan Naneci, Middle East Technical University, Turkey

Oceania Team

Leads

  • Dave Kendal, University of Melbourne, Australia

  • Brenda Lin, The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO)

  • Niki Frantzeskaki, Utrecht University, the Netherlands

Fellows

  • Annemie Rose Janssen, Macquarie University, Australia

  • Clare Adams

US-Canada Team

Leads

  • Nancy Grimm, Arizona State University, USA

  • Carly Ziter, Concordia University, Canada

Fellows

  • Vanya Bisht, University of Waterloo, Canada

  • Josh Kesling, Yale University, USA

Contact Information

Point of Contact for general group info: Loan Diep (loan.diep@newschool.edu)

**For Regional Node Lead information please contact Loan