Environmental Science
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Item Open Access Characterizing observed surface wind speed in the Hudson Bay and Labrador regions of Canada from an aviation perspective(Springer Science and Business Media LLC, 2020-10-12) Leung, Andrew C. W.; Gough, William A.; Butler, Ken A.; Mohsin, Tanzina; Hewer, Micah J.Wind speed analysis is important for informing airport operation and safety. Many communities in the Hudson Bay and Labrador regions (Canada) are remote communities that rely heavily on aircraft for passenger and freight movement. Historical trends in average daily wind speed and maximum daily wind speed from 1971 to 2010 were examined to identify patterns of change and determine how these changes may influence aviation in six northern communities across Hudson Bay and Labrador in Canada. Significant increases in average wind speed and maximum wind speed were found for some of the months and seasons of the year for the Hudson Bay region, along with a significant decrease in those variables for the Labrador communities. Average wind speeds at multiple locations are approaching the threshold (18.5 km/h or 10 knots) when take-off and landing would be restricted to one direction. The results of this study agree with previous research that examined historical patterns for wind speed in these regions but calls into question climate change impact assessments that suggest wind speeds will continue to increase under future climatic conditions for this study area. Future research is needed to further analyse shifts in prevailing wind directions and changes in the frequency of extreme wind conditions, to better understand the potential impacts of projected climate change on this climatic variable and the implications these changes may have on applied sectors, such as aviation.Item Open Access Urban climate change and sustainability planning: an analysis of sustainability and climate change discourses in local government plans in Canada(Taylor & Francis, 2017-04-11) Laura TozerThis paper clarifies the competing discourses of sustainability and climate change and examines the manifestation of these discourses in local government planning. Despite the increasingly significant role of sustainability and climate change response in urban governance, it is unclear whether local governments are constructing different discourses that may result in conflicting approaches to policy-making. Using a governmentality approach, this paper dissects the contents of 15 Canadian local governments’ sustainability plans. The findings show that there are synergies and tensions between discourses of sustainability and climate change. Both share discursive space and shape local governance rationalities, though climate change response logics are not necessarily highlighted even where the action could result in greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions. In some cases, existing GHG intensive practices are being rebranded as ‘sustainable’. This suggests a tension between discourses of sustainability and climate change that may complicate attempts to address climate change through local sustainability planning.Item Open Access Discourses of carbon neutrality and imaginaries of urban futures(Elsevier BV, 2018-01) Tozer, Laura; Klenk, NicoleBy analyzing the discourses in carbon governance texts, this paper identifies visions for the built environment in carbon neutral urban futures and the storylines driving those urban imaginaries. Local authorities have begun aiming for ‘carbon neutral’ transformations, but it is not clear what kind of city will result. Different imaginaries about the futurity of energy will send cities down divergent sociotechnical paths. Using discourse analysis, this paper identifies the storylines underlying sociotechnical imaginaries of urban carbon neutrality among the 17 founding members of the Carbon Neutral Cities Alliance, which is a network of local governments mainly from Europe and North America pioneering deep decarbonization. This paper elaborates on five storylines in urban carbon governance texts: 1. The diverse meanings of carbon neutrality 2. The new economy of carbon control 3. The city as a laboratory 4. Technological fixes and the modern city and 5. Reframing what it means to be a ‘good’ urban citizen. The developing sociotechnical imaginary of urban carbon neutrality is structuring shifts in policy and practice. Trends include a focus on technological fixes and innovation as solutions where private capital is a fundamental partner, as well as reflexivity about the experimental nature of achieving carbon neutrality.Item Open Access Greening European Cities: Accelerating the uptake of urban nature-based solutions(2020-09) van der Jagt, Alexander; Toxopeus, Helen; Tozer, Laura; Dorst, Hade; Runhaar, Hens; Bulkeley, HarrietThis report provides a comprehensive overview of the barriers and opportunities influencing the uptake of nature-based solutions (NBS) in urban regimes, as well as the underlying factors or conditions explaining these. We understand urban regimes as being shaped by institutional structures across three broad domains: the regulatory, the urban development and the finance domains. Data was collected through interviews, desk study and placements in a total of seven cases – The Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Spain, Germany, Hungary and the European Union. The findings show that actors in the regulatory domain such as the government and knowledge institutions often take a leadership position in advancing urban NBS uptake through actions such as providing a public mandate, facilitating co-governance of NBS, providing financial incentives and developing evidence and assessment tools. However, at the same time there is a relatively poor policy integration of NBS with other domains such as housing and mobility, constraining opportunities for NBS mainstreaming. Actors in the urban development domain experience an increase in market demand for NBS in some cities, leading to increased building of expertise in this area. However, proactive investment in urban NBS remains limited due to factors such as the lack of strict public mandate and challenges the assessment of NBS. Limited standardised evidence and indicators for NBS are also the prime reasons for why urban NBS are difficult to integrate in the investment portfolios of actors in the finance domain, which tend to operate following a highgains, low-risk paradigm. However, an increasing number of banks, insurers and other investors are exploring the potential of investing in nature, which is fuelled by customer demand, government regulation and a desire to minimise climate-related risks to their investments. A final observation and future research opportunity is that the relevance of different actions to improve the uptake of urban NBS appears to vary across different contexts and levels of governance, depending on e.g. existing levels of community action and customer demand for urban NBS.Item Open Access Pathways for Systemic Integration of Nature-based Solutions(2020-12) Xie, Linjun; Bulkeley, Harriet; van der Jagt, Alexander; Toxopeus, Helen; Tozer, Laura; Pearl-Martinez, Rebecca; Dorst, Hade; Runhaar, HensThis report identifies and elaborates the key stepping stones – pivotal actions– that can unlock the potential for mainstreaming urban nature-based solutions. Using the examples of climate change and biodiversity, we examine how stepping stones can be aligned to generate promising pathways for mainstreaming nature-based solutions that can contribute to diverse sustainability agendas in cities. The analysis which underpins this report drew on research undertaken in the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom (UK), Spain, Germany, Hungary and the European Union (EU), focusing on the regulatory, financial and urban development domains of the urban infrastructure regimes that shape the uptake of nature-based solutions in cities. To catalyse and support the mainstreaming of naturebased solutions, stepping stones that work across these three domains and that can overcome barriers or make use of opportunities for implementing and maintaining nature-based solutions are crucial. This report takes up the task of identifying the key stepping stones that have been found to have significant potential across the different contexts in which our research has been undertaken. In total, 20 stepping stones were identified as pivotal for mainstreaming urban nature-based solutions. Each of them is explained with details and practical examples in this report. Individually, each of these stepping stones can generate change towards the uptake of nature-based solutions. The potential effect of each individual stepping stone can be significantly reinforced when they are aligned with others which enable remaining barriers to be overcome or allow the full range of opportunities to be realised. It is through the alignment of stepping stones that we can create pathways for mainstreaming. Since stepping stones can be aligned in different ways, we suggest that there can be multiple pathways available for mainstreaming nature-based solutions. For diverse urban sustainability agendas, the relevance and importance of different stepping stones varies. For example, stimulating institutional investment for risk reduction and engaging insurance sector can be explicitly effective for mainstreaming nature-based solutions for climate change mitigation and adaptation, while stepping stones such as regulating for No Net Loss and promoting certification schemes are critical for mainstreaming nature-based solutions for biodiversity. As a result, the most promising pathways for mainstreaming nature-based solutions vary in terms of the urban sustainability challenges that are being addressed. Aligning stepping stones that are unique for one sustainability goal could result in nature-based solutions that marginalise or even undermine efforts to reach other goals. To mainstream nature-based solutions that can contribute to multiple sustainability goals thus requires efforts to be built on the critical stepping stones that work for all of these goals.Item Open Access Mainstreaming Nature-Based Solutions: Climate Change(2020-07) Tozer, Laura; Xie, LinjunThis report specifically addresses mainstreaming nature-based solutions for solving the climate crisis in cities. Nature-based solutions are increasingly integrated in urban development practices. They have the potential to effectively address the climate crisis. These ‘natural climate solutions’ in cities can both reduce the impacts of climate change (adaptation) and reduce greenhouse gas emissions (mitigation). Drawing on extensive empirical research in European cities, this report summarises four promising pathways to mainstream nature-based solutions so that natural climate solutions become integrated into urban development: Pathway 1: Position Nature-Based Solutions as a Promising Climate Strategy; Pathway 2: Invest in Nature-Based Solutions to Reduce Climate Risk; Pathway 3: Integrate actions towards coordinated climate change response and wider sustainability benefits; Pathway 4: Learn by Doing.Item Embargo Equity-based energy retrofits to address energy poverty in Canada(Elsevier BV, 2024-12) Tozer, Laura; Baggio, Guilherme; Kantamneni, Abhilash; MacRae, HannahMany energy efficiency and decarbonization retrofit programs aim to alleviate energy poverty by targeting low-income households, but these programs do not always address the multiple determinants of energy poverty. This study develops a vulnerability-based framework to explore the extent to which energy retrofit programs designed for low-income households comprehensively account for socioeconomic, demographic, and cultural structures that shape energy poverty experiences, employing Canada as an empirical case study using key informant interviews with program administrators. The framework conceptualizes energy poverty as the vulnerability to future housing-related harms, amplified by energy-related risk factors, and conditioned by a household's inability to adequately respond. The study finds several key issues limiting the capacity of low-income retrofit programs to address the overlapping and compounding determinants of energy poverty, including inadequate funding, exclusion of the poorest quality housing, limited retrofit options, and a narrow focus on energy efficiency gains. This study shows key opportunities to expand and deepen the current ecosystem of low-income retrofit programs by expanding existing policy innovations. The paper also offers suggestions for widening the policy arena to address energy poverty, both within retrofit programs and beyond.Item Open Access Nature for Resilience? The Politics of Governing Urban Nature(Taylor & Francis, 2022-11-02) Tozer, Laura; Bulkeley, Harriet; Kiss, Bernadett; Luque-Ayala, Andrés; Voytenko Palgan, Yuliya; McCormick, Kes; Wamsler, ChristineTranscending initial efforts to make cities “climate smart” by focusing on the potential of new technologies and infrastructural interventions, various actors are increasingly interested in deploying nature to help achieve urban resilience. In this context, rather than taking resilience as a given property of particular systems or entities, it is important to examine why, how, with what implications, and for whom resilience is being enacted. We examine how and why nature-based solutions are being mobilized as a means for governing the resilience of cities and what this means for the ways in which urban resilience is imagined and enacted by different actors. Recognizing that behind different approaches to resilience are diverse ways of valuing nature, we identify four value positions through which nature comes to be understood, given meaning, form, and purpose. Drawing on systematic document analysis and sixty-six interviews from Cape Town, Mexico City, and Melbourne, we discuss how these four value positions of nature are manifested in nature-based interventions for resilience, as well as the implications both for the politics of resilience interventions and the opportunities for enabling social benefit through nature-based solutions. We find that the integration of intrinsic values for nature opens opportunities for nature-based solutions to enable social benefits through an increased focus on the means through which they are implemented. We conclude that urban-nature-as-resilience interventions serve to embed values and the socionatures they produce within the city, creating fundamentally different consequences for the forms and politics of nature-based interventions designed to realize urban resilience.Item Open Access Mobilizing infrastructure investments for urban climate action in Africa: enabling factors for multilevel action(Taylor & Francis, 2022-08-26) Tozer, Laura; Mayr, Marcus; Greenwalt, Julie; Nadi, Gifti; Runhaar, HensThis article explores the importance of national governments and national-local relationships for scaling up local climate action to achieve global goals. From the Sustainable Development Goals to the New Urban Agenda to the Paris Climate Change Agreement, the achievement of global sustainability goals will depend on deep changes to national infrastructure and urban systems. Through an analysis of climate action planning and investments in exemplary cases in Africa, the paper highlights the opportunities and challenges that come with integrating national governments into urban-focused priorities and needs, especially for mobilising financial resources. The paper finds that scaling up city climate action in the selected African countries benefits from a constructive multi-level relationship between local and national institutions and stakeholders to shape and improve the legislative, financial and operating frameworks to enable systemic change. Large-scale urban climate action can be enabled by formal multi-level institutional arrangements, links to politically prioritised policy frameworks, and transformative aims that address both climate and socio-economic benefits for communities.Item Open Access Achieving deep-energy retrofits for households in energy poverty(Ubiquity Press, Ltd., 2023-06-01) Tozer, Laura; MacRae, Hannah; Smit, EmilyClimate change and energy poverty are two sustainability challenges that can be addressed through deep-energy retrofits for homes. This systematic review identifies which factors influence the achievement of energy retrofits for households vulnerable to energy poverty. It covers both energy-poor households and the landlords or building owners of energy-poor households. The results identify a range of influential factors across several themes: financial, policy and organizational, trust and communication, technical, attitudes and values, and health. Health and quality of life are particularly influential motivating factors among households vulnerable to energy poverty, as is the presence of trust and communication between stakeholders. Multiple financial considerations are also important, such as the availability of no-cost retrofit options and the prospect of lower energy and maintenance costs. Lastly, government requirements to retrofit and minimum energy standards are motivating, particularly in the social housing sector. These findings and the lack of focus on energy poverty within the energy retrofit literature and policies point to a need for further research on this topic, and for retrofit policies specifically targeted to households vulnerable to energy poverty.Item Open Access What’s behind the barriers? Uncovering structural conditions working against urban nature-based solutions(Elsevier BV, 2022-04) Dorst, Hade; van der Jagt, Alexander; Toxopeus, Helen; Tozer, Laura; Raven, Rob; Runhaar, HensNature-based solutions (NBS) are a promising and innovative approach to address multiple sustainability challenges faced by cities. Yet, NBS are not integrated into mainstream urban development practices. Based on a qualitative comparative case study of Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom, this study shows how barriers to mainstreaming urban NBS are shaped by the structural conditions in urban infrastructure regimes, which offers an improved, context-sensitive understanding of why such barriers persist. We identify underlying structural conditions shaping seven key barriers to urban NBS: limited collaborative governance, knowledge, data and awareness challenges, low private sector engagement, competition over urban space, insufficient policy development, implementation and enforcement, insufficient public resources, and challenging citizen engagement. This study also advances an understanding of urban infrastructure regimes as complex, heterogeneous systems, made up of different functional domains that define the space available for sustainability innovations. Importantly, our case comparison reveals that similar barriers to NBS mainstreaming in planning processes are caused by different structural conditions across countries. For example, perceived causes of limited citizen engagement are low environmental awareness in Spain, a lack of resources to support participation in Hungary, and NIMBY-ism in the Netherlands. Our findings stress the importance of moving beyond ‘silver bullet’-type approaches to addressing NBS mainstreaming barriers, towards systemic but context-sensitive responses, tailored to specific urban infrastructure regimes. This systematic understanding of barriers and their underlying structural conditions can help both scholars and practitioners identify promising pathways for the mainstreaming of NBS as an urban sustainability innovation.Item Open Access Reduction of industrial iron pollution promotes phosphorus internal loading in eutrophic Hamilton Harbour, Lake Ontario, Canada(2019-09) Markovic, Stefan; Liang, Anqi; Watson, Sue B; Depew, David; Zastepa, Arthur; Surana, Preksha; Byllaardt, Julie Vanden; Arhonditsis, George; Dittrich, MariaDiagenetic sediment phosphorus (P) recycling is a widespread phenomenon, which causes degradation of water quality and promotes harmful algal blooms in lakes worldwide. Strong P coupling with iron (Fe) in some lakes is thought to inhibit diagenetic P efflux, despite elevated P concentrations in the sediment. In these sediments, the high Fe content leads to P scavenging on ferric Fe near the sediment surface, which increases the overall P retention. Reduced external Fe inputs in such lakes due to industrial pollution control may lead to unintended consequences for sediment P retention. Here, we study sediment geochemistry and sediment-water interactions in the historically polluted Hamilton Harbour (Lake Ontario, Canada) which has undergone 30 years of restoration efforts. We investigate processes controlling diagenetic P recycling, which has previously been considered minor due to historically high Fe loading. Our results demonstrate that present sediment P release is substantial, despite sediment Fe content reaching 6.5% (dry weight). We conclude that the recent improvement of wastewater treatment and industrial waste management practices has reduced Fe pollution, causing a decrease in diagenetically reactive Fe phases, resulting in the reduction of the ratio of redox-sensitive P and Fe, and the suppression of P scavenging on Fe oxyhydroxides.Item Open Access Organomineralization of proto-dolomite by a phototrophic microbial mat extracellular polymeric substances: Control of crystal size and its implication for carbonate depositional systems(2020-01-01) Paulo, Carlos; Mckenzie, Judith A.; Raoof, Basirath; Bollmann, Jörg; Fulthorpe, Roberta; Strohmenger, Christian J.; Dittrich, MariaMany have postulated that a specific microbial metabolism or the presence of microbes or/and their extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) can lead to the formation of dolomite. Although now there is the consensus that dolomite can be formed in the presence of microorganisms, the exact nature of the involvement of microbes in the dolomite nucleation remains a matter of debate. The focus is now in understanding how microbial mats determine the mineralogy of dolomite. Here we report the effect of the EPS extracted from phototrophic microbial mat isolated from a sabkha in Qatar dominated by cyanobacteria (Lyngbya aestuarii) in the formation of dolomite precursors at 25 °C and 40 °C. Both the temperature and the presence of EPS impact the size and morphology of minerals, promoting spherulitic and dumbbell growth in sulfate free solutions. The formation of proto-dolomite was enhanced by the abundance of carboxylated molecules in EPS which controlled the polymorphism of carbonates. Our study emphasizes the dual importance of organic matter and temperature in dolomite formation and their impact on mineral morphology and chemical composition in sabkhas.Item Open Access Proto-dolomite formation in microbial consortia dominated by Halomonas strains(2019-11) Alibrahim, Ammar; Al-Gharabally, Dunia; Mahmoud, Huda; Dittrich, MariaMicrobes can be found in hypersaline environments forming diverse populations with complex ecological interactions. Microbes in such environments were found to be involved in the formation of minerals including dolomite, a mineral of economic importance and whose origin has been long-debated. Various reports on in vitro experiments using pure cultures provided evidence for the microbial role in dolomite formation. However, culturing experiments have been limited in scope and do not fully address the possible interactions of the naturally occurring microbial communities; consequently, the ability of microbes as a community to form dolomite has been investigated in this study. Our experiments focused on examining the microbial composition by culturing aerobic heterotrophs from the top hypersaline sediments of Al-Khiran sabkha in Kuwait, a modern dolomite-forming environment. The objectives of this study were to assess the ability of two microbial consortia to form dolomite using enrichment culture experiments, mineralogy, and metagenomics. Proto-dolomite was formed by a microbial community dominated by Halomonas strains whereby degradation of the extracellular polymeric substances (EPS) was observed and the pH changed from 7.00 to 8.58. Conversely, proto-dolomite was not observed within a microbial community dominated by Clostridiisalibacter in which EPS continuously accumulated and the pH slightly changed from 7.00 to 7.29.Item Open Access Pathways to Living Cities: A Policy & Governance Framework(2022-10) Tozer, Laura; Mettler, Christine; Neeson, Emily; Salas Reyes, Raúl; Amon, EmilyThe Pathways to Living Cities Framework was created to help green infrastructure practitioners learn what has worked in other communities, and what they can do to be successful. Showcasing best practices, resources, and case studies from across North America and Europe, the Framework lays out key strategies that have helped cities to accelerate more abundant, equitable, and thriving green infrastructure. The Framework also highlights the importance of working in partnership with community and industry in order to advance green infrastructure on both public and private lands.Item Open Access Deep Decarbonization in Practice: Solutions and Challenges for Low-Carbon Building Retrofits(Institute of Urban Studies, University of Winnipeg, 2019) Tozer, LauraThis paper examines efforts taking place in London, San Francisco and Stockholm to implement deep greenhouse gas emission cuts—‘deep decarbonization’—through the transformation of buildings and urban energy infrastructure for increased energy efficiency and low/zero carbon energy supply. Drawing on interviews, policy document analysis, and site tours to buildings and energy infrastructure, this paper analyzes how deep decarbonization is being embedded into urban buildings, energy systems, and institutions. It argues that practitioners are finding ways to create new low/zero carbon future buildings, but are having difficulty correcting the historical development path through retrofitting. This paper examines solutions and challenges brought to light by urban decarbonization in practice targeting existing buildings from which other cities can learn. Four key lessons for low/zero carbon retrofits are highlighted: 1) shift primary targets from homeowners to owners of multiple buildings, 2) expand the suite of resources available to support zero carbon retrofits, 3) experiment and teach using public investment, and 4) institutionalize energy and carbon reporting linked to municipal department targets. Given the necessity of low-carbon, efficient, and climate resilient building retrofits to address the climate crisis, action can be scaled up by considering buildings and energy infrastructure an infrastructure priority for public investment.Item Open Access Catalyzing sustainability pathways: Navigating urban nature based solutions in Europe(2022-05) Tozer, Laura; Bulkeley, Harriet; van der Jagt, Alexander; Toxopeus, Helen; Xie, Linjun; Runhaar, HensThe notion that pathways can be identified and followed towards more sustainable futures has become an increasingly prevalent idea across the science and policy of global environmental change. Focusing on the debate within literatures on socio-technical systems, we find that pathways are often tied to the concept of scaling up such that they are dependent on trajectories which extend from the geographically small to large scale or from singular incidences to widespread adoption. Building on relational approaches to scaling, in this paper we argue that sustainability pathways need to be conceived as emerging from the catalytic interaction of multiple and overlapping efforts to change the status quo. We suggest that pathways can be conceptualized as being composed of ‘stepping stones’: bundles of related interventions that seize or create opportunities to build momentum for the implementation of innovations, the form of which is not predetermined. Drawing on 243 interviews, participant observation, and document analysis examining urban nature-based solutions across six European countries and the EU, we identify 20 stepping stones that can be used to accelerate the uptake of urban NBS in European cities. In the case of urban NBS in Europe, we find that the capacity of stepping stones to generate catalytic change strongly depends on how they interact with one another. We illustrate that pathways are not given but rather assembled through key interventions that collectively generate the capacities and momentum needed to overcome inertia and generate new socio-material orders in which such interventions are normalized as mainstream responses to sustainability challenges.Item Open Access Technical pathways to deep decarbonization in cities: Eight best practice case studies of transformational climate mitigation(2022-04) Linton, Samantha; Clarke, Amelia; Tozer, LauraAs the urgency for climate action heightens, local governments and stakeholders are developing pathways towards deep decarbonization at the local level and committing to community-wide greenhouse gas reductions of 80–100% by 2050 or earlier. Urban areas are the largest place-based source of greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for 71%–76% of global emissions. Local governments have direct and indirect control of over a significant proportion of emissions that occur within their municipalities. However, there remains a gap in knowledge about the local technical and policy pathways that are being developed in order to achieve deep decarbonization and how these pathways vary for different size cities. This study qualitatively analyzes eight local government deep decarbonization plans of cities that range in size from eight thousand to nine million people. We analyze emerging patterns among the cities, while also considering the impacts of the population size and the national context. Each city has unique circumstances and priorities when it comes to decarbonization, and not all cities prioritize their highest emitting sectors for decarbonization. We find that emerging technical pathways to deep decarbonization focus on five priority sectors (electricity, buildings, transportation, waste, and carbon sinks and storage), but also that several local governments are developing innovative strategies beyond what is described in the literature for decarbonizing the priority sectors within their jurisdiction and are expanding the scope of their plans to include emerging areas in GHG mitigation such as scope 3 and embodied greenhouse gas emissions.Item Open Access Mainstreaming sustainable innovation: unlocking the potential of nature-based solutions for climate change and biodiversity(2022-06) Xie, Linjun; Bulkeley, Harriet; Tozer, LauraSustainable innovation has been widely acknowledged as the key driver for societal transitions towards sustainability. Recently, there have been widespread calls to mainstream nature-based solutions (NBS), a form of socio-ecological-technical innovation, to address urban sustainable development concerns especially for climate change and increasingly for biodiversity loss. However, what mainstreaming means and how sustainability-oriented innovations like NBS can be mainstreamed to benefit multiple agendas remains underexplored. In this paper, we first critically discuss existing literature on mainstreaming and argue that the common understanding of the concept rooted in policy sciences does not fit the governance context in which urban innovations like NBS are being shaped and adopted. Drawing on sustainability transitions and urban studies literature, we then propose a new approach that promotes the use of NBS to deliver multiple sustainability goals simultaneously. We argue that mainstreaming NBS relies on identifying and acting on a certain set of key forms of interventions - stepping stones - that can facilitate the embeddedness and maintenance of NBS across urban infrastructure regimes. Based on case studies of existing European practices, we identify pivotal stepping stones and promising pathways for mainstreaming NBS for climate change and biodiversity separately and explore what this means for addressing both agendas simultaneously.Item Open Access Transnational Governance and the Urban Politics of Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change(2022) Tozer, Laura; Bulkeley, Harriet; Xie, LinjunMultiple visions for how urbanism can respond to the climate crisis and foster sustainability have emerged on the international agenda, including the ecocity, low-carbon city, smart city, and resilient city. These competing visions have been joined by one deploying “nature-based solutions.” We examine how nature-based solutions are emerging as a linchpin holding together the nature and climate agendas and what this means for where and by whom nature-based solutions are forming part of transnational urban governance. We argue that this field is animated by four frames connecting urban nature and climate: nature for resilience, nature for mitigation, the integrated benefits of nature, and nature first. Diverse actors, from conservation organizations to design firms to transnational municipal networks, draw on these frames and adopt new governance arrangements such that what it means to govern climate in the city is shifting. How this emerging nature–climate governance complex is structured will generate new momentum for governing urban nature over the coming decade.