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Abstract:

Urban regeneration seeks to improve the quality of the urban environment, to develop new urban land use, to stimulate social cohesion and economic activity, as well as the protection of urban land and ecosystems. They follow to provide environmental, social and economic benefits, which complies with Nature-based Solutions (NbSs). The aim of the paper is to test if the different features of NbSs could be identified in former post-industrial regeneration projects. For our analysis, we considered 32 projects from 28 post-industrial cities and 11 European countries. For these projects, we perform a content-analysis to identify how the different key features that define NbSs (Eklipse Challenge’s, human interventions, processes, social benefits, co-benefits and stakeholder involvement) have been addressed. We use Social Network Analysis (SNA) in order to investigate the role and influence of the stakeholders within the network. Our findings show that there is a moderate compatibility between former post-industrial regeneration projects and the key features of NbSs. However, the past experiences point out that municipalities and experts are key stakeholders that initiate and support the implementation of the regeneration projects. Understanding how former post-industrial regeneration projects have worked helps the development of the effective approaches to promote sustainable solutions, including NbSs.