VIRTUAL: Livable Cities – New York

Abstract

Cities are increasingly looking to nature-based solutions to meet societal challenges. These solutions are becoming “smarter”, with the digitalization of urban nature for monitoring, mitigation, and augmentation. With solutions ranging from no-tech to high-tech, nature is being brought online and programmed as infrastructure Some hold that digital innovation can result in increased awareness of urban change, new experiences with nature, acceptance of nature-based solutions, mediate human-environment relationships and integrate place-based knowledge from everyday experiences into the planning process. In this article we critically discuss potential for technological solutions to enhance the implementation of nature-based solutions. The discussion is based on our research on experiences with digitally enhanced nature-based solutions in the seven pilot cities in the EU-funded VARCITIES project. Through interviews with project partners tasked with implementation, we ask how digital solutions are framed, how they are intended to enhance the nature-based solutions, how citizens are drawn into the co-design process, and how they serve to connect citizens to nature. In our analysis we draw attention to the challenges and opportunities of digitally mediated nature-based solutions. We find that digital solutions are often layered on top of nature-based solutions, and are rarely integrated into the core functions of nature-based solutions. Furthermore, substantive co-design of technical solutions with citizens has proven difficult, since digital innovation processes are not structured to allow for substantive citizen input. In conclusion, we draw lessons from the VARCITIES project to discuss possibilities for enhancing socio-ecological relationships with digital innovation.