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O'Donnell, M.; Pineda-Pinto, M.; Andersson, E.; Collier, M. J., From control to cohabitation: Social-ecological insights on urban wildness narrative, Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 117, 2026,
Notes: [This research examines how people"s ideas about managing urban green spaces are evolving. In the past, management often focused on control, maintaining order and tidiness in nature. Recently, new approaches have emerged, such as urban wilding, which promotes allowing nature to grow and evolve more freely. This study tested whether workshops could alter people"s perceptions of urban green spaces. During the workshops, participants explored urban wild areas through activities like wild walks, storytelling, and role- playing as different species. These activities encouraged individuals to notice sensory details (such as sounds, textures, sights), and to share personal memories and stories. At first, many participants felt disconnected from the wild areas. But as the workshops progressed, they began to connect more deeply, moving away from seeing nature as something to control towards seeing it as something to live alongside and share. The study concludes that these kinds of participatory workshops can help people develop more ethical and coexisting relationships with urban nature. It also suggests that more research is needed to understand what drives these shifts in perspectives.],
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Braz Villanova, L.; Peregrina Puga, B.; Collier, M.J., Justice in urban nature-based solutions: A systematic review of distributive, recognition, and procedural dimensions, Nature-Based Solutions, 9, 2026, p100335 ,
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O'Donnell, M.; Pineda-Pinto, M.; Kennedy, C.; McPhearson, T.; Bloodgood, L.; Collier, M.J, Exploring multispecies co-design for social-ecological transformation, Ecology and Society, 31, (2), 2026, p21 ,
Notes: [As urbanization intensifies, communities encounter increasing challenges in designing, planning, and managing urban green spaces. Co-design offers a just and participatory approach that can unite diverse interest-holders to identify challenges and devise transformative solutions to complex urban issues such as green space governance. However, while co-design is acknowledged for its potential to foster learning and systemic change, it largely remains anthropocentric, often overlooking multispecies perspectives in planning, policy, and academia. We present a case study from New York City that examines how a multispecies co-design approach may enhance social-ecological systems transformation by exploring participants" learning experiences and perceptual shifts. The paper begins by exploring the literature on co-design and multispecies thinking within social-ecological systems and their contribution toward transformations, establishing the conceptual groundwork for integrating non-human actors into urban planning. We then present a case study of a multispecies co-design process in New York City and explore how engaging with it contributes to systems transformation. Findings from the case study reveal key motivations for participation, drivers of learning during the process, and emergent transformative solutions. By analyzing these dynamics, this research illustrates how co-design, which integrates multispecies perspectives, may refine ecological decision-making and encourage deeper engagement with urban nature. The study argues that integrating multispecies approaches into co-design practices is essential for fostering sustainable societies. The paper concludes with guiding principles for researchers and practitioners seeking to implement inclusive co-design processes in social-ecological systems, particularly in complex urban environments such as New York City.],
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Frantzeskaki, N.; Collier, M.J.; Hölscher, K.; Gaziulusoy, I.; Ossola, A.; Albulescu, P.; Bonneau, M.; Borgström, S.; Connop, S.; Dumitru, A.; Geneletti, D.; Gorissen, L.; Levin-Keitel, M.; MacIntyre, T.; Mascinga, I.; McQuaid, S.; Tabory, S.; von Wirth, T.; Vadergert, P.; Vos, P.; Penha-Lopes, G.; Säumel, I.; Wachtel, T. & Wittmayer, J.M., Premises, practices and politics of co-creation for urban sustainability transitions, Urban Transformations, 7, 2025, p7 ,
Notes: [Co-creation is becoming a widely used governance process for city-making and city-transitioning being conceptually entangled with experimentation, innovation and collaboration. In this paper, we clarify that co-creation is different from experimentation, enables urban innovation and collaboration, and is broader than knowledge co-production. This paper is a co-produced outcome of 26 scholars and contributes to the research of urban transitions by asking three pressing questions that we find paramount in advancing the research and practice of co-creation: Why co-create? How to co-create? With whom to co-create? To do this, we first present the distinct advantages of co-creation in comparison to participatory processes as four premises: generating actionable knowledge, progressing urban agendas towards more inclusive urban solutions, advancing research to transformative and transdisciplinary approaches, as well as bridging multiple knowledge bases of diverse urban actors to ensure democratic planning of cities. We then present key practices and skills required for engaging in and organizing co-creation processes. Next to advocacy, communication, leadership, and organizational skills, we identified that creativity, playfulness, emotional intelligence, receptivity, and collaborative learning are important, yet often overlooked, skills and capabilities for co-creation. We investigate the politics of co-creation through the lens of three communities that have different positioning in co-creation: communities of practice, communities of interest, and communities of influence. Our proposal for future research on co-creation and its applications is centered on measuring its impact against its premises while recognizing the importance of having different metrics and reflexive measures that can evaluate its deep impact and its relation to urban transitions.],
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McPhearson, T.; Frantzeskaki, N.; Ossola, A.; Diep, L.; Anderson, P.M.L.; Blatch, T.; Collier, M.J.; Cook, E.M.; Culwick Fatti, C.; Grabowski, Z.J.; Grimm, N.B.; Haase, D.; Herreros-Cantis, P.; Kavonic, J.; Lin, B.B.; Lopez Meneses, D.H.; Matsler, M.; Moglia, M.; Morató, J.; O'Farrell, P.; Roy, P.; Singh, C.; Wang, J.; Zhou, W., A global review of urban nature-based solutions: Identifying knowledge gaps and opportunities at the research frontier, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122, (29), 2025, pe2315910121 ,
Notes: [Nature-based solutions (NbS) have emerged as a key strategy for sustainably addressing multiple urban challenges, with rapidly increasing knowledge production requiring synthesis to better understand whether and how NbS work in different social, ecological, economic, or governance contexts. Insights in this Perspective are drawn from a thematic review of 61 NbS review articles supported by an expert assessment of NbS knowledge in seven global regions to examine key challenges, fill gaps in Global South assessment, and provide insights for scaling up NbS for impact in cities. Eight NbS challenges emerged from our review of NbS reviews including conceptual, thematic, geographic, ecological, inclusivity, health, governance, and systems challenges. An additional expert assessment reviewing literature and cases in seven global regions further revealed the following: 1) Local context-based ecological knowledge is essential for NbS success; 2) Improved technical knowledge is required for planning and designing NbS; 3) NbS need to be included in all levels of planning and governance; 4) Putting justice and equity at the center of urban NbS approaches is critical, and 5) Inclusive and participatory governance processes will be key to long-term success of NbS. We synthesized findings from the NbS review results and regional expert assessments to offer four critical pathways for scaling up NbS: 1) foster new NbS research, technological innovation, and learning, 2) build a global NbS alliance for sharing knowledge, 3) ensure a systems approach to NbS planning and implementation, and 4) increase financing and political will for diverse NbS implementation.],
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O Donnell, M.; Collier, M.J.; Pineda-Pinto, M.; Cooper, C.; Nulty, F. & Rodriguez Castañeda, N., Redefining co-design for social-ecological research and practice: A systematic literature review, Environmental Science and Policy, 164, 2025, p103998 ,
Notes: [Collaborative processes such as co-design are increasingly crucial in generating social-ecological research and practice. Fostering change within complex adaptive systems requires collaboratively working with real-world actors or stakeholders to resolve complicated issues. Co-design is a distinct and fundamental component of the co-paradigm, a collective term for co-design, co-production, and co-creation. However, scientific literature currently provides limited definitions of the key concepts within the co-paradigm, leading to misinterpretations or inconsistent usage. Improving the clarity of these definitions is essential because it permits scientific progress and better implementation of processes and engagement in practice. To address this gap, the following paper presents research which critically examines the practice of co-design through a systematic literature review. Using a systematic approach, this study identifies fifty-two papers with empirical methodologies, which are thematically analysed to understand the purpose and process of the co-design approach within social-ecological research and practice. The paper identifies effective co-design methods and discusses the implications of their utilisation within social-ecological study and practice. The review also identifies and examines definitions of co-design and the challenges of implementing a co-design approach, highlighting potential solutions. The paper concludes by proposing an integrative definition of co-design to further understand and enhance the process's implementation within social-ecological systems. The definition proposed in this paper can serve as a roadmap for researchers and practitioners aiming to use co-design as part of sustainable transformation efforts in social-ecological systems.],
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Pineda-Pinto, M.; Lennon, M.; Kennedy, C.; O"Donnell, M.; Andersson, E.; Wijsman, K. & Collier, M.J., Realizing multispecies justice through a capability approach to promote nature-based solutions, Nature Partner Journal Urban Sustainability, 7, 2025, p31 ,
Notes: [The design and implementation of nature-based solutions (NBS) in cities are often limited by an anthropocentric approach that prioritizes utilitarian goals instead of the diverse needs and abilities of multiple species that would support ecological flourishing. This paper starts from the premise that multispecies justice (MSJ) thinking provides a needed biocentric approach to NBS, and explores how a Capability Approach (CA) can be a bridge to integrate MSJ into urban NBS. The premise was tested through an embodied methodology used to design and deliver multi-city workshops in urban novel ecologies; settings often described as abandoned and hosting novel ecosystems. This research improved the understanding of participant"s awareness and knowledge of more-than-human agencies in shaping space and time, and in identifying social and environmental vulnerabilities and opportunities that can foster or hinder multispecies flourishing. We conclude by exploring how the CA can bridge NBS and MSJ and argue for the potential of marginal, less-valued novel ecologies as important elements of socially and biodiversity-rich urban futures.],
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Khalid, H.; Collier, M.J., Leveraging machine learning techniques for image classification and revealing social media insights into human engagement with urban wild spaces, Scientific Reports, 15, 2025, p24876 ,
Notes: [In recent years, machine learning models have exhibited excellent performance and far-reaching impact across domains such as fraud detection in finance, recommendation systems in e-commerce, medical imaging in healthcare, agricultural forecasting, social engagement, image classification, sentiment analysis in social media network analysis. This research explores how advanced machine learning techniques, leveraging social media data for image classification, can be used to gain deeper insights into public engagement with urban wild spaces. The study follows a two-step methodology: first, scraping image data from Instagram, Facebook, and Flickr using hashtag-based techniques focused on urban wild spaces; second, developing an experimental pipeline using Convolutional Neural Networks (CNN), Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN), and Convolutional Autoencoders (CAE) to classify and evaluate the scrapped social media data. Evaluation was based on precision, recall, F-measure, and accuracy metrics. Across all three platforms, CAE consistently outperformed CNN and DBSCAN, achieving peak accuracies of 74.8% on Flickr, 70.4% on Instagram, and 62.9% on Facebook, along with balanced F-measures and high recall. CNN showed the highest precision, reaching 98.4% on Flickr, while DBSCAN provided moderate results. These findings show that machine learning effectively filters noisy data and reveals how people engage with urban wild spaces, offering valuable insights for urban planning and ecology.],
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Cook, E.M.; Kim, Y.; Grimm, N.B.; McPhearson, T.; Anderson, P.; Bulkeley, H.A.; Collier, M.J.; Diep, L.; Morató Farreras, J.; Zhou, W., Nature-based Solutions for Urban Sustainability, Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 122, (29), 2025, pe2315909122 ,
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Rodriguez-Castañeda, N.; Pineda-Pinto, M.; Marie Gulsrud, N.; Maurer, M.; Collier, M.J., Let it grow wild! A more-than-One-Health perspective for wild spaces in cities, Cities & Health, 2025, p1 - 22, p1-22 ,
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