|
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.],
Journal Article,
PUBLISHED
TARA - Full Text
DOI
URL
|
|
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.],
Journal Article,
PUBLISHED
TARA - Full Text
DOI
URL
|
|
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.],
Journal Article,
PUBLISHED
TARA - Full Text
DOI
URL
|
|
Holscher, K.; Frantzeskaki, N.; Kindlon, D.; Collier, M.J.; Dick, G.; Dziuba"a, A.; Lodder, M.; Osipiuk, A.; Quartier, M.; Schepers, S.; Van De Sijpe, K.; van der Have, C., Embedding co-production of nature-based solutions in urban governance: Emerging co-production capacities in three European cities, Environmental Science and Policy, (152), 2024, p103652 ,
Notes: [This paper seeks to understand how co-production can become embedded as a collaborative governance practice by which city governments plan, deliver, and steward nature-based solutions. To these ends, the paper analyses how policy officers manifest capacities for co-production in three European cities " Genk (Belgium), Glasgow (United Kingdom), and Poznan " (Poland) " while experimenting with co-production to develop and scale nature- based solutions. Co-production capacities include conditions and activities to (1) create space for co-production, (2) safeguard inclusive and legitimate co-production, and (3) link co-production processes and results to contexts. The results demonstrate how policy officers in the three cities have mobilised and created resources, skills, institutional support, and partnerships to implement diverse processes to co-produce nature-based solutions. While these conditions mark starting changes in urban governance, engaging with and embedding co-production causes tensions between the dynamic and diffuse nature of co-production and existing formal governance settings and processes. Lessons for strengthening the capacities to embed co-production as a collaborative governance practice in nature-based solutions planning, delivery, and stewardship are: (1) embedding a tailor-made approach for inclusive co-production to meaningfully engage diverse actors in place-based settings, (2) embedding open-ended co-production with long-term benefits, and (3) embedding new relations and roles to sustain co- production.],
Journal Article,
PUBLISHED
TARA - Full Text
DOI
URL
|
|
Cooper, C.; Cunningham, N.; Bracken, L.J.; Collier, M.J., Distribution of Nature-based Solutions in cities across Europe, Land Use Policy, 141, 2024, p107160 ,
Notes: [Nature-based Solutions (NBS) is a conceptual framework that seeks to use properties of nature to co-produce ecosystem services to build climate change resilience and improve quality of life by mitigating the relationship between health inequality and socio-economic adversity. This study investigates how the distribution of these forms of urban nature relate to trends in demographic change and social and economic indicators that influence material aspects of quality of life (QoL) in cities. Using macro-scale spatial mapping and descriptive pattern identification, we examine the relationship of distribution trends in the key characteristics of NBS across European cities and social and material factors that influence QoL. Our findings suggest that less than 6% of NBS aim to address poverty or deprivation and fewer than 25% relate to housing or neighbourhood regeneration. We argue inattention to the complex intersectional relationship of socio-economic disparities, historical structural conditions, and the impact of changes to the structural policy on economic convergence across regions leading to the concept being used to address green-growth imperatives in Western Europe rather than mitigate inequalities across eastern and parts of Southern Europe. Failure to address these considerations in the design and deployment of NBS could lead to cities reinforcing or even worsening inequalities within deprived communities, particularly in these areas.],
Journal Article,
PUBLISHED
TARA - Full Text
DOI
URL
|
|
Rodriguez Castañeda, N.; Pineda-Pinto, M.; Gulsrud, N.M.; Cooper, C.; O Donnell, M.; Collier, M.J., Exploring the restorative capacity of urban green spaces and their biodiversity through an adapted One Health approach: a scoping review, Urban Forestry and Urban Greening, 2024, p128489 ,
Notes: [The One Health framework was proposed by the World Health Organisation to explore human, animal, and environmental health interfaces using a holistic and interdisciplinary approach. Yet, the application of this framework to study urban green spaces has been poorly explored in the literature. As the amount of evidence on urban green spaces for citizens" health and well-being is increasing, the use of a One Health framework may contribute to understanding urban green spaces from a comprehensive, interrelated and multidisciplinary perspective that comprises people, biodiversity and the urban environment. To explore this gap in the literature, this study presents a scoping review which analysed 50 studies through an adapted version of the One Health framework, using the interfaces between human mental health, urban green spaces and urban biodiversity as analytical lenses. The review yielded three main findings: the restorative capacity of urban green spaces as a critical aspect of overall human health, the values of restorative capacity from having contact with urban biodiversity, and how ecological knowledge promotes biodiversity conservation in cities. This paper also discusses opportunities to continue expanding One Health by engaging with interdisciplinary discussions and cross-sectoral collaborations. We conclude with an invitation to explore and extend the One Health framework with respect to augmenting urban green spaces as restorative settings and valuing their capacity to contribute to public awareness of biodiversity and, in turn, contribute to improving human and environmental health in cities.],
Journal Article,
PUBLISHED
TARA - Full Text
DOI
URL
URL
|
|
Pineda-Pinto, M.; Kennedy, C.; Nulty, F.; Collier, M.J., Leverage points for improving urban biodiversity conservation in the Anthropocene: A novel ecosystem lens for social-ecological transformation, Environmental Science and Policy, 162, 2024, p103926 ,
Notes: [Environmental governance faces persistent challenges worldwide, with traditional conservation and restoration policies often proving ineffective against ongoing environmental degradation and biodiversity loss. This is driven largely by complex regulatory procedures and an outdated understanding of ecosystem dynamics and change which often fail to effectively engage stakeholders or acknowledge the emergence and value of disturbed or novel ecosystems. This paper advocates for a paradigm shift in conventional environmental policy in the Global North to embrace ecological novelty and reevaluate conservation strategies, particularly within urban contexts. Drawing on case studies from Ireland, Australia, and the United States, it examines existing environmental legislation and identifies critical leverage points for transformative change utilizing a systems thinking and multispecies justice perspective. The findings highlight cross-cutting themes, similarities and differences across regions. We conclude with recommendations for alternative approaches to biodiversity conservation that account for the global redistribution of species and the prevalence of novel ecosystems. This may enable policymakers, practitioners and other stakeholders to envision more flexible, nimble, and adaptive policy frameworks that strive toward mutual flourishing and address the evolving challenges of the Anthropocene.],
Journal Article,
PUBLISHED
TARA - Full Text
DOI
URL
|
|
Pineda-Pinto, M.; Collier, M.J.; Cooper, C.; O Donnell, M.; Nulty, F.; Rodriguez Castañeda, N., Exploring urban novel ecosystems: understandings, insights and recommendations for future research and practice, Futures, 2024, p103487 ,
Notes: [Novel ecosystems are those that have been altered by human activities and have afterwards experienced abandonment or human disuse, allowing for a new assemblage of species to establish. In urban areas, these ecosystems, are commonly found in post-industrial sites, vacant lots, and other unmanaged spaces. The informality of these ecosystems, assumptions of their low ecological value, and associations with negative attributes continue to prevent recognition of their social-ecological value. Although research in the last decade has started to show the potential of novel ecosystems to address several challenges such as biodiversity loss, there remains a need to understand what areas of research are needed to progress our understanding of these ecosystems in urban areas. This paper uses a modified Delphi methodology, in which a panel of knowledge-holders provided their understandings and insights of urban novel ecosystems. Through this process, we distilled key questions for future research and practice that should drive the investigation of these wild ecosystems for improved decision-making. This study sets out recommendations on how to progress the research questions as part of urban transformative agendas in which urban novel ecosystems offer new possibilities for climate experimentation, social-ecological stewardship and biodiversity conservation.],
Journal Article,
PUBLISHED
TARA - Full Text
DOI
URL
|
|
Cooper, C.; Nulty, F.; Collier, M.J.; Pineda-Pinto, M.; Rodriguez Castañeda, N. & O Donnell, M., Urban novel ecosystems as affective landscapes, Sustainability Science, V19, 2024, p1921 - 1933,
Notes: [Intertwined within a patchwork of different types of land use and land cover, novel ecosystems are urban ecosystems that have no historical analogues and contain novel species assemblages. Some researchers and practitioners in the field of conservation and restoration regard urban novel ecosystems unworthy of concern, while other groups call for their preservation due to the rate of biodiversity loss in cities and limited access to nature among some social groups. However, very little is known about how people perceive novel ecosystems (such as informal green spaces, post-industrial or derelict land sites awaiting redevelopment, brownfield sites, vacant lots, interstitial or gap spaces) which are often characterised by assemblages of wild, spontaneous, and overgrown vegetation, but also remanent or derelict urban infrastructure in cities. This paper addresses this gap by firstly asking how people percieve assemblages of wild-looking vegetation and urban infrastructure often found in novel ecosystems and how our affective and aesthetic responses to these ecosystems affects our attitudes towards wildness in cities. To begin to unpack this question, we obtain data from a series of exploratory workshops held in four cities in the global north where we asked people `what is urban nature?" Our findings suggest that value judgements that people ascribe to novel ecosystems are often deeply polarised, but they are influenced by different ecological and urban conditions that people encounter within them. However, some negative perceptions about novel ecosystems may be mediated by situational cues; these situational cues could have important implications for rewilding and restoration programmes that aim to reconnect urban communities with nature through socio-ecological stewardship. To conclude, areas for further research that could improve our understanding of the social values of novel ecosystems in cities and the influence that these ecosystems may have on affective encounters with urban nature are proposed.],
Journal Article,
PUBLISHED
TARA - Full Text
DOI
URL
|
|
Molloy, A.; Collier, M.J.; Buckley, Y.M., Identification and assessment of best practice in nature-based solutions for climate action and ecosystem restoration in Ireland, Final, Working paper #26, commissioned by the Climate Change Advisory Council, Ireland., 26, March, 2024, 39,
Report,
PUBLISHED
URL
URL
|
|
|
