Connecting Nature Deliverable 7: Final report of all meetings, consultations, webinars and workshops and the publication of a co-production guidebook for cities consisting of 2 guidebooks: 'A practical guide to using co-production for nature-based solutions' and 'A practical guide to using reflexive monitoring for nature-based solutions' (including infographics)
Creators: name: Hölscher, Katharina
name: Janssen, Annelli
name: Lodder, Marleen
name: van der Have, Carien
name: Albulescu, Patricia
name: Allaert, Kato
name: Bakola, Eleni
name: Beslagic, Lejla
name: Boskidis, Ioannis
name: Collier, Marcus J.
name: Dick, Gillian
name: Dymek, Dominika
name: Dziubala, Agnieszka
name: García-Espina Adank, Christian
name: González Vazquez, Maria Mercedes
name: Kelly, Sean
name: Kindlon, Donnchadh
name: Madajczyk, Natalia
name: Malekkidou, Eleni
name: Mavroudi, Maria
name: McCann, Shibeal
name: Osipiuk, Agnieszka
name: Pašić, Belma
name: Prieto González, Antonio
name: Quartier, Mien
name: Sermpezi, Rania
name: Sulea, Coralia
name: Suljevic, Nermina
name: Trendafilov, Ivaylo
name: Tsouris, Vasilis
name: Van De Sijpe, Katrien
name: Velikova, Vili
name: Vos, Peter
name: Xidous, Dimitra
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2022
Subjects: Nature-based solutions
Co-creation
Reflexive monitoring
Connecting Nature
Urban
Fast-follower cities
Front-runner cities
Urban transitioning
Connecting Nature Framework
Co-production
Business models
City

description: This Deliverable presents our underlying conceptual and methodological approach as well as analytical results by which we have co-developed co-production and reflexive monitoring methodologies for the planning, delivery and stewardship of nature-based solutions on a large scale in cities. Next to supporting co-production and reflexive monitoring processes on the ground in the Connecting Nature Front-Runner and Fast-Follower Cities, a main aim was to generate systematic insights about how cities go about designing and implementing such novel governance approaches. On the one hand, co-production is booming in cities worldwide as a mode of collaborative governance. By bringing together diverse actors – for example, civil servants, practitioners, social innovators, scientists, entrepreneurs and citizens – co-production can support the generation of transformative nature-based solutions (pertaining not only to their mere technical design but also to their financing and business models and social innovations) addressing local needs and mobilising local opportunities. We developed a comprehensive framework that supports the design, implementation and evaluation of co-production. The framework covers different types of co-production, methods, principles for process design and evaluation as well as capacities for co-production to implement the principles. On the other hand, we developed a reflexive monitoring process to support processes of ongoing learning-by-doing and doing-by-learning. Nature-based solutions planning, delivery and stewardship requires ongoing reflection as well as adaptability to respond to new insights, demands and needs. Our reflexive monitoring methodology consists of a step-wise approach with several process tools that the cities have adapted into their regular activities to create space for reflection and capturing learnings. The recording of learning objectives and outcomes helped the cities structure what opportunities and barriers they have encountered and how they have navigated them, generating insights on critical steps and lessons learned for the design, delivery and stewardship of nature-based solutions. Building on a comparative analysis of the cities, we generated several key lessons about how to adapt and implement co-production and reflexive monitoring: Overall, all cities recognised the value of co-production to engage with and empower diverse actors and reflexive monitoring to facilitate continuous learning and adaptation in real time when planning, delivering and stewarding nature-based solutions. In this way, co-production and reflexive monitoring are able to address the various governance needs for knowledge, partnerships, societal and political support and learning. Adopting new governance processes and tools that challenge conventional practices requires the creation of institutional and organisational space in cities and the acquisition of new skills and knowledge. It also requires new cultures within city governments to work across siloes. Co-production and reflexive monitoring are flexible approaches that need to be made fit to a specific city’s contexts. For example, we could distinguish between various types of co-production processes depending on different goals and settings, including different types of actors and methods. Regarding co-production, it has been challenging to reach out and motivate diverse actors to participate in co- production, including especially vulnerable and low-income communities or specific actors from the business and finance community. This requires dedicated communication and community engagement efforts and skills as well as making the process accessible to different audiences. The value of reflexive monitoring extended to the facilitation of knowledge transfer and peer-to-peer learning between Front-Runner and Fast-Follower Cities. We learned that, from the idea initiation stage, it can take a few years before the cities started implementing their learning outcomes with reflexivity changes. Based on our work with the cities and comparative analysis, we produced conceptually grounded and practice-proven, hands-on guidebooks that help urban practitioners and planners design and implement concrete steps, activities and tools for the co-production and reflexive monitoring of nature-based solutions. We have put in place several mechanisms to ensure the long-term sustainability of our co-production and reflexive monitoring work – in particular, to continue to spread knowledge for example through the OPPLA platform and the UrbanByNature programme.
description: Suggested citation: Hölscher, K., Lodder, M., Janssen, A., van der Have, C., Kindlon, D., McCann, S., Allaert, K., Xidous, D., Albulescu, P., Sulea, C., Prieto Gonzalez, A., Gonzalez Vazquez, M. M., Trendafilov, I., Velikova, V., Van De Sijpe, K., Quartier, M., Vos, P., Dick, G., Kelly, S., Sermpezi, R., Bakola, E., Boskidis, Ioannis; Tsouris, Vasilis; García-Espina Adank, Christian; Malekkidou, Eleni; Mavroudi, M., Osipiuk, A., Dziubala, A., Madajczyk, N., Dymek, D., Pasic, B., Suljevic, N., Beslagic, L., Collier, M. J. (2022). Connecting Nature Deliverable 7: Final report of all meetings, consultations, webinars and workshops and the publication of a co-production guidebook for cities consisting of 2 guidebooks: 'A practical guide to using co-production for nature-based solutions' and 'A practical guide to using reflexive monitoring for nature-based solutions' (including infographics). Project. Brussels: DG Research &amp; Innovation. DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7443221