Spring School for Early Career Researchers on NBS for Just and Transformative Futures
Between 8-10 April 2025, the Naturescapes Project in Lisbon hosted the international Spring School “Nature-Based Solutions for Just and Transformative Futures”. Our sister project, Naturescapes, explores nature-based solutions from a landscape perspective, how this is developing and adding up on the ground, and what it means for nature and society. This dynamic three-day event brought together researchers, PhD students, postdoctoral researchers, and early career scholars from different countries in different continents to present their ongoing work.
Organized by Olivia Bina, Andresa Ledo Marques and Fiona Kinniburgh, the program explored the politics and consequences of nature-based solutions (NbS) in urban, peri-urban, and coastal environments. Key thematic areas included:
- Valuing, imagining, and governing nature;
- Contested processes around NBS;
- Implications of these processes for transformative change and just futures across contexts.
The Naturescapes project, under the leadership of Harriet Bulkeley, combines research with practice and local co-creation. A public keynote lecture by Maarten A. Hajer, hosted at the Museum of Natural History and Science, opened up the discussion on NbS and related issues. Contributions from speakers Ramon Sarro, Carmen Lacambra Segura, and Isabel Ferreira brought in interdisciplinary and cross-cultural perspectives. The five sessions of the Spring School were designed as spaces of exchange, debate, and collaborative learning. Early career scholars had the opportunity to present, discuss, and improve their ongoing work, ranging from theoretical discussions to empirical analysis and methodological reflections.
During the fifth session, we, as COEVOLVERS’ Italian team, participated in a panel titled “NBS governance for transformative change and justice” moderated by Roberto Falanga. Here, we presented our work within the COEVOLVERS Project, specifically focusing on the activities in the Living Lab of Molentargius Park in the city of Cagliari. Our presentation, " Co-creating in Molentargius Park: participative methodologies for humans and more than humans networking”, was based on a paper that explores the approaches of bridging the gap between human activities and natural contexts through NbS.
Environmental challenges persist despite multiscale conservation efforts. Our presentation argued that NbS have emerged as a policy innovation, blending technological approaches with nature to tackle sustainability issues, often framed as alternatives to ‘grey’ infrastructure (Herrmann-Pillath et al., 2023). NbS emphasize reciprocity, aiming to benefit nature as well as humans, with biodiversity enhancement a central feature in their design standards. Drawing on the COEVOLVERS experience, we presented different Nature Based Activities (NBAs) developed to promote a connection between Molentargius Park stakeholders and more-than-human inhabitants of our Living Lab. These activities include the “searching for common ground” methodology, experiential walks, and meditation in nature, with also the assessment of satisfaction toward the NBAs. The results we presented emphasized the need for inclusive and ecological practices that go beyond the anthropocentric lens.
The Spring School wrapped up with the interactive workshop “Techniques of Futuring”, led by Lisette van Beek, showcasing a presentation of arts-based workshops on ecology in city life by Inna Zrajaeva and John Kazior, and two different excursions to local NBS projects in Lisbon, through collaborations with the Lisbon City Council and Loures City Council.
In sum, the Spring School provided the opportunity for new connections and insights into strengthening community and policy commitments to nature-based solutions, renewing our sense of purpose in co-creating generative and inclusive futures.
Vanessa Pinna