Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40658841›Full record

ReviewProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America2025

Global synthesis and regional insights for mainstreaming urban nature-based solutions.

Timon McPhearson, Niki Frantzeskaki, Alessandro Ossola, Loan Diep, Pippin M L Anderson, Timothy Blatch, Marcus J Collier, Elizabeth M Cook, Christina Culwick Fatti, Zbigniew J Grabowski and 14 more

Abstract readReview
In one paragraph

Review in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
4citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

4 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Nature-based solutions for urban sustainability.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

24 authors.

Timon McPhearsonUrban Systems Lab, The New School, New York, NY 10003.ORCID 0000-0002-9499-0791
Niki FrantzeskakiDepartment of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Faculty of Geosciences, Utrecht University, Utrecht 3584 CB, The Netherlands.ORCID 0000-0002-6983-448X
Alessandro OssolaDepartment of Plant Sciences, University of California Davis, Davis, CA 95616.ORCID 0000-0002-0507-6026
Loan DiepUrban Systems Lab, The New School, New York, NY 10003.ORCID 0000-0003-2079-6176
Pippin M L AndersonDepartment of Environmental and Geographical Science, University of Cape Town, Cape Town 7700, South Africa.
Timothy BlatchICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, Africa Secretariat, Cape Town 8001, South Africa.ORCID 0009-0005-9983-0198
Marcus J CollierDiscipline of Botany, School of Natural Sciences, Trinity College, Dublin 2, Ireland.ORCID 0000-0002-6853-9980
Elizabeth M CookDepartment of Environmental Science, Barnard College, New York City, NY 10027.ORCID 0000-0002-4290-7482
Christina Culwick FattiGauteng City Region Observatory, a partnership between the University of Johannesburg, the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, Gauteng Provincial Government and organized local government in Gauteng, Johannesburg 2001, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0003-2710-9797
Zbigniew J GrabowskiUrban Systems Lab, The New School, New York, NY 10003.ORCID 0000-0002-1698-6308
Nancy B GrimmSchool of Life Sciences, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287.ORCID 0000-0001-9374-660X
Dagmar HaaseDepartment of Geography, Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin 10117, Germany.ORCID 0000-0003-4065-5194
Pablo Herreros-CantisUrban Systems Lab, The New School, New York, NY 10003.
Jessica KavonicICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, Africa Secretariat, Cape Town 8001, South Africa.
Brenda B LinCommonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Land & Water Business Unit, Dutton Park, QLD 4102, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-6011-9172
Duván H Lopez MenesesRecycling the City Network, Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Terrassa, Barcelona 08222, Spain.
A Marissa MatslerDepartment of Environmental Science and Technology, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742.ORCID 0000-0003-3294-1991
Magnus MogliaCentre for Urban Transitions, Swinburne University of Technology, Hawthorn, VIC 3122, Australia.ORCID 0000-0002-8290-610X
Jordi MoratóUNESCO-United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, Chair on Sustainability, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, Terrassa, Barcelona 08222, Spain.ORCID 0000-0003-2588-8846
Patrick O'FarrellDepartment of Biodiversity and Conservation Biology, Faculty of Natural Sciences, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town 7530, South Africa.ORCID 0000-0002-9538-8831
Parama RoyDepartment of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Madras, Chennai 600036, India.ORCID 0000-0002-2247-1423
Chandni SinghSchool of Environment and Sustainability, Indian Institute for Human Settlements, Bangalore City Campus, Karnataka 560080, India.ORCID 0000-0001-6842-6735
Jing WangState Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085.ORCID 0000-0002-1708-3266
Weiqi ZhouState Key Laboratory of Urban and Regional Ecology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085.ORCID 0000-0001-7323-4906

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

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.

Indexed as

CitiesHumansadaptationcitiesNature-based solutionsreviewurban

Identifiers

PMID40658841
PMCPMC12304931

What Socratic holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.