Green Urbanism (GU) 8th Edition, 2024. A book of Abstracts

The need to integrate climate-adaptive design into urban regeneration through green and blue strategies is becoming apparent at various scales and geographies due to the escalating impact of climate change. Cities worldwide are transforming their streetscapes through the implementation of Nature-based solutions (UNEP/EA.5/Res.5: NbS) to be more prepared and proactively adjust to present and future climate impacts, simultaneously addressing social, economic and environmental issues considered from a spatial design perspective. Grounded on a theoretical framework that explores the interconnectedness between urban regeneration practices and policies of Nature-based solutions for climate adaptation and urban resilience, the contribution aims to overcome conceptual and operational gaps concerning the design and implementation of Nature-based Climate-Adaptive design strategies in the new city streetscapes. Inside two European-funded research, the paper, besides exploring limits and opportunities, aims to define design principles and procedures for the urban streetscape’s regeneration based on Nature-based Climate Adaptive design strategies. To go beyond present limits, a three-phase research-by-design methodology has been adopted made by: (a) research for design, i.e., taking knowledge from other disciplinary fields; (b) research of design, i.e., learning from design experiences of urban regeneration based on NbS and Climate-adaptive strategies; (c) research driven design, applying principles and procedures deducted from (b) to experimental projects. Within the design phase, a database of Nature-based Climate-adaptive regenerative urban Streetscapes’ projects has been developed. Furthermore, from the comparison of Streetscapes’ projects, the research defines the design-oriented conceptual Framework for Nature-based, Climate-adaptive and Regenerative Streetscapes, which aims to define a taxonomy of design principles and procedures, to support Nature-based Climate-Adaptive regeneration of Streetscapes, enhancing space quality and wellbeing and contributing to improve urban resilience. In conclusion, the paper introduces mid-term considerations on the impact of NbS on regeneration projects for city streetscapes, supporting a more complete