Urban Aquatic Nature-Based Solutions in the Context of Global Change: Uncovering the Social-ecological-technological Framework

Cities host an increasing share of the human population and are continuously pressured by global change drivers, namely climate change, land-use alterations, and pollution. Among the most important negative pressures are those related to water management, including excess water (e.g., floods), water scarcity (e.g., droughts) and water quality deterioration (e.g., pollution). Several solutions have been proposed so that cities can continue to support healthy, thriving, and meaningful lives for their inhabitants. These include Nature-based Solutions (NbS), i.e., actions that are inspired and supported by nature, provide ecosystem services with environmental, social, and economic benefits, and enhance biodiversity. Aquatic NbS (in the following aquaNbS), such as retention ponds, constructed wetlands or restored river embarquements, have been presented as one of the tools to deal with some of the problems associated with climate change. These aquaNbS do so by providing critical ecosystem services such as flash flood control, groundwater provision and regulation of water quality. Although aquaNbS are sometimes viewed as ready-to-use units to be implemented in specific locations to address local problems, they are increasingly recognized to be complex systems, with strong interactions with their surroundings, including the social, ecological, and technological dimensions. Specifically, aquaNbS can be designed according to social needs and regulations, can supply ecosystem services, and can be supported by technology. These three dimensions are strongly linked, but we often lack an understanding of their interactions. We propose that a better understanding of these interactions would lead to more effective NbS management. This chapter presents the SETS framework (Social-Ecological-Technological Systems according to (McPhearson et al., BioScience, 2016) as an approach to better understand the complex interactions that influence aquaNbS. To identify and quantify the functioning, success, and outcomes of NbS, we discuss the key scales of analysis and the more important context variables to be considered when using the SETS framework for aquaNbS analysis. Finally, we propose a set of essential variables and respective indicators to analyze and monitor each of the dimensions of NbS. These variables represent different components of SETS and are selected based on previous research and literature. We emphasize their ability to reveal the interactions between social, ecological, and technological dimensions of aquaNbS, adding a new component in the SETS discussion.