May 2022: URBiNAT in collaboration with the Swedish International Centre for Local Democracy has just released a policy brief on Innovating with urban governance: municipal committees for inclusive, nature based solutions. 

Abstract: This policy brief explores the challenges and innovative opportunities for institutionalising participatory processes within municipal contexts. Specifically, we report on the creation of municipal committees, a proposal framed within the EU-funded project URBiNAT aimed at co-creating healthy corridors made up of a combination of nature-based solutions (NBS). The proposed committees aim to consolidate citizens’ engagement in the process of co-creating NBS, by offering opportunities for: cooperation and co-production between citizens, public authorities and stakeholders; building consensus through possibilities to influence, negotiate and deliberate on decisions; handling emerging conflicts, dissensus and disagreement.

Healthy corridors in URBiNAT are nature-based solutions (NBS), developed as clusters that, in addition to green space, also emphasise social initiatives promoting territorial cohesion in deprived urban areas. The co-creation approach of healthy corridors in each URBiNAT city raised the need to introduce innovations in the existing governance models. Municipal committees would gather citizens, municipal decision-makers and researchers in a regular and formal governance structure that is dedicated to making decisions collaboratively. These decisions aim to guide the implementation, production and monitoring of NBS, such as the territorial green walls and the social currency for a nature-based circular economy