Toward just environmental futures: exploring the equity dimensions of nature-based solutions in cities

Dr Maike Hamann and Dr Kate D Derickson

Funding period: 1 September 2021 – 1 April 2022
Type of funding: Seminar Series

Host institution: Centre for Complex Systems in Transition (CST), Stellenbosch University (South Africa)
Dates: March 2022 (online) and November 2022 (Cape Town region, South Africa)
Lead organisers: Dr Maike Hamann (Researcher at the Centre for Complex Systems of Transition, Stellenbosch University) and Dr Kate D Derickson (Associate Professor at the Department of Geography, Environment, and Society, University of Minnesota)
Contact: Dr Maike Hamann

Abstract: This seminar series will bring together scholars and community experts from a range of institutions across the world to consider this key question: What role can nature-based solutions play in remediating urban inequality and creating a more just, equitable, and environmentally sustainable urban future that is resilient to crises such as those precipitated by COVID-19? Through comparative analysis across different locations, goals of the seminar series will be to trouble dichotomous Global North/Global South frameworks, identify key points of overlap and departure for the application of concepts and frameworks in the ecosystem services and nature-based solutions literature, and explore how engagements with the histories of infrastructure can inform approaches to just urban futures. By fostering an extended conversation across institutions and contexts, the ultimate aim is to provide an opportunity to share best practices and establish future directions for anti-racist and decolonial coupled human-nature systems research on nature-based solutions in cities.

Twitter: @maikehamann | @katederickson