Citizen Science for Sustainable Cities: Investigating Nature Based Solutions

Dear Colleagues,

Cities are major contributors to global change and are highly susceptible to their consequences. As urbanization continues, there have been significant increases in water, soil, and air pollution, exacerbated urban heat island effect and more frequent flooding, with impacts on society, economic prosperity, infrastructure, and the environment.

Nature-based solutions (NBS), such as green and blue infrastructure, provide sustainable options that can increase the resiliency of cities and mitigate global change. While the potential benefits of NBSs have been described, efforts to estimate these benefits remain inconsistent and rarely conducted across large spatial and temporal extensions.

Citizen science (CS) has proven to be a cost-effective method to characterize changes of local environments. Based on the collaborative effort between scientists, agencies, and the general public, CS can fill the information gap, restricting sustainable solutions to environmental problems. CS provides a further benefit of improving participation and understanding local populations in managing their local environment.

This Special Issue brings together studies where CS provide an important contribution to the study of NBS. The editors encourage submissions that explore the range of NBS on urban and peri-urban environments, with the participation of CS. Examples of applications of CS in urban planning, NBS design and monitoring are welcomed.

Prof. Dr. Steven Loiselle
Dr. Macarena L. Cárdenas
Dr. Claire Narraway
Prof. Dr. Shyam R. Asolekar
Dr. Jonathan D. Paul
Dr. Jérôme Ngao
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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