Abstract of the talk:
Drought, dust, flood, forest fire, and the current global pandemic have ravaged millions of lives and forced people to think anew about the relationship between humans and nature. The discourse on nature-based solutions argues that integrating various forms of ‘nature’ in cities provides a cost-effective approach through which not only a range of global environmental challenges can be addressed, but also multiple benefits to human health and well-being can be achieved. Due to their great promise, nature-based solutions are promoted in both academic and policy circles as a key strategy for governing climate change, biodiversity, and the broader environment and society. This however raises two important questions: how nature-based solutions are (or could be) contributing to urban sustainability governance, and how nature-based solutions are governed in cities globally. In this talk, Dr. Xie will explore these questions based on research conducted in European cities, while reflecting on studying and promoting nature-based solutions in urban China.
About the speaker:
Dr. Linjun Xie earned her PhD from the University of Nottingham Ningbo China in 2019, and her doctoral research examined the development of ‘smart eco-city’ projects in China with a focus on Chongming Eco-Island in Shanghai. Now she is a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Department of Geography at Durham University, and her interdisciplinary research focuses on urban sustainability transitions and the implication on human society and local and global environments. She currently works on the EU H2020 NATURVATION project on advancing assessment and enabling innovation of nature-based solutions. She has been published in top international peer-reviewed journals such as Environmental Science & Policy, Political Geography, the Journal of Urban Technology, the Journal of Cleaner Production, and EPE: Nature and Space.
If you are interested in this topic and would like to discuss relevant areas with our speaker, please join us via: https://moodle.nottingham.ac.uk/mod/tutorialbooking/view.php?id=4959343.