Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Flood Resilience: Frameworks, Strategies, Historical Insights, and Emerging Approaches

Urban flooding is one of the most pressing challenges facing cities worldwide, driven by rapid urbanization, land-use change, and intensifying climate variability. Conventional gray infrastructure — concrete drains, levees, and culverts — increasingly struggles to cope with more frequent and severe rainfall events, while contributing to the degradation of urban ecosystems. Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) offer a powerful alternative, working with natural processes to manage stormwater, restore hydrological balance, and strengthen urban resilience. Beyond flood risk reduction, NBS deliver a broad range of co-benefits, including biodiversity enhancement, improved air quality, and social well-being. This approach joins new environmental concerns and practices, but historical insights may also provide valuable guidance, drawing from the evolution of planning concepts, traditional water-sensitive practices, and vernacular urban forms developed in closer harmony with natural systems. As cities worldwide accelerate their adoption of NBS, this Research Topic brings together cutting-edge research on the planning, design, implementation, and performance of nature-based approaches to urban flood management.The primary goals of this Research Topic are to:o Showcase cutting-edge research and case studies on the planning, design, implementation, and performance of NBS in urban flood contexts;o ·Draw lessons from historical experiences and traditional practices that may inspire contemporary nature-based flood resilience strategies;o Advance interdisciplinary discourse by bringing together insights from engineering, hydrology, urban planning, landscape architecture, ecology, and social sciences;o Promote resilient urban development by evaluating how nature-based strategies can contribute to climate adaptation, policy reform, and community resilience;o Critically examine the barriers, trade-offs, and enablers for mainstreaming NBS within current flood risk governance frameworks;o Highlight the role of emerging technologies and digital tools in supporting the planning, monitoring, and scaling of NBS.This Research Topic invites research on — but not limited to — the following topics:o Historical and vernacular precedents relevant to contemporary nature-based urban flood management;o Lessons from past urban water management practices for resilient future cities.o Comparative performance assessments of NBS versus traditional gray infrastructure;o Urban hydrological modelling and simulation of NBS under present and future climate scenarios;o Design and optimization of hybrid green-gray flood management systems;o Monitoring and evaluation techniques for nature-based flood mitigation;o Socioeconomic and ecological co-benefits of NBS;o Policy, governance, and institutional frameworks for implementing NBS in urban flood contexts;o Community engagement, perception, and equity considerations in NBS planning;o Integration of digital tools (e.g., remote sensing, GIS, AI) for supporting NBS implementation;o Nature-based flood solutions in low-income and informal urban settlements. Topic editors: Amin Talei, Marcelo Gomes Miguez, Alexandra Collins, Manfred Kleidorfer Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/71538/nature-based-solutions-for-urban-flood-resilience-frameworks-strategies-historical-insights-and-emerging-approaches