In an increasingly urbanized world, the concepts of ecosystem services and nature-based solutions can help tackle grand challenges. However, ambiguity in their definitions and in the relationship... Show moreIn an increasingly urbanized world, the concepts of ecosystem services and nature-based solutions can help tackle grand challenges. However, ambiguity in their definitions and in the relationship between the two concepts complicates comprehensive research efforts as well as their effective application in policy and planning in urban systems. This paper presents a framework to clarify and explicitly relate the two concepts, enhancing their applicability in the management of urban challenges. Within the framework, addressing urban challenges serves as the starting point for the development and implementation of nature-based solutions. Nature-based solutions alter the flows of ecosystem services that are produced by an ecosystem by altering the performance of the ecosystem or by changing how people engage with the ecosystem. This results both in changes in the target ecosystem services, as well as non-targeted ecosystem services, leading to benefits. Using two illustrative case studies, we show how the framework can be applied to two urban challenges that are expected to increase in intensity in cities across the world: stormwater management and urban heat stress. Moreover, we highlight key research topics that will benefit from more integrated use of nature-based solutions and ecosystem services. The framework helps emphasize co-benefits, and can be used to help make co-benefits and multifunctionality explicit in urban decision-making and planning processes. Show less
Reflection of/on the City: Literature, Space, and Postmodernity is an interdisciplinary study of literary representations of the postmodern city. While the early 20th century was characterized by... Show moreReflection of/on the City: Literature, Space, and Postmodernity is an interdisciplinary study of literary representations of the postmodern city. While the early 20th century was characterized by the metropolis, with a high concentration of people and enterprise, the second half of the 20th century is marked by, on the one hand, a different kind of city – sprawling, flexible, to be understood in different frameworks – and on the other hand a changed usage of existing urban space. This study explores aspects of the postmodern city by looking at American literary works from the 1960s to the end of the century. These aspects are represented in literary works, of course, but my usage of these texts is explicitly geared towards looking beyond literary categories. Literary works do not only offer a reflection of, but importantly also a reflection on the city. My aim is to approach urban issues by using literature as a way of thinking about the city, which can therefore be brought together with theoretical of social scientific ways of thinking. Show less
In deze studie wordt de invloed van instituties en cultuur op het overheidsbeleid onderzocht. Aan de hand van twee case-studies naar het automobiliteitsbeleid in de steden Birmingham en München... Show moreIn deze studie wordt de invloed van instituties en cultuur op het overheidsbeleid onderzocht. Aan de hand van twee case-studies naar het automobiliteitsbeleid in de steden Birmingham en München wordt duidelijk dat lokale beleidsinstituties en culturen voor een grote mate van invloed zijn op de keuze voor het automobiliteitsbeleid. Een link wordt gelegd met de Nederlandse situatie en het thema van bestuurlijke vernieuwing. Show less
