Virtual stakeholder engagement for Nature Based Solutions planning – challenges and opportunities

Early stakeholder engagement is seen as crucial to successful urban planning and implementation of Nature Based Solutions and green infrastructure in cities. The COVID-19 outbreak has created a challenge for both researchers and planners in stakeholder involvement as traditional methods of engaging stakeholders, such as workshops and consultations of plans in public spaces have been limited. Virtual methods for engagement exist and have been used also in the past, many times as a complement these more traditional methods, and new innovative virtual methods are being developed to be able to engage stakeholders in different ways. However, many of these tools are limited in the ways that they can engage varied groups of people across society. Digital exclusion remains a risk as the burden on participation is often on the stakeholder themselves.

This session crowdsourced ideas on how to overcome the current limitations related to virtual stakeholder engagement in work that aims to also promote the green infrastructure that benefits society as a whole. Ten x five minute mini-presentations highlighted virtual methods of engaging with stakeholders (from lower-tech to higher tech) in projects related to urban greening, as well as other issues around the ethics of such engagement.

The presentations acted as a starting place for further discussions and a virtual brainstorming session on Miro about the use of digital tools in participatory planning of urban green infrastructure.