Nature-based design and planning: Framing a new interdisciplinary subfield

Cities need new and more integrative solutions to purposefully increase urban nature and foster meaningful human-nature connections within built environments. Although nature-based solutions (NbSs) were advanced to work with nature and benefit human well-being, translating scientific research into implementation plans that reflect anticipatory more-than-human perspectives remains challenging. This perspective article explores the potential for establishing a new interdisciplinary subfield of nature-based design and planning (NbDP) to strengthen the conceptual and methodological foundation necessary for cross-disciplinary evaluation and operationalisation of NbS within policy and practice. We introduce the NbDP matrix, consolidating NbS integration across core dimensions of (i) planning, (ii) design, (iii) implementation, and (iv) mainstreaming. Guiding principles emphasising (i) multiscale, (ii) multiperspective, (iii) multispecies, (iv) multitype NbS, and accounting for (v) synergies and trade-offs are also integrated. While critically reflecting on the subfield's challenges and limitations, the article outlines a roadmap for future NbDP scholarship.