Exploring of the Changing Roles of Landscape Design in Nature-based Solutions: A Reflection on Professional Practice over the Last Two Decades

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) are actions designed to work with and enhance natural habitats to take advantage of the ability of healthy natural and managed ecosystems to sequester carbon and support biodiversity recovery. Through a career dedicated to working with nature, the article explores the evolution of a landscape planning and design approach from single-purpose solutions to systematic thinking and holistic design, together with a change from experiential/qualitative decision making to quantified solutions. This is presented in three phases of professional practice: 1) greening grey infrastructure, 2) incorporating naturalistic landscape into the public realm, 3) a nature positive future, to explore how NbS can be pushed into the realms of social awareness and everyday recognition by policy makers and the public at large and in turn, support wider and longer term international environmental successes.