Nature for the people, by the people: Negotiating values, attitudes and behaviours for implementing urban nature-based solutions in social housing

This paper examines 38 interviews conducted with residents of social housing developments in Bangkok, Thailand, to create a typology of attitudes and values that reflect how people conceptualise, implement and maintain urban nature for disaster resilience. Urban greening initiatives and nature-based solutions are increasingly being used to address societal challenges, such as reducing the risk of floods and heatwaves in urban areas. While these solutions can enhance urban resilience, many gaps remain in our understanding of the inequalities that shape urban nature and on how people autonomously produce nature-based solutions. Exploring the benefits of nature to people in social housing projects, ranging from improving food security to mitigating the impacts of heatwaves, we examine 38 interviews to create a typology of attitudes and values towards urban nature-based solutions.

Drawing on the experiences of the residents of Bangkok, Thailand, this typology expands the role of nature-based solutions in conventional disaster risk reduction and reflects other ways in which people conceptualise, implement and maintain urban nature. Using the Urban Nature Futures Framework, we provide insights into how local priorities and decision-making processes can be integrated into climate adaptation efforts. Building upon growing debates on climate justice, we examine how these behaviours can influence the implementation of nature-based solutions for climate adaptation projects in understudied contexts in the Global South.