Through the use of technology for water irrigation and maintenance, it is achieved water resource efficiency (better water quality and better water management).

Climate and Geography:

Nature based solutions are little by little incorporated to the urban areas, the city is an ecosystem with their flows and ecosystem services where humans develop their activities. NBS that incorporate “smart” technologies improve the experience.

Through the use of technology for water irrigation and maintenance, it is achieved water resource efficiency (better water quality and better water management).

Urban Form and layout:

The maintenance and management of green areas has always been a problem for administrations, so the incorporation of these solutions, especially in the area of irrigation, is very useful for them.

Technical aspects/infrastructure:

With a simple APP you can monitor the NBS, whether it is working properly or if it has stopped watering, even adjusting the irrigation to the precipitation automatically.

Policy and regulatory/legal framework:

The needs of sustainable and climate resilience cities are driven along with social, ecological and technological transformations. In recent years, technological advances have increased remarkably, which has prompted the exploration of how urban systems can be transformed into "smart cities". The use of information and communications technologies, the Internet of Things, and robotic systems and artificial intelligence have enabled the creation of "smart" technologies to monitor and manage nature-based solutions.

Funding and financing:

These systems make the green infrastructure more expensive to maintain but water and fertilizer consumption would also be decreased also reduce the maintenance hours, so the number of people employed is reduced, instead there must be at least one specialized person.

The financing of these systems is either at the same time as the green infrastructure is installed, or if it has to be installed later, it can be financed through climate impact reduction policies, water saving, among others.

Economic and social context:

"Smart" technologies (information and communications technologies, the Internet of Things and robotic systems and artificial intelligence) used to monitor and manage nature-based solutions have enabled access to real-time data to optimize the process and reduce potential damage and inconvenience.

Project governance and implementation modalities: 

These systems reduce complaints from neighbours about water wastage, as well as promoting skilled green jobs.

Climate and Geography & Urban Form and layout:

The current landscape makes these technologies absolutely necessary. The use of irrigation on roofs and facades increases the ambient humidity and reduces the temperature, thus reducing the heat island effect and increasing the habitability of cities plants of the city centre should be adapted for this purpose.

Landscaping varieties should be developed for green open spaces that can withstand the new conditions of rainfall and temperature, leaving nature to nature

Technical aspects/infrastructure & Economic and social context:

Most of these systems are wireless, they use a GPRS network or WIFI, so distances must be taken into account for the signal to be effective.

These systems are expensive and sometimes give problems at the most inopportune time (holidays, weekends), good maintenance and knowledge of their use is necessary.

Climate and Geography:

The different technologies provide monitoring data in real time so that aspects such as soil moisture, rainfall flows, permeability capacity or the water table can be analysed and resolved quickly and efficiently, reducing possible damage and inconvenience that can occur cause in the day to day of the cities.

Assigning and defining some parameters, based on previous studies of the areas where the NBS are going to be implemented, together with real-time monitoring data, allows administrators to plan different management techniques with different intensity and frequency. Over time, this allows for reductions in budgets dedicated to maintenance.

Monitoring and tracking each site, documenting changes, problems encountered and how they are resolved, along with proper communication and training of maintainers will help find the perfectly balanced management for each specific site.

Technical aspects/infrastructure & Economic and social context:

The combination of innovative technology and sustainability and climate resilience makes the city a complex social-ecological-technological system.

Smart technologies for real-time monitoring and autonomous to manage NBS has social impact, making pleasant experiences of urban nature and their related well-being benefits and social and cultural values, for example, the possibility that this technology could be used to warn and control torrential rain, avoiding the flooding of certain areas.

• Smart Technologies for NBS (Connecting Nature project)
• Li, J., and J. I. Nassauer. 2021. Technology in support of nature-based solutions requires understanding everyday experiences. Ecology and Society 26(4):35.
• NBS multi-scalar and multi-thematic typology and associated (Appendix 3: NBS Factsheets) - Nature4Cities project

The water management indicators address the potential benefits, co-benefits, and trade-offs associated with changes to surface water runoff volume and to water quality also wide range of applicable metrics for the assessment of NBS impact from a broad perspective, further exploring potential impacts on soil-water interactions, additional aspects of stormwater and excess runoff management, and actions pertinent to the implementation of the Water Framework Directive, including quantitative, hydro-morphological, ecological and physico-chemical status of surface and groundwaters.

Indicators related to Water Management. Source: Handbook for practitioners

• User Engagement for Energy Performance Improvement https://netzerocities.app/resource-1498
• Supporting municipalities to monitor resource flows in line with impact targets and measurement processes https://netzerocities.app/resource-1528
• Capacity building and training https://netzerocities.app/resource-1578
• Integrated land use and urban planning with energy and climate  https://netzerocities.app/resource-1678
• City water resilience assessment https://netzerocities.app/resource-1738
• Public procurement for innovative NBS and Green Infrastructure interventions https://netzerocities.app/resource-588
• NBS and Green Infrastructure regulation and ordinances https://netzerocities.app/resource-1813
• NBS and Green Infrastructure plans and strategy design and governance https://netzerocities.app/resource-1823

Technical specifications of Green Covering Shelter installed in Valladolid as part of the URBAN GreenUP project.

Green covering shelter in Valladolid (Source: María González (CARTIF).

Elevation of the Plaza España green covering shelter (Source: SingularGreen).

Green Covering Shelter irrigation scheme (Source: SingularGreen)

Green covering shelter budget (Source: SingularGreen)

Example of irrigation control of a NBS (Source: Agronic)

Connecting Nature Enterprise Platform

 Li, J., and J. I. Nassauer. 2021. Technology in support of nature-based solutions requires understanding everyday experiences. Ecology and Society 26(4):35. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-12838-260435

 Nature4Cities – D1.1 – NBS multi-scalar and multi-thematic typology and associated. Appendix 3. NBS Factsheets