Nature-based evolution: Traditional ecological practices in the application of blue-green infrastructure for climate resilience

In cities, climate hazards continue to escalate due to the impacts of a changing climate. This poses growing risks to both ecosystems and human populations. Urban resilience depends on the capacity of cities to respond to climate-related pressures such as rising temperatures and extreme flooding. To address these challenges, urban planners must adopt strategies that reduce climate hazards while improving the well-being of residents and urban ecosystems. Traditional ecological practices and historic blue-green infrastructure (BGI) can provide climate-proof strategies to increase urban climate resilience. Throughout history, humans have learned to understand, interpret, interact and adapt to their biophysical environments. This has generated a body of knowledge and traditional wisdom about nature-based solutions to manage environmental change. Colonization, industrialization, and urbanization have transformed spatial relationships, resulting in fragmented blue-green networks within the landscape. A study of traditional BGI practices is presented that explores and documents common forms of historical BGI and traditional ecological practices across global contexts, examining their relevance in nature-based decision-making for sustainable and climate-proof cities. As part of this study, mapping of a common form of historical BGI is undertaken across geographies to examine historic and contemporary functions in climate resilience, in addition to modern challenges and threats. This study characterizes historical BGI and traditional ecological practices as complex interventions to support localization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, underscoring the necessity for conservation, adaptation, and integration of traditional blue-green infrastructure practices within modern urban planning.