Urban ecological resilience: ensuring urban ecosystems can provide nature-based solutions

With climate change-driven extreme events increasing in frequency and inten-
sity, cities are on the front lines of needs for innovative climate adaptation
and resilience efforts (Dodman et al. 2022). Nature-based solutions (NBS)
are increasingly at the center of efforts to transform cities for climate adap-
tation, improve the physical and mental health of residents, and contribute to
sustainability, equity, and inclusive human wellbeing (Kabisch et al. 2017;
Frantzeskaki et al. 2019; McPhearson et al. 2022). However, NBS rely on bio-
diversity and well-functioning ecosystems to provide ecosystem services such
as temperature regulation, coastal protection, stormwater absorption, human
physical and mental health, and much more. Thus, urban ecosystems them-
selves must be resilient in order to be an ecological source of resilience for
complex urban social-ecological-technological systems (SETS) undergoing
change. Transforming cities to be flexible, adaptive, and resilient to a future
that is increasingly uncertain requires many scales and types of transformation
including increased attention to managing, protecting, and restoring urban
ecological infrastructure to enable NBS to meet adaptation and urban livability
needs (McPhearson & Wijsman 2017; Childers et al. 2019; McPhearson 2020).