FLOURISH 

Understand the access, quality, and use of green infrastructure in informal settlements, and envision adaptation pathways.

Key activities and core team:

• Assess species richness, abundance, distribution, composition, and diversity of woody vegetation in informal settlements and (Johannes Andrews, Wilson Masele, Rebeca Biancardi)
• Study the provisioning, supporting, regulating and cultural ecosystem services and disservices of woody vegetation and agricultural crops for communities in informal settlements (Johannes Andrews, Wilson Masele, Michael Mdongwe, Amayaa Wijesinghe, Rebeca Biancardi)
• Assess the spatial and temporal land use and land cover changes in informal settlements (Wilson Masele, Johannes Andrews, Rui Han)
• Study social inequities in terms of access to green infrastructure and the impact on human wellbeing and environmental justice (Rui Han, Valentina Giombini, Tapiwa Maruza, Zak Essa, Michael Mdongwe)
• Determine autonomous and planned adaptation strategies using nature-based solutions in informal settlements (Alivony Ravelomanantsoa, Giesberta Shaanika, Jessica Thorn, Catherine Masao)
• Understand the role of mangroves as a strategy for climate adaptation in urban coastal areas, Sofie Brøgger, Rebeca Biancardi)
• Create envisioned normative, participative and spatially explicit scenarios of future land use change using green infrastructure in informal settlements (Jessica Thorn, Rui Han, Giesberta Shaanika, Robert Marchant, Patrick Laby)
• Map internal climate migration flows and how this migration supports or hinders adaptive capacity across the water energy food nexus (Jessica Thorn, Marcelina Lekawska, Penelao Nangolo)

Observe and predict how different types of green infrastructure assets reduce the severity of multi-hazard exposure in informal settlements, particularly floods, water and air pollution, heat and erosion.

Key activities and core team:

• Assess the impact of green infrastructure on mitigating the urban heat island effect (Rui Han, Agoston Horanyi, Giesberta Shaanika)
• Determine the effectiveness of green infrastructure for mitigating hydrological fluvial floods (Daulphin Razafipahatelo, Giesberta Shaanika)
• Understand the effectiveness of green infrastructure on mitigating the impacts of air pollution on human health (Alivony Ravelomanantsoa, Johannes Andrews)
• Study the role of phytoremediation as a cost-effective strategy for removing pollutants from wastewater in water catchments or wetlands (Johannes Andrews, Daulphin Razafipahatelo, Priscilla Forson)
• Assess the effectiveness of green infrastructure on erosion control (Giesberta Shaanika)

Evaluate the effectiveness of restoring, operating and maintaining green infrastructure at community levels and how this supports the diffusion of innovation

Key activities and core team:

• Study the effectiveness of existing green infrastructure initiatives (urban living labs) in the operation and maintenance of green infrastructure at community levels (Rebeca Biancardi)
• Assess the feasibility of governance frameworks and how this supports the diffusion of innovation (Alivony Ravelomanantsoa)
• Identify local barriers and the trade-offs hindering the implementation of green infrastructure in the peri-urban areas and increasing their scalability and transferability (Daulphin Razafipahatelo, Giesberta Shaanika, Rebeca Biancardi)
• Reflect on the role of transdisciplinary practice to close to the implementation gap (Jessica Thorn)

Explore how the public and private sector can co-create systemic solutions.

Key activities and core team:

• Understand the role of the private sector in investing in green infrastructure and identify ways to stimulate demand- and supply-side participation in green growth markets (Nairn Guilbert, Tanu Kugasthasan)
• Investigate how nature-based solutions can be effectively mainstreamed into existing policy frameworks, including Nationally Determines Contributions, or contribute to urban planning and management strategies? (Jessica Thorn, Usman Ummuqulthum, Rebeca Biancardi)
• Provide technical support to municipalities in the development of city-wide strategic documents related to natural resource management and biodiversity actions and plan (Jessica Thorn, John Mfune)