Enabling Multi-species Transitions of Cities and Regions

The window for avoiding irreversible impacts of biodiversity loss on people and nature is rapidly closing. Society only has a few years to bridge the divide between ‘us’ humans and ‘other species’ that has fueled unfettered resource extraction and biodiversity loss, to a relational view of ‘all of us’. Despite this urgency, for most of the human population the concept of biodiversity does not connect to lived experience and is unable to inspire the creation of futures that would sustain lives in just ways. Indeed, it is well-established that certain designs of nature based solutions (NBS) (e.g., urban and regional forests, parks, gardens) contribute to social inequalities and ecological problems, implying that the structures and practices underpinning NBS planning need to be rethought from the perspectives of both humans and other species.