Transform Our Cities' Relationship With Nature With Advanced Technology

Our cities can no longer afford to be at war with nature: they need to rapidly become places where people and nature co-exist and thrive. Fortunately, there is growing recognition that nature-based solutions to cities' various challenges offer far wider benefits than traditional engineered'grey' solutions: including improving resilience, better health for its citizens, and a faster path to net zero. In our recent report with the World Economic Forum, BiodiverCities by 2030: Transforming Cities' Relationship with Nature, we highlighted that nature-based solutions are on average 50% more cost-effective than purely man-made alternatives, and deliver 28% more added value in both direct and environmental benefits. But what will wean us off our addiction to'grey' traditional concrete solutions, and move us towards approaches that better regenerate nature and reduce carbon? I believe that the innovation and fresh opportunities that come from using advanced digital tools can provide the answer.