Urban Transformation

These two cities show how nature-based solutions address climate hazards like urban flooding

People riding in boats near marketplace in Bangkok, Thailand: Cities must start committing to nature-positive actions

Cities must start committing to nature-positive actions Image: Unsplash/Frida Aguilar Estrada

Kotchakorn Voraakhom
Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Landprocess
Edmilson Rodrigues
Mayor of Belém, City of Belém
This article is part of: Centre for Urban Transformation
  • Some cities, including Bangkok, Thailand and Belém do Pará, Brazil, demonstrate how nature-based interventions can address urban flooding and other climate hazards.
  • Successful urban redevelopment and climate resilience projects often involve public-private-community partnerships for effective nature-based solutions.
  • The World Economic Forum’s Nature Positive: Guidelines for the Transition in Cities emphasizes the need for cities to commit to nature-positive actions, set formal objectives and implement science-based targets.

Globally, more than 40% of the world’s population lives within 100 kilometres of a coastline and more than 600 million people (10% of the global population) live at elevations of 10 metres or less above sea level. Human civilizations have long relied on waterways for commerce, food and transport.

However, the uncertainty of climate change underscores the need for nature-based interventions to help cities thrive amidst changing flood pulses and adapt to climate hazards.

Some cities are already harnessing their natural endowments to adapt for the future. Through natural systems and sustainable infrastructure, cities can enhance their resilience, protect ecosystems and improve the quality of life for their inhabitants.

The following sections outline how two cities, which depend on integrated urban water systems, are advancing essential urban interventions to ensure positive impacts on both people and nature.

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    Redeveloping for resilience: water-based urbanism in Bangkok

    Bangkok in Thailand, a delta city often referred to as the “City of Three Waters,” faces increased flood vulnerability due to its unique hydro-ecological landscapes shaped by rivers, rainfall and the sea.

    Despite being an area of naturally flood-prone areas, factors such as heavy urbanization on floodplains and a shift from water-based to land-based development inevitably increase the severity of floods.

    Additionally, land subsidence and severe coastal erosion from resource extraction, infrastructure load and mangrove deforestation derive in larger impacts and a “sinking city”.

    Addressing scenarios of water-based urbanization is essential for the city’s holistic growth and survival. Groundwater management regulations in Thailand from the 1970s, including the 1977 Groundwater Act, initially helped control groundwater use and laid the groundwork for nature-positive action.

    However, with growing climate challenges, these measures alone are insufficient.

    Beyond policies: Implementing blue-green infrastructure

    Bangkok has pioneered several blue-green infrastructure and adaptive reuse projects, integrating existing grey infrastructure to enhance nature and the city’s interaction with ecosystem services.

    • The Chulalongkorn Centenary Park, for example, was designed to collect a million gallons of rainwater and runoff, handling the same water capacity as public sewage systems. The park improves Bangkok’s poor ranking among Asian megacities for publicly available green space and provides rainwater for use during droughts.
    • The Thammasat University Urban Rooftop Farm, the largest urban farming rooftop in Asia, promotes multidimensional sustainability, including renewable energy, food security, flood mitigation and public spaces. Mimicking local cascading rice terraces, it slows runoff and grows food for the campus, creating a circular economy with organic waste elimination and zero-mile plant-based food.
    • The Chao Phraya Sky Park and the Chong Nonsi Canal Park democratized access to the urban rivers and canals by regenerating the city’s 40-year-old waterfront infrastructure. The parks promote greater interaction between communities and districts, reimagining citizens’ relationships with waterways and reclaiming the city’s ecological identity through the development of canal-side parks and improved connectivity and flows.

    The combination of policies, ecology and landscape architecture is a key element of water-based urbanism.

    Kotchakorn Voraakhom, Chief Executive Officer and Founder, Landprocess | Edmilson Rodrigues, Mayor of Belém, City of Belém

    Belém do Pará: A city in a river

    The city of Belém do Pará, in Brazil, is a community deeply connected to the riverine ecosystem – culturally and economically.

    The city is living proof of urban efforts to rehabilitate urban watersheds and, in consequence, reduce inland flooding, enhance soil filtration capacity and ensure socioeconomic benefits such as a reduction in crime rates and improved socioeconomic conditions for citizens.

    The city hosts more than 1.5 million inhabitants settled alongside the five rivers that span the city.

    Over time, urban developments in the riverbanks and watershed lands have been driven by grey interventions and landfilling. As a result, flooding risks have increased and the need to reform infrastructure and improve community engagement with the water systems has become central in Belém’s urban planning.

    The local government, in partnership with the Federal Government of Brazil and international cooperation agencies, has begun the implementation of two projects to re-inventing waterfronts and watersheds to recover water quality and enhance the living standards of more than 70% of Belém’s inhabitants:

    • The Macrodrainage of the Matafome Basin Programme is built upon infrastructure provision, housing replacement and environmental recovery. These are the three indissociable pillars to promote macro-drainage combined with the renaturalization of the stream without channelling its watercourse or paving its bed. Municipality of Belém will oversee the project’s execution, which counts with sovereign guarantee of the national government. The total investment in the programme is $75 million, of which a regional development bank will finance $60 million and $15 million will be funded by local contribution.
    • The Community Urban Agroforestry Park from the Igarapé São Joaquim Masterplan focuses on the renaturalization of the river by highlighting the Amazonian peoples’ relationship with its rivers. It aims to create a space that serves as both a meeting point and a place for nature preservation, encouraging meaningful interaction between people and the urban river
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    Advancing nature-positive waterfront redevelopments

    The combination of policies, ecology and landscape architecture is a key element of water-based urbanism. A key to success from Belém and Bangkok has been building strong public-private-community partnerships to complement government initiatives and realize this critical yet achievable transition to cities in harmony with nature and their rivers.

    This article is part of Nature Positive: Leaders’ Insights for the Transition in Cities, a report by the Global Commission on Nature-Positive Cities offering a range of strategies and practical solutions adaptable to diverse urban environments and supporting a shift towards nature-positive city developments.

    Nature-Positive Cities is an initiative by the World Economic Forum, in collaboration with Oliver Wyman.

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