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. 2023 Jan 15:217:114858.
doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2022.114858. Epub 2022 Nov 24.

Pandemic urban development is leading us away from nature

Raffaele Lafortezza  1 , Clive Davies  2
Affiliations

Pandemic urban development is leading us away from nature

Raffaele Lafortezza et al. Environ Res. .

Abstract

Recovery plans in Europe in the COVID-19 pandemic era have stimulated construction-led development, which has eclipsed nature-based agendas in terms of scale, size, and policy. One estimate is that only 0.3% of spending on urban infrastructure globally is directed towards various nature-based solutions and other ecosystem efforts supporting human well-being. In the future we will urgently need to employ nature-based approaches in crisis management for the power and potential of nature to be fully employed in pursuit of urban recovery. We strongly recommend that nature-based approaches be an explicit requirement to secure funding for future recovery plans.

Keywords: COVID-19 pandemic; Health; Human well-being; Nature-based solutions; Recovery plan; Sustainable urbanisation.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of competing interest The authors declare the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: Raffaele Lafortezza reports financial support was provided by the University of Bari Aldo Moro, Italy.

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