Nature-Based Solutions in Landscape Planning

Dear Colleagues,

Nature-based solutions (NbSs) have emerged as a strategic approach to addressing complex socio-environmental challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, and increasing landscape vulnerability. Closely related concepts such as green infrastructure (GI) and ecosystem-based approaches further reinforce the role of nature in delivering multifunctional benefits across landscapes. In the context of landscape planning, NbS and GI provide an integrated framework that combines ecological processes with spatial planning, governance, and design, contributing to resilient, multifunctional, and sustainable landscapes across urban, peri-urban, and rural contexts.

This Special Issue aims to explore the role of nature-based solutions and green infrastructure as planning instruments that support ecosystem services, enhance landscape connectivity, and promote climate adaptation and mitigation while addressing social and economic needs. In addition, it seeks to engage with emerging conceptual frameworks such as the Nature Futures Framework (NFF), which offers a pluralistic and forward-looking perspective on human–nature relationships, values, and desirable future pathways. By doing so, this Special Issue aims to advance theoretical, methodological, and applied knowledge on how NbS, GI, and nature-positive futures can be effectively embedded into landscape planning policies, land-use strategies, and decision-making processes at multiple spatial scales.

We welcome interdisciplinary contributions that critically assess planning approaches, governance models, spatial tools, and participatory processes for implementing NbS and GI. Emphasis is placed on evidence-based planning, spatial analysis (including GIS-based approaches), landscape assessment, and the evaluation of NbS performance, co-benefits, and trade-offs. Contributions that explicitly address future-oriented planning, scenario development, and value-based decision-making—aligned with the Nature Futures Framework—are particularly encouraged. Comparative studies, case studies, and innovative methodologies from diverse geographical and socio-ecological contexts are especially welcome.

Topics of interest include (but are not limited to):

• Integration of nature-based solutions and green infrastructure in landscape and spatial planning frameworks;
• NbS and GI for climate adaptation, risk reduction, and landscape resilience;
• Landscape-scale ecosystem services assessment and planning;
• Governance, policy instruments, and stakeholder engagement for NbS and GI;
• GIS, spatial modelling, scenario analysis, and decision-support tools for NbS planning;
• NbS and GI in agricultural, forest, urban, and peri-urban landscapes;
• Monitoring, evaluation, and effectiveness of nature-based solutions;
• Application of the Nature Futures Framework to landscape planning and design;
• Future-oriented planning, values of nature, and nature-positive development pathways.

This Special Issue aims to contribute to advancing landscape planning practices that reconcile environmental sustainability with social well-being, territorial cohesion, and diverse visions of human–nature relationships.

We look forward to receiving your original research articles and reviews.

Dr. Selma B. Pena
Dr. Francesca Poggi
Dr. Onumpai Samkhuntod
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Land is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• green infrastructure
• ecosystem services
• climate adaptation
• governance
• land use policy
• co-design and co-creation
• spatial planning
• nature futures framework
• sustainable landscapes