Industrial transformation has changed urban structure and reshaped cities, with some urban areas now left with extensive brownfield sites and vacant plots. These underutilised spaces often negatively affect land values, community safety, and neighbourhood image. However, Nature-based Solutions offer opportunities for strategic redevelopment that supports community, biodiversity and climate resilience. Two case studies from research in post-industrial cities demonstrate how data-driven decision making can support creating transformational urban green spaces.
The transformation of vacant land into green space can be complex and resource intensive, but it also presents significant possibilities for innovation across a neighbourhood. Rather than treating brownfields and vacant plots as isolated regeneration sites, research demonstrates how by considering the potential sites as connected elements within wider urban green networks new nature corridors can be established. Strategically connected urban green space planning creates unique space for biodiversity, improves resident access to green space and improves the overall quality of the urban environment.
Research from two case studies in Xuzhou and Guangzhou, China found that the use of geospatial analysis can provide multi-objective planning that balance needs, resources and constraints across an urban area. Both cities experienced a change in local industry and infrastructure use, that resulted in vacant space and an overall decline, presenting both a challenge and an opportunity for urban regeneration. To support effective urban greening and planning modelling tools were developed to simulate the performance of nature-based solutions on vacant and brownfield plots. The analysis aimed to identify both peak overall benefit and the point at which the benefits is maximised against the financial demand.
Spatial data were analysed to assess connectivity, proximity to existing green infrastructure, population distribution, and environmental constraints. These data informed the network model, enabling the simulation of green space interactions and cumulative benefits at the city scale, it illustrates trade‑offs between the competing objectives that urban planners must consider. This approach allows for strategic landscape planting of vacant land, which can reconnect fragmented green spaces, enhance ecosystem services, and support resilient urban transformation.
By understanding and evaluating available land, cities experiencing decline can use brownfield sites and vacant plots to restructure their urban form through effective green infrastructure. Data‑driven tools help decision‑makers rethink urban development, opening up opportunities for nature‑based solutions that respond to local needs. These tools are able to support decision making for planners to consider nature-based solutions as a tailored response to urban change and challenges. This research found that ecological and recreational functions delivered the greatest overall value, as a joined‑up, network‑based approach integrated green and grey infrastructure to support a new local identity, enhance biodiversity, and improve overall urban liveability. These case studies highlight how post‑industrial cities can use nature to redefine both their identity and urban structure.
Read the full articles:
Guangzhou Case Study: Wang, H., Zhou, W., Peng, S., Zheng, X., Fu, Q. and Zhou, T., 2026. Optimizing urban brownfields regreening solutions through a multi-objective planning model to balance ecosystem services supply, demands and costs. Landscape Ecology.
Xuzhou Case Study: Song, L., Zhou, C. and Li, Z., 2026. Regreening shrinking cities: A multi-objective tool for optimizing urban green networks. Urban Forestry & Urban Greening, p.129269.
