Transition to more biodiverse urban developments? Multi-stakeholder perspectives on the cost of delivering biodiversity in new developments. A case study of England, United Kingdom

Surma, Martyna; Lamond, Jessica; Sinnett, Danielle

Abstract

It has been demonstrated that biodiverse urban environments support health and well-being. However, the United Kingdom is one of the countries with the lowest biodiversity value globally. Efforts to address this shortfall and create healthier and more diverse urban environments include recent legislative changes in England implementing mandatory Biodiversity Net Gain (February 2024) for new developments. In our study, we seek to understand better what economic factors impact the types and locations of delivery of biodiversity in urban environments, and how the perception of these costs affects decision-making. This paper presents findings from interviews with key stakeholders from both public and private sectors who are actively engaged in the process of delivering biodiversity. We identified participants through association with case study developments and via snowballing approach and conducted semi-structured 45-minute online interviews via Microsoft Teams. Next, we applied an inductive approach to our reflexive thematic analysis in NVivo. Our results show that from the perspective of key actors in the sector, there are challenges in improving biodiversity in urban areas. There are also different perspectives on the cost of delivering biodiversity, including the choice between incorporating biodiverse features onsite or improving biodiversity offsite. In our study, we found that there are more opportunities for delivering biodiversity offsite in rural areas, which do not contribute to improving urban biodiversity. Thereby limiting the direct benefits to the health and well-being of urban citizens. Additionally, we discovered that the perceived cost of delivering biodiversity in new developments will influence the overall decision-making process in both government and business sectors. These findings suggest that the impact on urban health and wellbeing may be lower than anticipated unless these challenges are addressed, or care is taken to better incentivise delivery in urban areas.

• Presentation Conference Type: Conference Paper (unpublished)
• Conference Name: 2024 UK-Ireland Planning Research Conference ‘Planning for Nature/Nature of Planning’
• Start Date: Sep 2, 2024
• Deposit Date: Sep 9, 2024
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/12864674