Co-design of nature-based solutions with coastal communities : can it work?

Parkinson, Nicola and Brown, Ellie and Pollastri, Serena and Earl, Joseph and Ilic, Suzana and Green, Carl (2025) Co-design of nature-based solutions with coastal communities : can it work? In: ICE Coastal Management 2025, 2025-09-16 - 2025-09-18.

Abstract

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of co-designing nature-based solutions (NBS) with the Hest Bank community in Lancaster. It examines both the strengths and limitations of this approach, offering a framework for future coastal management applications. The Environment Agency’s Flood and Coastal Erosion Risk Management Strategy (EA, 2020) requires a paradigm shift in how authorities engage with coastal communities in supporting them in building their resilience to the future impacts of climate change. Co-design, as a participatory method, shows significant potential in facilitating this. We define co-design here as “a community centred approach that enables the design of sustainable solutions for coastal challenges with and for coastal communities” based on the UK Design Council’s definition (Koskinen and Thompson, 2012). The co-design process was piloted by the Our Future Coast project, a DEFRA funded project within the Flooding and Coastal Resilience and Innovation Programme (FCRIP), in collaboration with Coastal Nature Lab. The engagement at this site aimed to utilise the co-design process to produce sediment trapping devices which were subsequently deployed on the foreshore at Hest Bank. Using a mixed-methods evaluation, including surveys, interviews, and observations, guided by Bell and Reed’s Tree of Participation, the study found that co-design fostered knowledge exchange, trust, and community empowerment. However, challenges included low workshop attendance and limited participant diversity, revealing barriers such as low community awareness and motivation to participate. These findings suggest that successful co-design requires extensive pre-participation planning to understand community dynamics and establish trust.