Carla-Leanne Washbourne

University College London | UCL · Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy

The nitrogen (N) cycle is a familiar concept. As is the much simplified, often diagrammatic, representation commonly used to illustrate the scale, importance and interconnectedness of this global cycle that links air, water, rocks and living beings. However, in this representation, humans are often presented as a seemingly minor entity or not expli...

The interface between science and policy is a complex space, in theory and practice, that sees the interaction of various actors and perspectives coming together to enable policy-relevant evidence to support decision-making. Early Career Researchers (ECRs) are increasingly interested in working at the science-policy interface to support evidence-in...

The Gauteng City Region Observatory (GCRO) is a research institute set-up to support policy, planning and development in the Gauteng City-Region (GCR) - South Africa's most populous urban agglomeration and core economic hub. The GCRO is a unique partnership between two universities (the Universities of Johannesburg and the Witwatersrand), the Gaute...

This panel discussion session explores some of the central dimensions of the Crisis in the Anthropocene that constitute global social challenges in the context of development studies. The conference theme highlighted the profound human impact on our blue-green-brown planet, that is already breaching planetary boundaries and pushing us beyond the ro...

Introduction: The global challenge of sustainable development is encapsulated in the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to which China is committed. As outlined in the UNESCO World Water Assessment Program (WWAP) report, water fundamentally impacts on sustainable development, making the achievement of SDG 6 (water and sanitatio...

There is a pressing need for transformative change, with a vision of long-term human well-being within planetary boundaries. The lack of progress—despite increasing awareness and action—illustrates how challenging it is to foster change in our complex global society. Education and learning are needed to enable change. Transdisciplinary learning, wh...

The science-policy interface (SPI) is a complex space, in theory and practice, that sees the interaction of various actors and perspectives coming together to enable scientific knowledge to support decision-making. Early Career Researchers (ECRs) are increasingly interested in engaging with SPI, with the number of opportunities to do so increasing...

ICE Manual of Blue-Green Infrastructure is an essential practical guide to designing and creating different aspects of blue-green solutions. It draws together an exceptional breadth of material to help practitioners explain the value of Blue-Green Infrastructure to others, embed it into new development projects, retrofit to older ones, and provide...

Effective knowledge exchange at science-policy interfaces (SPIs) can foster evidence-informed policy-making through the integration of a wide range of knowledge inputs. This is especially crucial for conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity and ecosystem services (ES), human well-being and sustainable development. Early-career researchers (...

The question of how scientists should engage in policymaking has spurred both pragmatic and philosophical debates for decades. Scant empirical research addressing how experts perceive the different roles scientists might play complicates efforts to resolve the debate. Further, these literatures focus on Western developed nations, largely ignoring t...

In the context of large and growing urban populations, there is a pressing need to understand how the urban environment can be sustainably planned, developed and maintained for greatest benefit to people and nature. The use of ‘green infrastructure’, as a framing approach for integrating urban green space into urban decision-making claims significa...

The global challenges of sustainability are encapsulated in the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to which 193 member states are committed. However, a key challenge remains in identifying appropriate methods, indicators, and the ability to monitor progress towards these 2030 Agenda goals. Citizen Science (CS), as a scientific activity in whi...

Editorial call for submissions to UCL Open: Environment Special Series

Achieving sustainable development as an inclusive societal process in rural landscapes, and sustainability in terms of functional green infrastructures for biodiversity conservation and ecosystem services, are wicked challenges. Competing claims from various sectors call for evidence-based adaptive collaborative governance. Leveraging such approach...

Context Maintaining functional green infrastructures (GIs) require evidence-based knowledge about historic and current states and trends of representative land cover types. Objectives We address: (1) the long-term loss and transformation of potential natural forest vegetation; (2) the effects of site productivity on permanent forest loss and emerg...

Technology is transforming societies worldwide. A major innovation is the emergence of robotics and autonomous systems (RAS), which have the potential to revolutionize cities for both people and nature. Nonetheless, the opportunities and challenges associated with RAS for urban ecosystems have yet to be considered systematically. Here, we report th...

Technology is transforming societies worldwide. A major innovation is the emergence of robotics and autonomous systems (RAS), which have the potential to revolutionize cities for both people and nature. Nonetheless, the opportunities and challenges associated with RAS for urban ecosystems have yet to be considered systematically. Here, we report th...

Formalised knowledge systems, including universities and research institutes, are important for contemporary societies. They are, however, also arguably failing humanity when their impact is measured against the level of progress being made in stimulating the societal changes needed to address challenges like climate change. In this research we use...

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, urban observatories have demonstrated their value, but also highlighted the challenges for boundary institutions between knowledge generation and decision-making in a variety of different ways. We aim here to capture some of their voices in a time of crisis. The Connected Cities Lab, in collaboration with Un...

Along with disastrous health and economic implications, COVID-19 has also been an epidemic of misin-formation and rumours an infodemic. The desire for robust, evidence-based policymaking in this time of disruption has been at the heart of the multilateral response to the crisis, not least in terms of supporting a continuing agenda for global sustai...

Formalised knowledge systems, including universities and research institutes, are important for contemporary societies. They are, however, also arguably failing humanity when their impact is measured against the level of progress being made in stimulating the societal changes needed to address challenges like climate change. In this research we use...

In transdisciplinary fields such as science policy, research agendas do not evolve organically from within disciplines but instead require stakeholders to engage in active co-creation. ‘Big questions’ exercises fulfill this need but simultaneously introduce new challenges in their subjectivity and potential bias. By applying Q methodology to an exe...

As cities in developing countries contend with the challenges of urbanisation, they need to rethink the traditional modes of urban planning and development. Part of this logic is the need to cater for growing populations without compromising urban environments or social development. A green infrastructure approach can help meet infrastructure and s...

Brownfield site redevelopment presents an opportunity to create urban green spaces that provide a wide range of ecosystem services. It is important, therefore, to understand which ecosystem services are demanded by sta-keholders and whether there are trade-offs or synergies in this demand. We performed a quantitative survey of ecosystem service dem...

The end of the first working program of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) provided an opportunity to draw lessons from its work. This perspective paper captures insights from ecosystem services (ES) researchers and practitioners, largely drawing from the European context (referred to herein...

Introduction The complex links and feedbacks between ecosystems and people are now sharply in focus. Our growing understandings of the complex relations between ecosystems and people, the social and ecological drivers of changes in nature, and the different dimensions of a good quality of life, from local to global scales, have made these interdepe...

London is globally recognised as a city with strong sustainability aspirations; in part due to its proactive and progressive plans for urban green space. The ‘Green Infrastructure CityLab for London’ project aims to provide an opportunity for engaged discussion and debate between diverse actors involved in green space (green infrastructure) in the...

Non-technical summary There are significant challenges to retaining indigenous biodiversity and ecological infrastructure in African cities. These include a lack of formal protection and status for remnant ecologically functional patches rendering them open to ad hoc human settlement, which is in part linked to weak governance and management emergi...

The quantity and complexity of scientific and technological information provided to policymakers have been on the rise for decades. Yet little is known about how to provide science advice to legislatures, even though scientific information is widely acknowledged as valuable for decision-making in many policy domains. We asked academics, science adv...

There is no lack of vision for the future city. Since our early days as an urban species, we have crated stories and images to reflect our wildest imaginings of cities of curious form, in magnificent settings; underwater, in the sky, even other planets. But to what extent does this great corpus of art and fiction on cities relate to the planning an...

The capacity to derive, analyse and communicate urban knowledge is increasingly essential for decision-makers managing the complex pressures of rapidly expanding cities. This paper examines the importance of transdisciplinary boundary organisations in generating and mobilising this knowledge. It introduces ‘urban observatories’ as an example of ins...

Science communication is a key element in the formal and informal advisory systems that can inform successful decision-making. Effective science communication in policy settings, imbued with their own specific priorities and pacing, requires the development of a range of specific competencies and skills and a capability for reflective practice. The...

Applied research has evolved to play an important role in understanding and reorienting relationships between different knowledge partnerships in urban sustainability. This paper reflects on experiences from the global South on knowledge co-production experiments through ‘CityLabs’, which are forums for bringing together different knowledge brokers...

We aimed to identify priority research questions in the field of biodiversity, ecosystem services and sustainability (BESS), based on a workshop held during the NRG BESS Conference for Early Career Researchers on BESS, and to compare these to existing horizon scanning exercises. This work highlights the need for improved data availability through c...

Aims: Addressing the summit theme of ‘Governance, Infrastructure and Finance’ and questions of ‘understanding’ and ‘creating’ resilient and sustainable cities, this research programme investigates how different kinds of knowledge are currently used, and how they could be better mobilised, in urban decision-making and design. Green infrastructure (G...

The imperative for enhanced research and evaluation capabilities to inform the governance of city-regions is well acknowledged. Furthermore, a continuing intention lies in strengthening the relationship between academic research and the functions of city government. However, securing this collaboration effectively has proved elusive, not least beca...

This article provides an introduction to science advisory structures in elected legislatures; an arena of public decision-making which, although critical to the healthy functioning of democratic societies, has been largely neglected in recent discussions of science advice. The article begins by contrasting the functions and operating environments o...

In this paper we examine the roles and impact of science advice in an arena of public decision-making which, although critical to the healthy functioning of democratic societies has largely been neglected in recent discussions: that of elected legislatures. We begin by contrasting the functions and operating environments of legislatures with those...

We are increasingly confronted with severe social and economic impacts of environmental degradation all over the world. From a valuation perspective, environmental problems and conflicts originate from trade-offs between values. The urgency and importance to integrate nature's diverse values in decisions and actions stand out more than ever. Valuat...

We are increasingly confronted with severe social and economic impacts of environmental degradation all over the world. From a valuation perspective, environmental problems and conflicts originate from trade-offs between values. The urgency and importance to integrate nature's diverse values in decisions and actions stand out more than ever. Valua...

This project investigates how physical science knowledge is, and could be better, mobilized within urban decision-making and design, taking ecosystem services as the example case. Environmental factors play a critical role in supporting and maintaining rapidly growing urban communities and the concept of ecosystem services has the potential to sign...

The measured calcium carbonate content of soils to 100 mm depth at a large urban development site has increased over 18 months at a rate that corresponds to the sequestration of 85 tonnes CO2 per hectare (ha-1) (8.5 kg CO2 m-2) annually. This is a consequence of rapid weathering of calcium silicate and hydroxide minerals derived from demolition of...

This paper investigates the potential for engineered urban soils to capture and store atmospheric carbon (C). Calcium (Ca) and magnesium (Mg) bearing waste silicate minerals within the soil environment can capture and store atmospheric C through the process of weathering and secondary carbonate mineral precipitation. Anthropogenic soils, known to c...

Atmospheric carbon dioxide sequestered as carbonates through the accelerated weathering of silicate minerals is proposed as a climate change mitigation technology with the potential to capture billions of tonnes of carbon per year. Although these materials can be mined expressly for carbonation, they are also produced by human activities (cement, i...

Sequestration of CO2 in global soils is a widely recognised phenomenon, which is amenable to an environmental engineering approach. It is proposed that the use of direct soil engineering, promoting CO2 sequestration by accelerating the activity of reactive mineral substrates, has the potential to harness the significant carbon turnover of the globa...

Carbonation of calcium-rich materials has been proposed as a potentially viable method of CO2 capture and storage over geological timescales, exploiting high turnover of C through soils to passively fix carbon. This study confirms that soil-mixed iron and steel slag actively promotes CO2 sequestration, in an in situ setting, in temperate U.K. soils...