Putting nature at the centre of infrastructure decision-making
As nature-based solutions become more embedded in how we think about cities, there is a growing recognition that they are not an added layer to infrastructure, but a fundamentally different way of shaping it.
Our CEO Stephen O’Malley reflects on how this shift is influencing policy, practice and professional capability across the UK and Ireland, and why a system thinking approach is now essential to delivering resilient, liveable places.
For much of the past century, infrastructure has been designed to control natural systems rather than work with them. Water has been channelled out of sight, landscapes applied late in the process, and streets prioritised primarily for movement. While this approach delivered efficiency, it also created fragility, distancing the built environment from the ecological systems that support it.
Over time, our work has increasingly focused on challenging that separation. What has emerged is a consistent thread across projects, guidance and collaboration – the need to see infrastructure not as a collection of components, but as part of a wider, living system.
That shift is becoming more urgent. In Ireland, nearly 46 per cent of protected habitats are now in poor condition, with a further 39 per cent classified as being in bad condition. This is not simply an environmental issue in isolation, it reflects how we have planned, designed and delivered our towns and cities.
At Civic, our response has been to adopt a system thinking approach that views cities, neighbourhoods and communities as interconnected networks. Recognising that housing, health, infrastructure, mobility and environmental performance are deeply linked, and that decisions in one area inevitably shape outcomes in another. By understanding these relationships, we can move beyond short-term, single-issue solutions and instead create places that are more resilient, adaptable and capable of supporting long-term wellbeing.
This way of thinking is not theoretical, it is increasingly shaping how infrastructure is delivered in practice and, importantly, how policy is being developed to support it. Across the UK, we have been working with city-regions to embed nature-based solutions into the frameworks that guide everyday decision-making.
In Greater Manchester, our work with the Greater Manchester Combined Authority and Transport for Greater Manchester has focused on embedding sustainable drainage systems in the form of Nature based Solutions (NbS) into the everyday language of highway design. What began as a technical exercise evolved into a broader process of alignment across ten local authorities, bringing together engineers, planners and asset managers to develop a shared approach to nature-based infrastructure. The outcome is not just guidance, but a more coordinated system of delivery that integrates flood resilience, carbon reduction and public realm improvement.
In London, a similar challenge is being addressed at a different scale. We are developing guidance that enables sustainable drainage and urban greening to be delivered alongside routine utility works - recognising that the greatest opportunities often lie in the everyday interventions happening across the city. It’s a practical shift in how we think about infrastructure delivery, and one that could unlock cumulative benefits over time. We’ll be sharing more on this in due course.
In Ireland, these lessons are informing how we build capability across the profession. Through our collaboration with Engineers Ireland, in close collaboration with Irish Landscape Institute, Irish Planning Institute, RIAI, RTPI and LAWPRO we’ve developed the Integrated Nature-based Solutions Design & Delivery Programme, designed to support practitioners in applying system thinking to real projects. It is as much about mindset as it is about method, helping professionals to read sites as interconnected systems and translate that understanding into deliverable, nature-led solutions.
Taken together, these strands of work point to a broader shift. Nature-based solutions are moving from the margins of projects into the centre of policy and decision-making. This is also reflected in emerging urban models such as the 15-minute city, where the success of neighbourhoods depends not only on proximity and access, but on the quality and performance of the infrastructure that supports them.
The challenge now is not making the case for this approach but making it normal. That means embedding it into standards, guidance and everyday processes, so that working with nature becomes the default rather than the exception.
Ultimately, this is about how we choose to shape the places we live in. If we begin to see cities as living systems, rather than fixed assets, we open up the possibility of designing infrastructure that is not only more resilient, but also more responsive, more efficient and more grounded in the realities of how places actually function, increasing the likelihood of people living healthier and happier lives.
