ABSTRACT
There is an increasing awareness worldwide about the need to develop more sustainable, multi-functional and resilient solutions to the complex challenges posed by climate change. At the same time, the need of transitioning to a more circular economy is rising. In this context, different nature-based solutions have been developed in different fields and countries. Such solutions are based on the idea of working together with nature instead of against nature. However, the definition of nature-based solutions varies per country and within different organizations. Furthermore, these solutions have been tested so far mostly in coastal areas or in urban environments. There is therefore a gap of information about the possibilities in freshwater systems, namely in river areas where such interventions were limited to restoration projects. Furthermore, the relation between nature-based solutions and circular economy has not been much explored. In the present paper the concept of Building with Nature (BwN) in river areas is defined and examples are given. These examples were analyzed with the circular economy principles. The results showed that the circular economy principles help to evaluate the sustainability of BwN solutions and BwN solutions could improve quality, resilience and cost efficiency. Therefore, it is recommended to start with the development of BwN demonstration projects in river areas, as a means to develop pathways to sustainable river systems.
