During the course of the CLEVER Cities project, the cities of London, Hamburg and Milan implemented various nature-based solutions (NbS) to help address their key urban regeneration challenges. As a precondition for the selected NbS to work successfully and be sustainable in the long-term, the cities also required accompanying solutions on how to finance, govern and puruse business applications for the NbS. The CLEVER Solutions Basket (CSB) responds to these needs by showcasing all of the NbS solutions and their accompanying business, governance and financing models which have been proven to be effective in the project. 

The CLEVER Solutions listed in the CSB serve to orient and inspire wider cities in the application of these and complementary NbS measures which might be developed in the future. By summing up the solutions implemented via pre-defined structures and categories, the CSB aims to inspire its users to choose solutions for their specific challenges and context in an easy and quick way. For each NbS, various forms of business, governance and financing models might be an option. More details on applied measures and principles can be found in related CLEVER deliverables like the Report on Business, Financing and Governance models. 

The experience of the CLEVER cities highlights the importance of the interdependencies between types of NbS measures and thus the benefits and business, governance and financing models. For example, certain types of challenges might be addressed by measures with (primarily) generate private and exclusive benefits and hence are suitable for the involvement of private actors in financing and governing these measures. While for other measures benefiting the public, public financing might be the more meaningful option. By following these principles connecting measures and business, financing as well as governance models, tailor-made solutions for the successful implementation and management of individual measures can be found.

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