Planning support systems for strategic implementation of nature-based solutions in the global south: Current role and future potential in Indonesia

Nature Based Solutions (NBS) are increasingly used for improving water quality, reducing urban flooding and providing ecological and amenity benefits. Although predominantly developed and implemented in industrialised countries, NBS are gaining traction in the Global South. Strategic planning is required to deliver the anticipated benefits and ensure successful integration into urban landscapes. Spatial software and planning support systems (PSS), can inform such decision-making. We seek to understand the efficacy of utilising PSS for advancing NBS practices within Indonesian urban settings. Through workshops and in-depth interviews with urban planning practitioners, we examined (i) the current NBS planning context, (ii) tacit experiences with contemporary PSS, and (iii) potential utility of PSS to address identified challenges with NBS planning. While strategic planning processes were perceived as improving over past decades, significant challenges remain including inadequate collaboration between actors, insufficient capacity and resources of local governments and limited access to high-quality spatial data. Although strategic planners employ contemporary PSS, further embedding those into decision-making processes requires rethinking the socio-institutional and political context within which they operate. Results revealed keen interest to adopt innovative PSS. However, without access to high-quality spatial information, strategic planning will continue to be compromised, potentially leading to ill-sited NBS interventions. •Academic research on NBS planning and PSS in cities of the Global South is lacking.•We use qualitative methods to explore NBS planning and PSS potential in Indonesia.•Planning processes lacked collaboration, local government capacity, (spatial) data.•PSS were moderately used, but identified able to address planning challenges.•Factors for PSS uptake were similar to Global North, but some differences surfaced.