Rapid urbanization and climate change have intensified environmental pressures and social inequalities, making the integration of urban resilience and sustainable development a critical global challenge, with Nature-based Solutions (NbS) emerging as a promising pathway; however, the knowledge structure, collaboration patterns, and evolutionary trends of NbS research remain fragmented and insufficiently understood. This study conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of 1261 publications from the Web of Science Core Collection (2005–2025), employing tools including VOSviewer 1.6.20, CiteSpace 6.4.R1, and Bibliometrix 4.1.3 to map publication trends, collaboration networks, knowledge bases, and thematic evolution. The results reveal a rapid expansion of NbS research since 2013, characterized by strong interdisciplinarity and a multicentric yet uneven geographical distribution dominated by China, the United States, and Europe. Four major research clusters are identified, encompassing policy governance, environmental benefits, ecosystem services, and social equity, reflecting a shift from ecological performance to integrated socio-ecological frameworks. Additionally, thematic evolution indicates growing emphasis on governance mechanisms, public health, and environmental justice. Overall, NbS research is transitioning toward a multi-scale, multi-objective, and governance-oriented paradigm. These findings highlight the need for strengthened international collaboration, standardized evaluation frameworks, and inclusive policy design to enhance the effectiveness and global applicability of NbS in advancing urban sustainable development.

The mining industry is a cornerstone of global energy security and industrial supply chains, yet its resilience to systemic disruptions such as COVID-19 has been critically overlooked. This disruption provided a rare opportunity to trace supply-chain impacts. Using an environmentally extended multi-regional input-output (EEMRIO) model integrated with a Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC) weighted approach. We compare pandemic trajectories with counterfactual no-pandemic trajectories: the no-pandemic model (calibrated on 2004–2018) projects 2019–2025, while the pandemic model (calibrated through 2023) projects 2023–2025, with 2023 serving as the observed baseline and transition year. Our findings reveal a transient reduction in mining water and carbon footprints, juxtaposed with stark economic contractions: mining value fell by 40% in China, 37% in India, and 13% in the United States. The weighted component among the water-carbon-value (WVC) analysis further uncovers a tripolar spatial pattern, categorizing countries into financial hubs with high value, such as Switzerland, carbon-locked exporters like Brunei, and water-stressed regions, including Cambodia. Despite absorbing substantial embodied environmental burdens, China maintained its position as the global value hub. These insights underscore the urgency of policies that enhance structural efficiency, decarbonize the power sector, and foster supply chain diversification to decouple economic value from environmental pressures while mitigating spatial inequalities.