Case studies tagged with Active involvement of citizens

Greening Rome for human and ecosystem health

“Roma as seen from Gianicolo Hill” by Mac9 - licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5

Within the EnRoute Project, the challenge of the City Lab of Rome is to apply the urban-MAES framework on a multi-scale progression.

In particular, the following policy questions have been addressed:

Improvement of air quality at the sub-municipality level (II District – II Municipio) according to the local demand for the service and compared to the metropolitan city context. This area is characterized by high air pollutant levels such as particulate matter and tropospheric ozone (Cattani et al., 2017; Manes & Sarigiannis, 2011), which often exceed air quality

Regenerate abandoned, unused and/or under-used spaces in densely urbanized areas
Promote innovative agricultural practices
Involvement of citizens and marginalized social classes (Social benefits)

“Let’s Crop the Diversity” (LCD) aims to redevelop urban spaces through the coproduction of solutions based on nature (NbS) to promote resilience and environmental quality of the geographical areas of intervention.

The goal of this project is developing an Urban Agricultural System that, thanks to the...

BEGIN (Blue Green Infrastructure through Social Innovation)

Together we can build more resilient and liveable cities

The overall objective of BEGIN is to demonstrate at target sites how cities can improve climate resilience with Blue-Green Infrastructure involving stakeholders in a value-based decision- making process to overcome its current implementation barriers.

BEGIN’s driving ambition is to substitute traditional ‘grey infrastructure’ such as concrete for ‘blue-green infrastructure’ (BGI) such as parks, rivers, and lakes.

Farfalle in ToUr

The project promotes urban butterflies conservation, thanks to the involvement of fragile people as citizen scientists. It aims to create and connect Butterfly oasis, to allow butterflies to cross the city; and to involve people with mental or physical disabilities, to fight the social stigma

Urban Food Forest St. Urbanus

Mulching the lawn with wood chips to create a forest floor

A Food Forest is an artificial human designed forest that predominantly consists of edible plants and fruit-bearing bushes and trees.

ReDuna - Restoration of S. João da Caparica Sand Dunes

One of the consequences of global warming is the sea level rise. In urban settings along coastlines, rising seas threaten not only houses, but also several types of infrastructures such as industries, roads, power plants, freshwater aquifers, etc. Rising sea-level also pushes destructive storm surges further inland, posing very high risks for coastal populations, as storm surges can push water kilometers inland, causing extreme flooding far from the coast.

The Portuguese ReDuna project aims to restore the natural capacity of the Almada sand dune-beach ecosystem to healthily...

Parkforest Ghent – Belgium

Starting with a single focus on afforestation, the project aimed at integrating Nature-Based Solutions for limiting flooding, enhancing biodiversity and reducing traffic noise pollution.

Following an integrated approach, further objectives included:

Safeguarding agriculture in the long term, by setting aside dedicated areas for agriculture for local farmers;
Increasing road safety for pedestrians and cyclists (restructuring crossings, developing links for recreational traffic);
Providing opportunities for recreation and play;
Safeguarding

Green Wedges - Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China

The three green wedges around the City of Jiaxing aim to regulate urban climate and to provide space for recreation by enhancing the structure and socioecological multi-functionality of the green infrastructure in the city.

Trees as nature-based solutions are promoted for co-development and co-design to alleviate problems of heat, air pollution and noise in the city in a participatory way.

Enhancement of Cultural Ecosystem Services in the Park Forest Grmoščica - Zagreb, Croatia

With the aim to enhance the management and utilisation of Urban Forests as Natural Heritage in Danube Cities, the URBforDAN Interreg Danube project fosters innovative and participatory approaches to build recreational infrastructure that also serves an educational value.

The management of the Urban Forest area also aims at providing regulating ecosystem services.

Programme “Baumstarke Stadt” - Leipzig, Germany

The Project ‚Baumstarke Stadt‘ Leipzig aims to generate financial resources to allow tree planting and further to establish a long-term engagement of citizens with the urban green areas they live in. The project, therefore, aims to provide multiple ecosystem services, including regulating, supporting and cultural functions.

Co-Creation of an URBiNAT Healthy Corridor for Nadezhda, Sofia

URBiNAT Intervention Area. Nadezhda district – the Northern gateway to the capital city, has a population of 67 905, which is 5.3% of the city’s population. There are about 2113 ha urban and rural areas within the boundaries of Nadezhda district. The housing estates in Nadezhda fall within the priority areas for urban regeneration aiming at improved living conditions and better connections to the city center and the neighbouring territories, and improved condition, connectedness and accessibility of the...

The urban project of the Sofia Healthy Corridor focuses on building green connections, understandings, co-implementation and use of public spaces. The involvement of citizens in the creation of living public spaces is expected to contribute to overcoming urban fragmentation by removing physical and symbolic barriers to their use, protection of the environment and maintenance of inter-block spaces.

The Healthy Corridor in Sofia is a “green connection” designed as a pedestrian path in the public urban space, that connects the neighborhoods between themselves and the surrounding urban...