Increase accessibility to green open spaces

Water Haigh Woodland Park, Lower River Aire Valley – Leeds, UK

The case study site provides connected multi-functional green space that maximises ecosystem services for the sites and the local communities. Objectives include:

The provision of regionally important landscape scale natural habitats, encompassing mixed woodlands, hedgerows, grasslands and wetlands, encompassing the reclamation of UF-NbS (Urban Forests as Nature-Based Solutions) of previously mined industrial land.
The provision of unlimited public access via footpaths, cycle ways and bridle ways;
The health and well-

Landscape Park Duisburg Nord - Germany

The landscape park aims to fulfil a variety of functions:

The provision of recreation and educational facilities for local residents and visitors, and the encouragement of tourism to the area. Socio-cultural and economic benefits focus on education, culture, sports and history while keeping a sense of place through preserving historic elements of the area.

Another focus lies on water protection (Freshwater storage, management and distribution)

The Landscape Park further aims to regulate micro and regional climate,...

Enhancing Brussels Ecological Network - Belgium

The project aims to reconnect green spaces, develop biodiversity and enhance the quality of life in the city. Further objectives include improving the environment for pollination and climate regulation.

Educational services aim at enhancing the ecological awareness of citizens. Another goal is to foster local cohesion by providing a public available urban green space with enhanced biodiversity that allows for social encounters.

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

Peri-Urban Forest Ostend – Belgium

The peri-urban forest Ostend in Belgium aims to provide a publicly accessible space for recreation, offering educational facilities for local residents and tourists.

Through the afforestation of previous agricultural land and being part of a Green Ribbon (Groen Lint) network surrounding the city core, the peri-urban green space further aims to enhance biodiversity and ecological connectivity.

The afforestation in the coastal and harbour city was planned as a buffer zone between industrial sites and residential areas.

L. Braille Public Garden – Bari, Italy

Through providing a publicly accessible green space that allows for aesthetic appreciation, recreational activities and social cohesion, the Municipality of Bari aims to improve mental and physical wellbeing among the area’s citizens.

With the aim to renovate derelict land, L. Braille public garden was planned and designed to increase biodiversity, mitigate the urban heat island effect, and reduce noise, air and light pollution in the area.

The park’s green infrastructure aims to helps to achieve an e...

Green Noise Barrier Sachsenheim, Germany

Noise Barrier Sachsenheim © Ralf Groemminger

The noise barrier wall-system being used in Sachsenheim guarantees an instant green noise barrier wall, from the very first day on: The green noise barrier consists of a scaffold with galvanised steel lattice mats on both sides, filled with a core of plant substrates and then planted with pre-cultivated plant mats. Already at the time of assembly, the walls are at least fifty percent covered and they are completely green after six months.

Alcaldía de Medellín - Green Corridors Initiative

Medellín, like many other cities, faces rising temperatures, worsened by the urban heat island effect—concrete and tarmac absorbing the sun’s power, radiating it out as heat and keeping the city warm long after the sun has gone down. It doesn’t have to be that way, as Colombia’s second-largest city, Medellín, is showing by embracing nature-based solutions.

With the Green Corridor project, which won the 2019 Ashden Award for Cooling by Nature Award, supported by the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program and in partnership with Sustainable Energy for All, Medellín’s city authorities...

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.

St. Eunan's Community Greenspace

The Council’s Open Space Strategy of 2011 identified the Drumry and Linnvale area of Clydebank as lacking access to natural or semi-natural green space. 80% of people in the area live within 500 metres of vacant and derelict land, 31% of children are living in poverty and the area has a higher than average percentage of single parent households. This compares with 62% in West Dunbartonshire as a whole and only 20% in Scotland. The Council’s Open Space Strategy of 2011 identified the area as lacking access to green space. This project provides an opportunity to extend open space and...