Non-government organisation/Civil Society

The river Emscher is the symbol of one of the internationally most renowned industrial regions: the Ruhr area with its 5 million inhabitants and an important location of key industries such as steel, chemical, and materials industry. The revitalisation of the Emscher over the last 20 years marks a new phase in the region‘s history and is an impressive example of ecological and socio-economic transformation affecting all aspects of life along the river (Ref. 1).

“The Nottingham in Bloom campaign is a city-wide partnership which includes residents, businesses, schools, community groups and a wide range of volunteers. The aim is to encourage more people to get involved to improve their local area. Together they [through the campaign] produce horticultural excellence and enhance the local landscape, the environment and the character of Nottingham.” (Ref. 1)

Arkwright Meadows Community (AMC) Garden is situated in the heart of inner city Nottingham, Prior to 2001, the site was a disused, derelict and rubbish-strewn piece of land. In 2001, a group of Meadows residents came together to improve this derelict piece of land and work started to create the infrastructure of the community garden. The area was transformed into a green oasis and outdoor learning environment. (ref. 8)

The ANNALINDE gGmbH operates multifunctional urban agriculture and demonstration projects in the Western part of Leipzig: a community garden, a nursery and a fruit garden on a former train station where the emphasis is on community development and mutual learning processes in addition to food production. This is safeguarded by an events portfolio consisting of garden working days, workshops and collaborations with schools, kindergartens and like-minded organizations. In addition to that, open urban labs are operated for a number of initiatives and projects covering subject areas like urban agriculture, recycling, composting, urban bees, urban resilience and sustainable urban development (1).

In 2012 Marks & Spencers funded a volunteering initiative, the Big Beach Clean-up, through which their staff were able to volunteer to clean local beaches and waterways to make local environmental improvements. This initiative is part of M&S’ Forever Fish campaign which is funded by the profits from the 5p carrier bag charge in M&S foodhalls. The 4th annual Big Beach Clean Up (which took place in 2015) aimed to clean 135 beaches and canals up and down the country with over 8,000 people (3,000 M&S employees and 5,000 M&S customers) (ref. 5). As part of this initiative, around 30 members of staff from Nottingham’s local high street store went down to the canal, between Castle Meadow retail park and Meadow Lane Lock, and spent the day removing masses of litter from the water (ref. 3).

The Climate Friendly Gardeners Project is based at Windmill Community Gardens in the Bobber’s Mill area of Nottingham. The project teaches local residents about sustainable gardening practices in the context of the climate change affecting the UK, through a renovated community allotment garden.”
(ref 1, 2)

Allotment gardens have a long tradition in Hannover, with approximately 20.000 gardens stretching around the city as a green belt. In the last decades, some gardens were threatened by disappearance due to investment interests (Reference 1). With the goal to protect these gardens, the city employed a so-called "Kleingartenkonzept" (allotment concept) in 2016 with the help of the association of allotment gardens (Bezirksverband Hannover der Kleingärtner e.V.). The concept aims to keep the number of existing gardens for social and ecological considerations while allowing for new residential investments which is vital for the growing city. (Reference 2).
As part of the concept, extensive inventory examinations were conducted on areas affected by conversion and restructuring, along with the start of implementation of smaller development projects for housing and the creation of replacement gardens in some areas. Because the need for residential spaces has been covered for until the end of 2019, the conversion of allotments for the said land use has been stopped; it will be revisited in 2024. (Reference 2)
To address the problem of future allotment garden losses, gradual elimination of permanent vacancies has started by creating new smaller and more attractive gardens from oversized ones, by improving accessibility and optimizing spaces, and by modernizing allotments (Reference 2).

The public awareness campaign 'flowers for bees' was initiated by the French Apidology Observatory (OFA) and has taken place each year since 2017 (Ref. 7). In 2017, 100 000 bags of honey-seed - whose flowers produce pollen and nectar - were distributed throughout the national territory of France on Tuesday 20 June as "one of the biggest mobilizations undertaken in a day in favor of a species threatened with extinction" (Ref. 5). The city of Marseille wished to associate itself with the event by organizing a plantation and a distribution of seeds". A total of 5,000 bags were distributed in the city from 20 to 23 June 2017 (Ref. 1).

This NBS was developed in 2015 by the Romanian Association of Permaculture in order to bring nature and its benefits in the middle of the city. The approach was to implement a vegetable garden in a high school in Iasi located in a quarter dominated by building blocks. The implementers had in mind to reconnect children with nature, to present to them the organic process of how food is produced and to teach them basic occupational skills (1)

This NBS comes as a reply against the municipality of Iasi which in 2013 cited lack of visibility and aesthetic preoccupation decided to cut over 100 linden trees and replace them with Japanese acacia in the city centre. The action enraged the inhabitants of the city who alongside local and national NGOs took the matter into their own hands and protested. As such in 2015 the municipality re-planted the linden trees (1).