Non-government organisation/Civil Society

The Sotos de la Albolafia Natural Reserve is situated on a section along the Guadalquivir River, that runs from the Roman Bridge to the San Rafael Bridge (Ref. 3,14). It was declared Natural Monument in 2001 and is part of the Network of Protected Natural Areas of Andalusia (RENPA) due to its wide variety of birds (Ref. 5,15). "The declaration recognized the environmental value of the Sotos de la Albolafia, a singular natural enclave located in the urban center of a large city, in a monumental and historical environment also unique and with an unparalleled concentration in protected species, especially water birds and wetlands." (Ref. 3)

“The Royal National City Park, the world’s first national city park, was created in 1995 by the decision of the Swedish Parliament. The Park was established to safeguard and enhance the unique qualities of this area, containing outstanding natural qualities and heritage sites, ecologically important for the metropolitan area, and situated near and easily accessible from the central parts of Stockholm.” (Ref. 1)
One can experience a truly unique historical landscape, intertwined with parks, beautiful buildings, forests, open fields and beaches. In 2020, the park celebrates its 25 the year. (Ref. 12)

The El Patriarca Park aims to rehabilitate and restore 60 hectares of land for ecological benefits and recreational purposes for the inhabitants of Cordoba (Ref.1,3,4,6). It takes place on a site with distinct areas, including a holm-oak forest with Mediterranean scrubland of extraordinary environmental value. This NBS is an effort to protect natural values, erase the traces of urbanization attempts of the seventies, and repair damages caused by human action (Ref. 6). Implementation of the project is expected to start in early 2021 (Ref. 6).

The neighbours of the Fuensanta in Cordoba recovered an abandoned public plot of the old Fuensanta’s cinema transforming it into a social and ecological vegetable garden (Ref 1), occasionally used to play soccer and used as a dog park previously (Ref. 3). "All the activities were free of charge, coordinated by volunteers and consisted of: a walk around the neighbourhood, a building recycled furniture workshop, an urban vegetable gardens workshop and urbanism for children workshop. All of them took place in the plot and the creation of a vegetable garden was the most popular activity." (Ref 1)

Østensjøvannet is a nature reserve covering an area of 539 acres, which includes both the water body and certain parts of surrounding land. It was established in order to preserve the important wetland area and its associated vegetation, bird and animal life significant for the region. In June 2002, Oslo municipality went further and created the Østensjøvannet Environmental Park, which covers 1187 acres of land and water. The park aims to further protect and strengthen the area, which is one of the most popular recreation areas of Oslo, and acts as an important area for research and education. (Ref. 1, 7)

A citizen initiative to transform a derelict urban area into a park. From 1987 the park's construction was left abandoned until in 1993 when over 80 citizen committees from the area organized themselves to start cleaning and reforestation activities in the park (ref 5,7). The sum of their efforts included reforestation, the creation of a community garden, and the redesign of watering systems for the park. (ref 5,6,7)

“The Guadalquivir River offers some of the best landscape, ecological and environmental values. There is an exceptional variety of flora and fauna and the river is considered as one of the main lungs of the city and as a privileged area for the residents”. (Ref. 12) The river is an essential element of Cordoba, having been declared a natural monument in 2001. (Ref 3, p.4) There are ongoing efforts to maintain and restore the river as a natural and cultural heritage site (Ref. 1,2,5,8,9) and a space for recreational activities (Ref. 12).

Oslo municipality is underway with the large-scale project of opening up rivers that previously were running in underground pipes. Alna Environmental Park is a part of this project and includes major transformation and environmental upgrade of the river Alna. The Environmental Park runs along the river and has transformed grey structures to accessible parks and recreation areas and now acts as an important resource for Oslo's citizens. Central aims of the project are to improve the self-cleaning ability of Alna, while maintaining biodiversity in the region and to inspire future urban development. (Ref. 1, 3)