Green densification model

Weaver Park is was built on an area of 0.6 ha in the Liberties area in Dublin. It is one of the developments that form a part of the Liberties Greening Strategy. The park’s purpose was to address the lack of green space in the area, to provide a place for skateboarding and other recreational activities, and a place for relaxation and community events. (Ref. 1; Ref. 5)

The Reconstruction of the Southern Bank of Schütt Island is the starting point of the regeneration of the Old City of Nurnberg. Within the project, the access to water and recreational functions of the river banks were improved. (1) The project was completed on an 1800 square meter large area, which includes open meadow areas, a 170-meter-long bank terrace, trees, and benches. (6) Public participation through co-planning and consultation was also involved in the planning process. (1)

The Podlasie Opera and Philharmonic – European Art Centre in Białystok ("green opera") in Białystok, is known for its green roofs, green walls and extensive gardens, which perfectly harmonize with the surroundings. The green area serves as a platform for cultural events and successfully promotes the city. Opera gardens are divided into several levels with lawns, walking paths, bridges, sculptures, and small ponds. Different green elements of the building reduce heat effect and noise, increase the thermal insulation of the building, improve local biodiversity and limit rain drainage to the city centre [1].

Weaver Square Community Garden started in May 2011 on a derelict site owned by Dublin City Council. The site contains the Community Garden and 28 individual allotments let out by the council. The main focus of the Community Garden is to create a safe and relaxing green space for all to use and enjoy. The organizers hope in the future to have more emphasis on the garden as a learning experience, with open days & workshops and other related talks. Dublin City Council has given notice that Weaver Square Community Garden and 27 family allotments are to close at the end of 2018. (Ref. 1; Ref. 2; Ref. 3)

Abandoibarra is an area of ​​the town of Bilbao, next to the Bilbao estuary, sizing ​​348,500 square meters. Abandoibarra has been the industrial zone of Bilbao, where shipyards and other companies related to the industrial sector were located. Building upon the 1997 master plan completed by Balmori Associates, Pelli Clarke Pelli Architects and Aguinaga y Asociados, the area has been reinvented as an international cultural district and tourist destination. Two-thirds of the 30-hectare site is dedicated to parks and open spaces, creating a public oasis and grounds for a suite of buildings by master architects (Ref 1,2).

Zorrotzaurre is an artificial peninsula located within the Deusto district of Bilbao, Spain. It was formed during the 1950s and the 1960s, when a canal was built to facilitate navigation in the estuary of Bilbao. The Zorrotzaurre project is the latest major urban renewal project to commence in Bilbao. It is an integral and sustainable plan that recuperates a currently derelict site to convert it into a new quarter, and which also includes a flood protection system with water tanks to retain water and a flood protection barrier (Ref 1)

The re-urbanization of the Poligono de Levante neighbourhood included the creation of two large urban parks to form a green area of 47 722 m2 and several environmental considerations such as a bridge for fauna (Ref 1), as it is a strategical zone of Palma . It is a combination of different initiatives, some of which include green elements (Ref 1 and Ref 3).

The Urban Forest project represents an increase of urban trees in the city. There will be two phases of this project. In the first, it consists of a transformation of an eye-sore and abandoned space, around previous Canodrome, into a large urban forest (Ref 1, 9). The second one will be located in the land of the velodrome of Es Tirador. This projec has been delaid due to unforeseen costs (Ref 10).

GIFT-T (Green Infrastructure For Tomorrow - Together!) is a four-year European project of which Medway was one of five case studies. In this project communities, businesses and governments were brought together to facilitate bottom up planning and implementation of green infrastructure (Ref 1). The product of this is a general business plan, and the planned intervention of focus here is the "Thames Terrace Invertebrates - corridors for wildlife" (Ref 2). Hoo Island already has areas that serve well to sustain invertebra species, but as of yet also has underutilised potential in this respect. This intervention addresses the latter.

Lodge Hill is a nature area allocated to become a settlement capable of delivering approximately 5000 dwellings by 2028 (original plans). Green infrastructure is a key component of the current plans and specific GI implementation will be based on the existing GI assets. Specifically, the plans include green corridors, sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDs), various parks and street greenery, community allotments, buffer zones around sites of special scientific importance (SSSIs) and woodland (Ref 1).
The plans for Lodge Hill have been controversial, as Chattenden Woods and Lodge Hill Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) is a nationally important area of ancient woodland and rare grassland that supports one of the largest populations of nightingales in the UK (Ref. 7, 8, 9).
In 2018 Kent Wildlife Trust started a campaign (#SaveLodgeHill) to ask Medway Council to not to allocate Lodge Hill development, which has resulted in a scaled-back version of the original plans for Lodge Hill from the construction of 2,000 to 500 houses, avoiding any direct loss of the Site of Special Scientific Interest - which will still have an impact on the nightingale's population (Reg. 7).