Implementation of educational programs, workshops or trainings

Project Roots is a community-based nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering sustainable living and enhancing food security in South Phoenix, Arizona. Founded in 2020 in response to rising food insecurity—an issue impacting one in seven Arizonans—Project Roots aims to provide lasting solutions through community education, accessible fresh produce, and supportive services for vulnerable populations.
Central to Project Roots’ mission is its work in community gardening. The organization manages and maintains several community gardens, including 20 reserved rows at the Spaces of Opportunity Garden, where individuals and families can cultivate their own produce. Through these gardening spaces, Project Roots empowers community members to grow their own food, promoting self-sufficiency and healthier food choices.
Education is a cornerstone of Project Roots' outreach. The organization offers hands-on gardening classes, workshops, and educational resources that teach sustainable food production practices. A significant part of this educational effort focuses on South Phoenix's youth, helping them understand where their food comes from and how to grow it, fostering both awareness and skills that encourage lifelong healthy habits.
Project Roots also works to ensure that fresh, locally grown produce reaches the wider community. By distributing produce through farmers' markets, produce bags, and partnerships with local food banks and soup kitchens, Project Roots provides a consistent source of nutritious food to those who need it most. The produce bags, often delivered to community centers and low-income housing areas in Phoenix, help bridge the gap for those with limited access to fresh food.
In addition to its food-centered programs, Project Roots extends its support to include essential services such as food assistance, hygiene items, and temporary shelter, making it a vital resource for individuals and families experiencing hardship. (1-5, 8-14)

Tempelhofer Feld stands as an innovative green solution in the heart of Berlin, addressing several issues of environmental justice, biodiversity, and urban resilience. Within the S-Bahn ring, only one in 20 residents lives in areas well-served by green spaces, and districts like Neukölln, Kreuzberg, and Tempelhof would face even greater scarcity without this vast expanse. Many residents in these neighborhoods lack access to private green spaces such as gardens or balconies. Without nearby parks, people are compelled to travel to other districts, exacerbating the congestion of green spaces and increasing local traffic.
Since its opening in 2010, Tempelhofer Feld has provided Berlin with over 300 hectares of open, green, leisure, and recreational space, making it one of the largest urban open spaces globally. Once the site of bustling air traffic, it is now a sanctuary for activities such as skating, strolling, gardening, picnicking, birdwatching, kiteboarding, and more. These wide-ranging uses showcase its transformation into an accessible, multifunctional green space that serves as a social equalizer, particularly for disadvantaged neighborhoods, a significance amplified during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The field is not just a recreational haven but also a vital ecological refuge. With over two-thirds of its area designated as green space, it hosts diverse ecosystems, including extensive natural meadows, lawns, and protected habitats for birds and other species. Certain areas are closed to the public to preserve these sensitive environments, emphasizing the balance between human activity and ecological conservation. Since 2019, animal landscape keepers, including around 100 resident sheep, have contributed to sustainable land management practices, promoting biodiversity and ecological health (Ref. 2).
Managed collaboratively by political, administrative, and societal actors, the site exemplifies integrated citizen participation in urban planning. (Ref. 3)

The Lower Salt River Restoration Project (LSRRP) is a riparian restoration initiative located along the Lower Salt River within the Mesa Ranger District of the Tonto National Forest. This collaborative project seeks to restore a section of the Lower Salt River Recreation Area that was severely impacted by the 2017 Cactus Fire. The Cactus Fire was a significant wildfire that caused extensive damage to vegetation and habitat in the area, highlighting the need for targeted restoration efforts to rebuild the ecosystem and mitigate future fire risks.
The LSRRP’s primary activities focus on removing invasive tamarisk trees, which are highly flammable and contribute to the intensity of wildfires, and planting native seedlings to reestablish local flora. By removing tamarisk trees, the project aims to create a landscape that is more resistant to fire, reducing the wildfire risk for the region. Additionally, the project supports the abundance and diversity of native plant species by removing invasive plants and planting thousands of native riparian tree species.
The restoration efforts also aim to enhance the riparian habitat by expanding two critical vegetation communities—the mesquite bosque and the cottonwood-willow gallery forest. These communities support rich biodiversity and offer essential habitats for local wildlife.
Beyond ecological restoration, the project emphasizes community involvement and awareness. It provides opportunities for the local community to participate in the project through environmental education events for K-12 students and ongoing volunteer involvement in monitoring and maintaining restored areas.
Overall, the Lower Salt River Restoration Project is a proactive effort to protect and revitalize the Lower Salt River Recreation Area, enhancing its ecological resilience and engaging the community in long-term conservation. (2-4, 6, 8, 11)

In Lisbon's Areeiro district, Urbem, a non-profit organization, is leading the creation of a 2500m2 Miyawaki mini-forest in Casal Vistoso Urban Park. This initiative involves densely planting native species to rapidly establish a diverse, self-sustaining forest ecosystem. Supported by the Lisbon City Council, the project aims to enhance urban biodiversity, improve air quality, and contribute to climate resilience. Volunteers from the local community play a crucial role in every stage, from preparing the land to planting and maintaining the forest. Despite initial challenges, such as a 40-50% plant survival rate, the forest is expected to become self-sustaining within three years. The project focuses on environmental restoration and seeks to engage and educate the community, fostering a sense of ownership and connection to these new green spaces (Ref 1; Ref 2; Ref 3; Ref 4).

Brookley by the Bay is a 98-acre new waterfront park project along Mobile Bay's western shore (Ref 1). The park aims to reconnect people with the Mobile waterfront and coastal ecosystem (Ref 2). The area, once an abundant mosaic of tidal marshes, forested wetlands, and shallow lagoons, became a port, leading residents to lose contact with the natural landscape (Ref 2).
The park serves both recreational and environmental purposes, aiming to create and restore areas that enhance habitat resilience and allow coastal ecosystems to thrive (Ref 1). It features sports facilities, including kayaking, volleyball, golf, and biking, along with social gathering and educational spaces such as an amphitheatre lawn, a performance pavilion, and picnic tables (Ref 3, Images 1-3). The park provides safe and equitable access for all Mobile residents to nature, beaches, tree canopies, open fields, and varied shorelines, all connected by pedestrian and bike lanes (Ref 2). The project also focuses on habitat enhancement and restoration for biodiversity (Ref 3, Images 1 & 4), as well as flood protection through shoreline get-downs, vegetated edges (Image 4), and undulating berms and swales that serve as a layered protection system against stormwater and coastal flooding (Ref 2).
The development of Brookley by the Bay was guided by input from over 300 community members (Ref 1), local stakeholder organizations, and project partners, with the goal of establishing a more resilient, accessible, and enduring space for generations to come (Ref 2).

FoodLink, a network for food transition in the Lisbon Metropolitan Area (LMA), aims to create sustainable, competitive, and resilient agri-food systems closely integrated with regional and local spatial planning. The network's goals are to promote food security, economic and energy efficiency, environmental sustainability, and socio-territorial cohesion by 2030. The network seeks to ensure that by 2030, 15% of the metropolitan area's food supply is secured locally through sustainable production methods, innovative solutions in water management, soil conservation, climate adaptation, and low-carbon distribution networks involving community gardens, urban allotments, and agricultural spaces within the Lisbon Metropolitan Area. (Ref 2)

The "Line Park" project in Belgrade aims to create a continuous green belt spanning 4.6 kilometres and covering over 48 hectares. As such, the project will revitalize the former railway corridor from "Beton Hala", just below the Belgrade Fortress, to the Pancevac Bridge. Inspired by notable urban parks like New York's "High Line", Moscow's "Zagrađe," and Toronto's "Rail Corridor," it will become a major recreational destination and also help to alleviate the pressures from the city's heavy air pollution and summer heat (Ref. 5, 6).
The park will be divided into ten thematic sections dedicated to aromatic plant and flower gardens, urban gardening and beekeeping, sports facilities, a newly built university campus and more. Additionally, there will be an amphitheatre and facilities for outdoor education. To further integrate green infrastructure, new buildings will have green roofs and walls (Ref. 2,5). Ultimately, the park integrates a number of amenities into the entire city.
The development of the park also introduced innovative co-creation mechanisms in terms of governance and planning. Since Belgrade is part of the multinational CLEVER Cities Initiative, the city's Secretariat for Environmental Protection suggested the use of the site as a pilot test for introducing nature-based solutions in urban planning and with diverse stakeholders' input. Several workshops, focus groups, and consultations took place between 2019 and 2021, which facilitated the diversity of ideas that have been adopted into the official construction plan (Ref. 1, 2). Despite these successes, civil society groups raise concerns over the extraordinary cost of 70 million euros, displacement of Roma communities and the interest of real estate developers that may undermine the project's original cause (Ref. 3, 8).

The Three Mile Creek Watershed project is part of the City Council watershed management plans (Ref 2) to stabilize the banks and the stream along the Twelve Mile Creek and Langan Park Lake, both of which drain into Three Mile Creek and Mobile Bay (Ref 1). The project aims to address the issues of degradation of the banks and destabilization of the creek, undercutting of sanitary sewer crossings and sedimentation in the creek and Langan Park Lake because of the increased water flow speed due to stormwater conveyance (Ref 2). Besides, major pollutants from run-off and sewage water contribute to the degradation of Three Mile Creek (Ref 5). Key initiatives include stabilizing the banks and streambed of the Twelve Mile Creek, dredging and restoring Langan Park Lake, and implementing instream structures to reduce erosion and protect infrastructure (Ref 2). The project also emphasizes reducing pollutants from stormwater runoff, improving water quality, and helping to protect the area’s estuarine and marine water resources (Ref 1). The project will increase natural habitat and contribute to regulating biodiversity by aiding in the abatement of invasive species such as the apple snail (Ref 2). It is expected to contribute to enhancing recreational access through the development of trails, educational programs, and water sports facilities. The overall goal is to restore ecological health, support flood control, improve the quality of life in the Mobile and Prichard communities and make the Three Mile Creek a recreational destination (Ref 6).

According to the FAO, in 2022, 16.6 million Peruvians faced moderate or severe food insecurity, representing an increase of 1.5 million compared to the previous year (3). This situation was exacerbated by the health crisis, inflation, and job losses, leaving three out of ten Peruvians in poverty in 2021. The situation was particularly critical in Metropolitan Lima and Callao, with 14% of families reporting difficulties in acquiring protein-rich foods due to their precarious economic situation (2).
In response to this food crisis, the Municipality of Lima implemented the "Lima te Cuida" (Lima Takes Care of You) initiative, in which residents from vulnerable areas got training to create urban gardens and produce organic compost to help the community kitchens in these areas become self-sustainable (1, 2). An example of this initiative is the community garden in A.H. Villa Mosha in San Juan de Lurigancho, where a community garden has been built, and community members have been trained in small-scale planting, cultivation, care, and harvesting of various foods (2).
This initiative has been supported by the MUSA project "Mujeres Unidas por la Seguridad Alimentaria y Ambiental" (Women United for Food and Environmental Security) as part of the project "Alimentando a Lima desde Adentro" (ALDA) (Feeding Lima from within), which has had an impact in eight districts of Lima to strengthen food security (3). In addition to promoting urban agriculture, the project seeks to influence public policy through training and development of proposals to promote urban agriculture at the local level (4).

The "Ruas Verdes+" (green streets) project, implemented in the parishes of Areeiro and Arroios in Lisbon, is part of a broader European initiative, Conexus, aimed at promoting green solutions in highly urbanized areas (Ref 3). The project primarily focuses on creating a tree-lined pedestrian corridor along Carlos Mardel and Francisco Sanches streets, establishing a continuous axis between the Casal Vistoso Urban Park and the Caracol da Penha Garden (Ref 1). This corridor is designed to mitigate urban heat island effects, enhance ecological connectivity, and improve residents' quality of life (Ref 5). The pilot phase includes planting 20 trees on Rua Carlos Mardel and removing a minimal number of parking spaces to balance urban greening with local needs (Ref 1). Additionally, planters are being introduced in the Bairro dos Actores area to test the community’s response to greening initiatives (Ref 1). The project also involves public participation through gardening workshops, encouraging residents to contribute to the greening effort by adding plants to their balconies (Ref 4). This initiative aims not only to enhance the urban environment but also to foster social inclusion and community engagement while addressing the challenges of climate change in Lisbon's densely populated areas (Ref 5).