Generation of income from NBS

The Festival Park Liverpool project involves the transformation of the former International Garden Festival site into an internationally recognized riverside suburb with strong neighbourhood connections and leisure facilities. The 36-hectare site is split into three different zones namely 1) Development Zone 2)Southern Grasslands and 3) Festival Gardens. The project masterplan was created by K2 Architects and was launched by the Liverpool City Mayor Joe Anderson. (Reference 1, 4, 7).
The Festival Park Liverpool masterplan consists of 1) a mixed-use housing including residential zone, primary school, medical centre and a culture hub 2) social heart of the residential area with hotels, bars and restaurants 3) a beachfront neighbourhood with residential apartments, pavement cafes, restaurants and bars, designed around an ‘Amsterdam’ styled canal frontage 4) festival gardens 5) grasslands to be remodelled into a natural habitat for wildlife and leisure activities (Reference 1).
In 2017, a set of land surveys and environmental assessments, along with the first phase of site mediation, were carried out. A consent to develop 1380 residential units were provided with validity until December 2022 (Reference 1). Detailed site investigations have been undertaken in the Development Zone and now underway on the Gardens and Southern Grasslands (Reference1, 8). A 9.9M pound remediation programmed funded by a grant from Homes England will begin in Spring 2020 in order to prepare the site to deliver 1,500 homes with supporting retail leisure and community uses. Liverpool City Council has started to engage prospective investors, developers and operators in discussions for bringing forward the project. It has opened opportunities for investor involvement which includes equity partners, co-investment or development funding, offering a potential for a long-term relationship with a public sector partner or investor. The project will be built in several phases commencing in Summer 2021 (Reference 9).

To promote bee-keeping, the city created the Bee Trail - a circuit where visitors can discover Ljubljana's beekeeping heritage and the significance of bees for our survival. The Bee Trail was designed and opened in 2015 as one of the activities within the Green Capital of Europe 2016 project. It was originally conceived only as an actual route between individual locations related to beekeeping and bees in Ljubljana. Through the participatory principle of working with individual members, however, it has been shown that the path is much more than just a work program or project. It has become synonymous with all activities related to bees and beekeeping in Ljubljana. Since 2011, the Slovenian Beekeepers' Association has awarded municipalities the title of the most bee-friendly municipality. The City of Ljubljana has been awarded the most bee-friendly municipality - in 2017 and 2019. (1)

”Gothenburg is now greener and more beautiful. Urban farming is the name of the investment that Göteborgs Stads Fastighetskontor (The property office) makes to stimulate small-scale and residential/urban farming. The goal is to get new crops, crops in unconventional places, plants/farming that provide joy and help to spread knowledge and create contact between generations and people from different parts of the city and the world. But also to develop the already existing cultivation and colony areas.” (Ref. 1)

There is an old tradition to preserve the wall gardens and patios in the center of Cordoba. Every year, the Festival of the Courtyards of Cordoba opens the courtyards to the public and various prizes are awarded to residents based on the plant and floral arrangement of the patios, bars, and balconies. This festival was declared as a UNESCO Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2012. (Ref. 2,3)