More sustainable tourism

The Biffa Award awarded the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust with £24,681 in December 2013 for their ‘Lapwings on your Doorstep’ project, which started a number of habitat management activities at Potteric Carr Nature Reserve aiming to benefit a range of species. The project's main objective was to improve breeding conditions for the bird. Workers at the site, near Doncaster reported the scheme would
 also benefit a wider range of species, both common and rare, including other birds, bats and insects. It will also increase the reserve's value as an important tourist attraction, boosting the local city's economy. (Ref 1, 7).

The Wetlands uses natural processes for water treatment and involved local communities in the regeneration of the area. The
Wetlands were constructed in 2005 by diverting a small flow of Chellow Dene Beck through a constructed wetland designed to improve the appearance, water quality and biodiversity of the site. It consists of a series of ponds at the lower end of the site that acts together to remove impurities from the water before returning it to the beck further downstream. The creation of wetlands and maintenance is also a part of the larger Bradford beck project. (reference 1) The site is also used as a recreational trail for the local people and tourists (ref 4). As the reservoir is a local recreational centre it also promotes (paid) recreational fishing activities in some designated spots (ref 5).

A digital tree path was launched in Nancy in 2011. This is a path linking 24 trees equipped with QR codes (Quick Response Codes) throughout the city in order to discover them and their richness by scanning the code with a smartphone (Ref. 2). Information on the trees is also available online through the city's website as well as an Instagram account (Ref. 6).

A nature park in Bucharest containing the wetlands surrounding Lake Vacaresti. It was initially a swamp drained by the communist regime, which builds a complex of apartment blocks. In 2014 it was declared protected by the Romanian Government and named Văcărești Nature Park, and was approved as a natural protected area in 2016. (1)

The project revitalized beaches around three lakes near Poznan: Kierskie, Strzeszynskie, and Rusalka. Over 1000-ha of forest and three lakes located within the city borders make this a unique recreational area for the inhabitants of Poznan and its surroundings. The project aims to modernize the neglected beaches and build basic infrastructure and communication paths. The plans involved cleaning of the area, planting greenery, regulation of the lake beachline, introducing environmentally friendly solutions (e.g. solar lamps), open-air playgrounds and gyms, and renovation/installation of the new bridges over the lakes [1].

"On June 1st 2017, Saint-Etienne Métropole officially committed itself to the implementation of measures to promote the circulation of wildlife between the different green spaces with important biodiversity in its territory" (Ref. 3). "Saint-Etienne Métropole has signed with 13 partners a new contract called "green and blue". It is a new blue and green framework for the whole territory, a regulatory tool for the protection of biodiversity" (Ref. 2). "It aims to continue and reinforce the actions already undertaken with a transversal and urban dimension" (Ref. 2).

LIFE VIMINE is a project that aimed to define and apply a new type of integrated approach to the management of the territory, based on the erosion protection of the most indigenous barns and marshes in the Laguna of Venice. These unique habitats are rapidly disappearing due to natural processes and human impacts of varying nature. The project has contributed to repair and protect salt marshes borders as soon as erosion starts, build micro soil bioengineering works that are able to absorb wave energy, reduce erosion, promote sedimentation with a low effort and cost and improve coastal resilience and protection (1).

“Zagreb for Me” was an ambitious and comprehensive project launched in 2015 by the Zagreb Society of
Architects in cooperation with the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Zagreb and the City of Zagreb.
The goal of the project was to start a revitalization of public spaces through the realization of 17 urban
interventions in the whole city area at the same time. This distributed approach aimed to improve the general
“image of the city” and raise the quality of urban life in segments of housing, recreation, leisure and social
cohesion and revitalization of Zagreb's public spaces using public participation as a tool. This project aims to decentralize designed public spaces and draw attention to some forgotten city spots. At the same time, the project, created from a “bottom-up” initiative, establishes a new model of public participation as well as new forms of collaboration (Ref 1, 2, 3). The project "Zagreb for me" was created on the basis of Acupuncture of the city - an interdisciplinary approach and public participation, but it covers a wider urban space, ie it deals with public spaces throughout Zagreb. After the conducted urban-architectural tenders for the selected solutions, the realization is planned. Only one urban-architectural tender was conducted and the implementation of the project stopped there, but the project "Zagreb for me" was recognized as an example of good practice with the possibility of application in other cities. (Ref 5)

The lagoon has a great local significance for its biodiversity with the presence of certain species of rare birds regularly stationed in this area. Much of the biotope was degraded in the last decade by systematic embankments, constructions, as well as the inconvenience caused by various man-made pressures. A project was developed to reconstruct the area within the framework of a collaboration of the Institute of Marine Biological Resources, Inland Waters of HCMR, and Hellenic Ornology Company. The project offers directions for completing a protected region and proposes specific projects and actions of scientific monitoring, ecological rehabilitation, regeneration, and promotion. (Ref 3)

The botanical garden of Athens was reconstructed in 2004 to protect and maintain the biodiversity of the area. Covering a land of 1,860 sq.m., this Botanical Garden hosts over 2,500 different kinds of plants from all over the world and a rich variety of flora. All the plants and trees are protected in the park. The community also sends seeds all over the country to spread and maintain biodiversity throughout the region and hold agroecological events to increase the concern and educate the locals (Ref 1,3). The park also has a lake and a library inside it. (Ref 2)