Biotope City Wienerberg
Biotope City Wienerberg is located in the southern part of Vienna on a 5.4-hectare site that once housed a Coca-Cola factory. It lies at the edge of the Wienerberg recreational area, surrounded by business parks and tower blocks to the west and predominantly detached houses to the east (Ref. 1).
The project embodies the concept of an "urban biotope" (Ref. 2), grounded in the principle that nature's mechanisms of self-regeneration are essential for mitigating the challenges of urban living and climate change. By integrating urban and natural spaces, Biotope City fosters both human-nature connections and social interactions through activities like community gardening. The project’s centerpiece is its extensive green infrastructure, including trees and green roofs, which serve to cool the microclimate, purify the air, enhance water retention, and create carbon sinks while providing habitats for local wildlife. These green spaces aim to improve physical health through cooling effects on hot days and support mental well-being with their calming influence (Ref. 1; Ref. 2).
Biotope City encompasses:
Around 980 flats, including 400 subsidized flats and 200 SMART flats
A school, a kindergarten, and 2,000 square meters of children's and youth playgrounds
600 square meters of community gardens and 3,850 square meters of ground-floor gardens
250 trees, 8,900 square meters of meadows, and 13,600 square meters of green roofs
2,200 square meters of façade greening
The inner courtyards and roof areas are designed for gardening, while façades are greened, and balconies are equipped with integrated plant troughs. Even the spaces between buildings are climate-effective, featuring unsealed catchment and seepage areas to manage water sustainably (Ref. 1).
The project’s implementation took 18 years and involved collaboration among various stakeholders. The concept was initiated by the Biotope City Foundation and funded by eight different investors (Ref. 2).
The project embodies the concept of an "urban biotope" (Ref. 2), grounded in the principle that nature's mechanisms of self-regeneration are essential for mitigating the challenges of urban living and climate change. By integrating urban and natural spaces, Biotope City fosters both human-nature connections and social interactions through activities like community gardening. The project’s centerpiece is its extensive green infrastructure, including trees and green roofs, which serve to cool the microclimate, purify the air, enhance water retention, and create carbon sinks while providing habitats for local wildlife. These green spaces aim to improve physical health through cooling effects on hot days and support mental well-being with their calming influence (Ref. 1; Ref. 2).
Biotope City encompasses:
Around 980 flats, including 400 subsidized flats and 200 SMART flats
A school, a kindergarten, and 2,000 square meters of children's and youth playgrounds
600 square meters of community gardens and 3,850 square meters of ground-floor gardens
250 trees, 8,900 square meters of meadows, and 13,600 square meters of green roofs
2,200 square meters of façade greening
The inner courtyards and roof areas are designed for gardening, while façades are greened, and balconies are equipped with integrated plant troughs. Even the spaces between buildings are climate-effective, featuring unsealed catchment and seepage areas to manage water sustainably (Ref. 1).
The project’s implementation took 18 years and involved collaboration among various stakeholders. The concept was initiated by the Biotope City Foundation and funded by eight different investors (Ref. 2).
For a Forest in Your Neighborhood
For a Forest in Your Neighborhood" is an afforestation campaign by the DDOR insurance group, launched in 2022 as part of their Environment, Society, and Governance (ESG) commitments (Ref. 1). Site selection was based on online votings, with thousands of votes being casted from 188 towns across Serbia (Ref. 2). In the end, the fifteen most popular cities were selected for project implementation. As a result, hundreds of trees were planted, including 25 trees along the promenade of Belgrade’s Ušće Park in 2023 (Ref. 3). Ultimately, the initiative aims to create and enhance urban green spaces, to improve air quality and living conditions in Serbian cities (Ref. 5). The success of the campaign encouraged DDOR to extend the campaign in 2024, financed through their eco-insurance schemes (Ref. 4)
Jin Wellbeing
Jin wellbeing is a senior-oriented lifestyle complex in Bangkok, Thailand, which comprises residences, commercial units and hospitals. The first phase of the development has been completed in 2020. This phase included five residential buildings with senior hospitals, wellness centres and green spaces that cover over 40% of the site. The project aims to create a sustainable living environment while enhancing both the physical and mental health of the people through nature with the “Community of Revine Forest” concept. The main interventions include an urban forest, a therapeutic garden, a community farm, an outdoor exercise area, and a multipurpose area. Ecologically sustainable design has been integrated into the planting strategies and water management to create a resilient ecosystem, mitigate flood and improve water retention capabilities of the area for irrigation purposes. (Ref. 1,2,3,4,5)
ACROS Fukuoka Prefectural International Hall Step Garden
The 'Step Garden' is a 14-tier green roof atop the Asian Cross Roads Over the Sea (ACROS) Fukuoka Prefectural International Hall in Fukuoka, Japan (Ref. 2). The Hall itself is a centre of international, cultural and information exchange, and sits amidst the Tenjin Central Park (Ref. 3). As the building displaced a plaza, the architect, Emilio Ambasz, created the “image of a mountain" through the design and installation of the roof terrace (Ref. 2), "want[ing] to give back to Fukuoka’s citizens all the land the building would subtract from the city" (Ref. 3). In combination with the Central Park, the rooftop garden is considered to be the only open green space in the city centre (Ref. 4), and since its inauguration in 1995, has been open to the public, accessible via two entrances on the park side of the building (Ref. 1).
Ronald McDonald House Essen in Grugapark
The Ronald McDonald House is a temporary home for families with seriously ill children who are treated at the Essen University Hospital. The house was designed by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who merged the garden and architecture together in order to bring residents of the house closer to nature improving their psychological and health conditions (Ref. 1). The house was opened in 2005 in Essen's Grugapark (Ref. 2). A special highlight is the accessible intensive Green Roof (950 sqm) with grass, herbs, flowers, shrubs, and trees (Ref. 3).
