Cultural innovation

A pilot educational garden was created by Foundation Zaedno in Sofia in 2011 in the city kindergarten Slaveyche. The initiative was carried out with the financial support of Charles Stewart Mott Foundation and volunteers. The aims of the garden were to turn a derelict site into an attractive place for learning about and practicing gardening, playing games, learning about healthy nutrition, conservation, and promoting the creation of other Delicious Bio-Gardens. The garden has herbs, vegetables, and a rainwater harvesting system. Events connected to this initiative were taking place till 2013-14 (Ref. 1; Ref. 2; Ref. 4)

Mercedes-Benz helps in the Reforestation of the Park of the Pena, in Sintra: "As part of its social responsibility actions, and as a socially responsible company and involved in its community, the Daimler Group in Portugal decided to intervene and help in the reforestation of the Pena Park in Sintra after it was flogged in 2013 and 2015 By violent storms that caused the fall of more than 2000 trees." (ref 1)

Rehabilitation of the public green space of the Park Krekovic through employment of people with a risk of social exclusion. The initiative cleaned the green areas of the park, rehabilitated the gardens with planting actions, and maintained the overall infrastructure. (ref 4)

The “Animal Species Aid Program”, also a part of “More Nature in the City” project of the Department of Environment and Urban Green, mapped out the occurrences of wild bees in Hannover including Leineaue, Alte Bult and the area of Berggarten and Leibniz University. With this program, 244 wild bees and wasp species were detected in Hannover in 2013/2014. In addition to the inventory, the program has also provided care instructions tailored to the individual species (like frequency and timing of lawn mowing) in order to protect their habitat.

The “Wild Bee of the Year” was launched in 2013 by the Baden-Württemberg Wild Bee Cadastre Working Group in cooperation with the State Institute for Bee Science and the beekeeping associations of Baden-Württemberg to draw attention to the danger to native wild bees throughout Germany. The program is part of the city of Hannover’s activities on biodiversity. As an example, in 2012/2013, occurrences of the endangered nightingale were recorded, extremely rare and highly specialized tree beetles were mapped, and amphibians and dragonflies were stocked in selected small waters. Specific care measures for individual biotopes were provided along with an overall overview of the ecological qualities of the city of Hannover.

(Reference 1 as of 2015. No information was found with regards to the current status of the project)

With the progressive monopolization of the seed trade and the industrial cultivation of hybrid varieties as well as the restrictive seed legislation, the cultivation of old crops has steadily declined and about 90 per cent of the old crops have been lost. This initiative aimed to reverse the trend by the cultivation of old crops, dissemination of their seeds among farmers and educational workshops to protect and increase their biodiversity.

The project involved the building of the propagation garden on an approximately 4500 square meter area in Ricklingen. This project started in 2013 and it involves interested residents, cooperating with Transition Town Hannover (TTH). The city of Hanover supported the initiative by providing the property and financial aid for the construction of the garden. The project has been provided with professional network from BUND (Kreisgruppe Region Han­nover), the School Biology Center, the VEN (Association for the Conservation of Crop Diversity eV) and Leibniz University, Institute of Horticultural Production Systems and the Chamber of Agriculture In 2014, the basic restoration work on the property was completed. (Reference 1, 5).
Frame beds were installed in 2016 while a garden house was built in 2017. The project was funded by the City of Hannover until 2017 but it continues until the present with the help of volunteers (Reference 9).

An intervention in the parks of Sintra relying on volunteer participation to eradicate invasive species from the green areas. The intervention was carried out on International Volunteer Day and volunteers removed the exotic weed species manually.
The manual work with volunteering was carried out in more sensitive places where herbicide can not be applied (water lines, protected habitats, etc ...) (ref.5)

The author of the project (visualized, not completed) designed a recreation area for youth from schools, dormitories and people interested in need of horticultural therapy in one of the school courtyards in Białystok. The project would involve revitalization and modernization of the school’s courtyard to adapt it to the needs of people with disabilities and adequately manage the greenery around. The garden would allow for therapeutic work with plants, art therapy, and activities that support the mental and physical health of the participants [1,3].
In 2015 the project was in envisioned and pitched only, but it did not receive funding from the participatory budget of Białystok.

Extending from Kalasadam to the Noblessner quarter, the beta-promenade is a simple footpath along the seaside (from the fish market of the Fishing Harbor to the port town of Noblessner), created by removing fences, opening up gates and fortifying the shore. (ref 1) It is a project for public space creation in Tallinn Seaside by Linnalabor, where the seafront area is heightened in the public interest (Ref 2)
The beta promenade was made by filling an old, impassable landfill on a sometimes bumpy and fenced-in, but sea-view and spacious footpath, opening the old gate of the Patarei Fortress wall and marking the nearly two-kilometre shore route (ref. 1).

As part of World Tree day celebrated on March 21, 2017 the Sintra Service for Protection of the Nature and the Environment (SEPNA) as well as the Sintra Branch Segura School carried out several education workshops for school children to inform about the importance of tress for our natural environment and carried out afforestation and reforestation actions inside the green spaces of Sintra. (1)

In 2016, owing to the participatory budget of Białystok, the citizens received a long-awaited outdoor gym and playground in the vacant green area of the city. The initiative aimed to increase public access to the green recreational area in the city, and connect the Białka riverside with residential boroughs. The project involved greenery planting and re-arrangement of the greenery (including some deforestation), revitalization of a pond and water purification, connecting walking and bicycle paths. Lawns are available for family picnics and recreation [1,2].