Technological

The area was planned to be the Öresund Region's most climate-smart city district: an energy efficient, resource-saving and green district with a hundred percent renewable energy use.” (ref. 2). The area's development program focused on the ecological aspect of sustainability and took responsibility for that part of the city's sustainability work (ref. 7).

The Sprouting Building is an apartment complex which was built in 2000 in such a way as to have seeds grow from the exterior walls of the building. "There are "balcony-gardens" to dine in with many friends, "balcony-cabins" perched among the trees for more intimate encounters, "balcony-lookouts" to curiously explore the foliage of the treetops, and "balcony-terraces" for reflection and contemplation. The project could have been called “the balcony in all its forms" but instead it was named "the building that grows." The building "grows" thanks to plants on the building's walls. Its skin has become a kind of mini-ecosystem" (Ref. 1).

Bastion Theresia Timisoara was built as a defensive perimeter for the Romanian town of Timisoara and has languished for decades in the center of the city. The bastion was rehabilitated and it incorporates green spaces and a community center. The old fortress' location in the middle of town makes it a natural hub for transportation and assembly, and the extensive green roof incorporates it into the city's urban green belt. (1)

Street alignments is a 2008 project developed by the Municipality of Timisoara in order to create a green corridor between the centre of the city and peripheral areas. It involves the creation of alveoli by mounting lawn and ornamental bark in different intersections of the city.

The Port of Alicante is finalizing the installation of a new environmental barrier at Pier 17, where bulk unloading is carried out, based on a water atomization method that allows dust particles to fall to the ground of the port area and not arrive by air to the city. (Ref 11) This initiative comprises activities to reduce pollution in the port, such as a vegetable barrier against the air pollution produced by the dust during the unloading of bulk materials, supplied by an irrigation system that recovers non-drinkable water from a nearby plant. It includes the extension of the Parque del Mar, to recover historical points for tourism and the funding of a research project on air pollution (Ref. 12). “This measure is integrated within the Plan of Urban Integration of the Port of Alicante, improving the landscape impact and the port-city boundary zones from the southern access of the urban environment, along with the “Parque del Mar”, to the west zone with the installation of vegetal screens in the inner zone of the port, contributing to an important particle retention and CO2 reduction.” (Ref. 1). Inside the park, which can be traversed through paths, there is a small ornamental lake with rockery and it has children's games and petanque courts, gymnastics courts and recreational areas. The green corridor has been created with the creation of artificial mounds, for which 65,000 cubic meters of earth have been necessary, which act as a vegetal screen and visually and acoustically isolate the port facilities of the city. (Ref 7)

Ecological parks are parks that reduce stormwater runoff and pollutant emissions. It refers to a number of techniques applied at the same time to reduce the total impervious surface of a parking space, the decrease in the surface temperature and maintain a green island in crowded areas. In Timisoara, until the date of this completed intervention (2009), there were located 11 ecological parking spaces, placed throughout the city, most of them near building blocks in former industrial quarters (3)

Located in the neighborhood of Pla del Bon Repòs com, Carolines Altes, Carolines Baixes and Campoamor, the community orchard of Carolines is an initiative to transform an abandoned lot into a sustainable garden and a community orchard (Ref. 2). "The place where this orchard is located was an abandoned space for 20 years where a large amount of garbage accumulated. The neighbors decided to clean the area by giving it a use with an orchard area, meeting area, gardening. The people responsible for it are the assembly of neighbors. It is also an action to combat the physical and psychological degradation of the neighborhood, being the community garden an excuse for this, but also a fundamental pillar where these ideas are based." (Ref. 2)

"After the intervention, the 530 square metres of the block of land have been turned into a new public square with a metal structure over fifteen metres high which is the support of a hanging garden. The structure is attached to the two flank walls facing on to the square in such a way that it completely conceals them. Beneath the ground level of the square, there is a basement housing the new offices of the neighbourhood association, which is responsible for the environmental management of the garden and its use as an educational space." (Ref. 2)

Opened in 1987, Lo Morant Park is located in the northern part of the city of Alicante. Its flat surface of 12 hectares is ideal for walking among its vegetated spaces and for the development of multiple activities focused on the neighborhood (Ref. 1). An educational environmental tour of the park is in place for learning and discovering the fauna and flora. The park offers different social activities and facilities (sports facilities, leisure). (Ref. 1). It is the largest park in Alicante with a dimension of twelve hectares, and has a great diversity of plant species and sports and cultural spaces. (Ref. 3)

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).