Ongoing

This intervention is part of a broader masterplan regarding harbours and seacoast in Palermo, with a specific focus on the Cala coastal area. The waterfront has importance for the city not just as a harbour, but for its relational, cultural and recreational functions as well. In particular, the Molo Trapezoidale can become the new “water district” in which compatible port functions will be integrated with the existing urban functions and the new residential areas, as well as the new cultural and recreational services with new infrastructures linked with natural features such as green areas and trees. (Ref.1.)

A communal bio-garden was created by a group of citizens in Sofia in 2014 on a municipal piece of land. The creation of the garden was supported by the Municipality through their programme “Green Sofia”. The aim of the project was to turn an abandoned and degraded green area into an “island of biodiversity” and a place for urban gardening. The garden contains herbs, vegetables, and flowers, dwelling places for useful insects, and a compost bin. The benefits of the garden have been ecological, educational, and social, including refugee integration. (Ref. 1; Ref. 2; Ref. 3; Ref. 4) According to their Facebook group in 2020, the 4 acre garden and the community that has organised around it is still thriving. (Ref 10)

In 1958 the former marsh "Hellmansbruch", a botanical and zoological jewel, was drained to build the motorway junction Wuppertal North. Since 1990, the working group Nature and Environmental protection (ANU) which consists of volunteers, has maintained a protected landscape area of 3 ha (remains of the former marsh) with the regionally highest density of moorland spotted orchid in the middle of the transport junction. Based on continuous mostly manual maintenance work, such as cutting back encroaching bushes, the large orchid population could be protected and the green space area in total even increased, becoming a biodiversity hotspot. (Ref. 3 and 7). The project also includes the protection of endangered flora and fauna native to the area, including endangered amphibians. (Ref. 7) Guided tours are also offered to visitors of the "nature paradise" in order to raise awareness about indigenous and threatened nature. (Ref. 3).

The urban gardening project is a strategic employment and qualification measure which accommodates 14 long-term unemployed people guided and advised by 4 part-time employees of the Wuppertal District Service, consisting of a professional gardener, an instructor, a social education worker and a project manager. Coordinated with the Forestry Department of Wuppertal and the City of Wuppertal and in collaboration with non-governmental organizations, the participants of the programme plant and harvest vegetables and herbs in 19 high-raised flower beds on decentralized public and private spaces across the Ostersbaum district. The harvest is distributed to and shared by all residents. (Ref. 3) A further goal of the intervention is to increase cultivated green spaces and streets in the city district of Ostersbaum and thus to enhance the quality of life in the district. In 2017, the project was extended with an opportunity for beekeeping. (Ref. 8) Apart from its main goal of providing employment and assistance to unemployed people, the leaders of the project also offer educational opportunities for children and students, through educating them about the cycle of food production and creating an understanding of the origin of food. (Ref. 1)

From 2006 onwards, the urban stream Wupper and its riverbanks were redeveloped and ecologically improved via several water management and planning measures across the city of Wuppertal. Initiated by the city administration and the public sector company Wupper, they aimed at improving the environmental- and water quality or the area and enhancing biodiversity in and around the Wupper. These efforts were accompanied by additional citizens' initiatives with the same goal. (Ref. 1, 2, 3, 9). According to the EU Water Framework Directive, 27 percent of the Wupper and its tributaries are now in good condition, which is well above the German average of 8 percent. The complete renaturalization is planned to be completed by 2025. (Ref. 12)

The Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire Wildlife Trust (BBOWT) 'Water Vole Recovery Project' is working in partnership with the Environment Agency, the Canal & River Trust and Thames Water to monitor water voles. Water voles have undergone one of the most serious declines of any wild mammal in Britain during the 20th century. The intensification of agriculture in the 1940s and 1950s caused the loss and degradation of habitat, but the most rapid period of decline was during the 1980s and 1990s as American mink spread. Between 1989 and 1998, the population fell by almost 90 percent! The above project also is identifying habitat enhancement opportunities and influencing local landowners to manage sites sympathetically for water voles and implement mink control. (Ref. 1)

Since 2002, under the aegis of the non-profit organization “Enfants d’un même Père” (“Children of the same Father”) the members of Jardins en Pays de Liège organize visits to private gardens in the Province of Liège. This non-profit organization welcomes handicapped children during weekends and school holidays. Every year, about twenty gardens are open to the public and welcome more than 10,000 visitors. The totality of the funds raised by means of entrance fees goes to an association looking after handicapped children (Ref. 1)

Wertach Vital is a project to reconstitute the Wertach river between the southern Augsburg limits and its confluence with the river Lech. Starting from the south, the flood protection has been improved, the depth of the river bottom has been halted, the river bed has been expanded and the banks have been upgraded as a recreational area. A major part of the measures has been completed. The project is supported by the Free State of Bavaria and the City of Augsburg, co-financed by the EU (Ref. 1).

The Lolli-Malaspina area of the central station intervention aims to replace the current urban space and to replace it with a system that can complete and integrate the existing one, and generate a new centrality, transforming the current laceration into an urban seam. There are new gardens outside the central station, which link the different areas of the railway, and it has been implemented because the area of the central station is a strategical node for the city which has to be reinforced with new green areas. (Ref.1.)

Instead of expanding the Ring of Antwerp to improve mobility, the municipality of Antwerp decided to use the space to create a Green Ring of 13 kilometers consisting of a wide range of projects (Ref. 3). This large city plan contains green spaces along the Ring, green corridors between those green spaces and with existing parks, a new green park, neighborhood green spaces, restoring the historical city wall and so on (Ref. 3). The plan also contains measures to improve water storing capacity (Ref. 4).