Local government/municipality

The city of Palermo has planned a series of interventions to regenerate the coastal area in the Southern part of the city (Bandita, Romagnolo and Acqua dei Corsari). The activities performed to reach this goal were the cleaning of the green areas which surround the coast and creation of playground zones for kids. In particular, the green areas were expanded with the plantation of typical plants of the Mediterranean area. This project was aiming to improve the condition of both water and the coast itself, to make it more attractive and accessible to everyone. (Ref.1.)

A new lake with green banks was built in the district of Altenhof in Essen in order to improve the quality of life in the neighborhood, create new recreational facilities and prolong the existing transport and green infrastructural developments in Essen. The water is supplied to the lake by means of groundwater from a separate well, as well as rainwater from the surfaces of neighboring roofs (Ref. 1).

The municipal agency Gardens and Parks collaborated with the hospital "St. Panteleymon" in Plovdiv in order to restore the condition of their rehabilitation park in the yard. This involved planting 550 trees, cleaning and securing the area, and removing or modifying problematic trees. The park has thus become a more hospitable place for rehabilitation of patients (Ref. 1; Ref. 2).

Arkwright Meadows Community (AMC) Garden is situated in the heart of inner city Nottingham, Prior to 2001, the site was a disused, derelict and rubbish-strewn piece of land. In 2001, a group of Meadows residents came together to improve this derelict piece of land and work started to create the infrastructure of the community garden. The area was transformed into a green oasis and outdoor learning environment. (ref. 8)

Citizen Farm was a start-up founded by Pierre Osswald (Ref. 3). The project began with an experimental urban farm in a vegetable garden of Raymond 6. The ozarium farm (a vegetable aquarium) uses a technique called aquaponia (Ref. 5). This technique grows all kinds of plants and vegetables indoors in an entirely natural way. Fertilizer or watering are not needed. Plants feed on the nutrients in the aquarium: water and fish discharges. In return, they purify and oxygenate fish water. It is an ecological and educational innovation which is surfacing as an "eco-responsible" trend. (Ref. 1, 2). The Citizen farm initative was ended in 2018 due to financial difficulties (Ref. 35).

The Villa Turrisi park has been the subject of a regeneration process request, implemented by some associations and citizens in order to protect the park. The goal of this citizen-based initiative is to regenerate the area with the expansion of the urban park, by adding several trees and plants. The main benefits of the project, apart from the cultural and social value of the new area, is the mitigation effect of the park in response to threats such as urban pollution, improvement of air quality, and biodiversity conservation (both plants and animal species). (Ref.1.)

This NBS refers to a curtain protection forest that was planted 6 km out of the city of Iasi in 2015 by the mayor of a commune next to the city. The benefits of this NBS embrace also the city of Iasi as a method to prevent flooding and to avoid strong winds in the area. Afforestation was seen also as a response to the existence of arid soil and abandoned crop fields in the area due to a large population movement of immigration towards Western countries (1)

The Ciric Entertainment Area is a bordering area of ​​the city, located 6 km away from the city center. Before the Second World War Ciric did not exist on the map, being a hollow valley without a forest. Nowadays, being arranged as a recreational site, Lake Ciric is surrounded by a beautiful forest. The rehabilitation aimed at creating easy access to the area, to include it in the functional green area of the city and to increase the quality of life for Iasi's inhabitants (1, 2).

The Grand Park Garonne urban project aims to rehabilitate and develop the banks of the river Garonne that runs 32 kilometers through the city. From 2015, several development projects was planned to be carried out for a total of 28.7 million euros across 3 areas: the Garonne downstream, Toulouse center and the city's "green lung" Island of Ramier (Ref. 1, 4). Within these are 12 sites that consist of 40 pilot projects for operations. Among these are projects focused on protecting and restoring natural habitats and species in order to create a citywide green corridor (Ref. 8).

After being abandoned for more than 10 years following the collapse of a building, a piece of land inside the city's "Le Panier" district was approved by the city in 2017 to become a "neighborhood garden" combining green space and a community vegetable garden (Ref. 1). After many delays the project was completed in early 2020 and the garden opened on February 28, 2020 (Ref. 11). The district "Le Panier" (where this intervention occurs) attracts many tourists every year for the charm of its narrow streets and colorful facades (Ref. 1).