Private sector/corporate actor/company

Excess rainwater in sewers causes flooding and the overflow spills into the rivers. Rainwater spilling across pavements can also make for an unpleasant walking experience in the city. Dublin City Council, in collaboration with residents, ran a trial use of Rain Box Planters as a way of both greening the streets and better managing rainwater coming from roofs. The Rain Box Planters were placed below houses’ gutters in order to slow the torrent of water entering the drain. The first trials were successful and the next stage is to test them on a larger scale. (ref 2, 3)

Owing to European Funds, the University of Białystok opened a new modern ecological campus for the faculties of biology, mathematics and computer science. The new campus was designed to incorporate green and blue infrastructure elements, and embody the pro-ecological profile of the investment. Green vegetation covers the university's walls and roofs, which is nearly half of the 30,000 square meters big campus. There is a brook around buildings and small ponds in the university's inner courtyards. The campus uses a sustainable rain drainage system, which is located on the roof, and the rainwater flows to the artificial water tanks and is continuously filtered and redistributed. Finally, there is a publicly accessible centre for ecological education. Large decorative installations on each of the four courtyards enhance the aesthetic experience in the campus and inspire the faculty and students [1,2].

The environmental NGO Dodo started their Guerilla Gardening projects in 2009 with a garden on the wasteland by the main railroad tracks in Helsinki, Pasila. The key idea was to make use of temporary derelict spaces. Raised beds were constructed from old pallets and filled with donated soil. Crops were grown by local citizens and provided both food and aesthetic beauty on the otherwise unused area.
In 2012 the project developed into "Turn Table - The Urban Garden", as the garden was supplemented by a small pop-up restaurant and café in a movable greenhouse (Ref 1, 2, 7). The Turn Table garden space was organized to promote awareness and discussion on the ecological and social aspects of food. The urban garden project included not just the greenhouse, but also an apiary, cultivation beds, a summer café with a terrace, and a market (ref. 4).

Meadow orchards with fruit trees were an integral part of subsistence farming and form part of the cultural heritage of Wuppertal. To preserve and further develop these meadows as an important habitat for flora and fauna and promote their potential for sustainable consumption, 4 such meadows were sponsored, maintained and promoted by the city of Wuppertal in close collaboration with the working group for fruit meadows via events, communal harvesting activities and hands-on courses since 1999. Since 2015, these meadows have increasingly drawn the attention of "foodsharing" movements and during the nationwide research year "future town". (Ref. 1, 2, 6, 8). Enclosed between areas of intensive conventional agriculture and the federal motorway, the orchards as islands of biological diversity are important places of retreat and relaxation. (Ref. 5) Communal activities are also offered, such as the co-creation of “edible experience spaces”, joint harvesting and providing a base for additional social projects (Ref. 6).

The multifunctional Southern City Park in Nurnberg was organized in the place of the large car park alongside the railway. Construction of the new green area between Celtisplatz and Tafelfeldstrasse was built in three construction sections. In the western part, the green playground with cableway, slide and climbing rocks was arranged, the Karl-Bröger-Platz was equipped with benches and a fountain, whereas to the east a large green area with 76 newly planted trees was established (1, 4) Perennial plantings were arranged in eastern section of the park, which members of the Bund Naturschutz maintain on a voluntary basis. The park is also a place where social and cultural events are organized. (4)

Nelson Mandela Square is located on the south side of the main railway station in Nurnberg. Serving as an important transition zone for pedestrians (25,000 people daily), the neglected square, which was mostly used as a car park is to be redeveloped into a green park providing recreational facilities in the densely populated residential area. (2, 7). The square and the bicycle storage facility opened on September 15, 2020. 70 new trees, a spacious lawn, safe bicycle paths, benches, parking spaces and Nuremberg's first bicycle parking garage now ensure both quality of stay and functionality. (7)

The Royal Gardens, situated between Piazza San Marco and the Bacino di San Marco, came into being during the Napoleonic occupation of the city and used to be a space for recreational activities for locals for many years after the monarchy was over. During past decades, the gardens have progressively deteriorated. Their original design is now barely legible, in terms both of geometrical patterns and the placement of trees and shrubs. They were rapidly becoming a derelict area. This intervention consists of their recovery by restoring the original vegetation by recovering still-living plants and introducing new ones. Between 2015 and 2019 the Gardens underwent complex restoration, carried out by the Foundation and planned by the gardener and landscape architect Paolo Pejrone, student of Russell Page and Roberto Burle-Marx, while architectural renovation and the rebuilding of the greenhouse was planned by architect Alberto Torsello, based on a project drawn up by Carlo Aymonino and Gabriella Barbini. Reopened in December 2019, the Royal Gardens, rich in unexpected perspectives and luxuriant growth, have reacquired their formal excellence and botanical complexity, in coherence with their historic nineteenth-century design. (1, 2 and 7).

There is a quickly growing number of residents, who want to grow their own food within a short distance of their locality, but new areas for allotments are not sufficient. The environmental NGO Dodo started a "guerilla gardening" movement, part of which is the temporary use of otherwise abandoned spaces. Specifically, at Kalastama area, an empty space waiting to be built upon, 36 farmers created an urban farm with recycled industrial bags to grow crops that can be removed afterwards (ref. 1). The garden in Kalasatama is a collaboration with the city of Helsinki, part of the temporary uses of the area, which in the next 20 years will be built into a new urban district of Helsinki (ref. 4)

The enlargement of the Dona Casilda park started in 2006 when Bilbao Ria 2000, a public limited company created in 1992 with the collaboration of the Public Administrations in order to lead the recovery and transformation of degraded areas of the Metropolitan Area of Bilbao, decided to invest in the renovation of the park. (Ref 2,4) The park was considered the main lung of the city, thus its enlargement (which is the presented NBS) was seen as necessary. (Ref 3) As such, the main road that traversed the park was removed and 30.000 sqm of land has been added. (Ref 2,7) The green area was broadened, by removing the road and enlarging the park. (Ref 2)

As part of the Fifth Dimension research program of the University of Helsinki that examines green roofs from the perspectives of biodiversity and the three dimensions of sustainable development (ecological, social and economical sustainability), 8 green roofs were installed in Helsinki. The aim was to find economically viable solutions that are applicable to Helsinki’s and Finland’s conditions. The project experimented with green roofs in different parts of the country, over half of which are in Helsinki (ref. 1, 2, 3).