High

The Jardim do Caracol da Penha project transformed a vacant urban area into a community garden and recreational space in Lisbon. Initially planned as a parking lot, the project was reimagined by local residents, led by Rita Vieira Cruz, and submitted to the Participatory Budget in 2016, garnering over 9,000 votes (Ref 2). The one-hectare garden connects the Arroios and Penha de França parishes and features leisure areas, an amphitheatre, playgrounds, and a community garden (Ref 4). Its design was shaped by citizen input, emphasizing sustainability and accessibility, with plans to support activities such as outdoor cinema and community gatherings (Ref 2).

The City of Marseille is engaged in a city-wide project to develop community gardens across its territory. It supports project leaders by providing municipal land and offering a framework along with technical support (Ref 5). Currently, there are 80 community gardens, including 66 shared gardens and 14 family gardens, covering nearly 32 hectares in total (Ref 1).
Marseille aims to provide all residents with spaces for relaxation and socialization in every neighbourhood, particularly fostering shared gardening spaces in neglected land, forgotten squares, building bases, or areas awaiting development. (Ref 1). Community gardens contribute to the city's beautification and support biodiversity (Ref 1) and are founded on values of solidarity, conviviality, and fostering connections between generations and cultures (Ref 4). This initiative also addresses the issue of agricultural land disappearing due to urbanization, while Marseille's many abandoned wastelands offer genuine opportunities to rethink production models (Ref 3).
The city has created a Charter to be signed between the city and garden managers, which can include groups of residents or associations (Ref 2). The charter includes criteria such as citizen involvement, fostering social connections, promoting biodiversity, restoring soils’ health, planting local species, and eco-responsible gardening practices (Ref 2). In return, the city supports the development of these gardens, providing land and offering technical and methodological assistance, including soil analysis and advice on environmentally friendly gardening practices (Ref 2). Additionally, community gardens can serve an economic purpose by creating jobs and enabling the production of healthy and flavorful fruits and vegetables at a lower cost (Ref 2).

‘Grün macht Schule’ has been informing, advising, and supporting schools and school initiatives in Berlin since 1983 in the planning and realization of schoolyard projects. The program focuses on improving school playgrounds by creating child-friendly, natural habitats and ecological learning spaces, making schoolyards better equipped to address climate change. In 2012, the program expanded with the launch of the ‘Grün macht Schule - KinderGARTEN’ funding initiative, which extended support to kindergartens.
Over the past four decades, with the program’s assistance, Berlin has seen the transformation of large, unstructured schoolyards into smaller, creative playgrounds. These spaces now feature imaginative and artistic objects alongside facilities for play, exercise, and communication. Additionally, many school gardens and biotopes have been established or restored, turning school grounds into vibrant ecological and educational environments .
The projects are largely driven by schools’ self-initiatives, with ‘Grün macht Schule’ offering support throughout. This grassroots approach fosters pride and a sense of ownership among school communities, strengthening their identification with the results. The collaborative effort also enriches educational practices, promoting inclusion, integration, and democratic participation. Such initiatives offer a hands-on experience with sustainable climate protection projects, making these efforts tangible and impactful in everyday school life.
In addition to its project-based support, ‘Grün macht Schule’ provides training for school teams, organizes regional and national conferences, and hosts seminars and lectures to share best practices and inspire further action .
The program is a cooperative effort between the Senate Department for Education, Youth and Family and the association Freilandlabor Britz e.V., operating under the guidance of the Senate Department. (Ref. 1-4, 6)

The Olaya Herrera neighbourhood in Cartagena has been the focus of a series of projects that involve ecological restoration, environmental education, and community resilience building. These initiatives have centred around the restoration of the Ciénaga de la Virgen, an ecologically significant but heavily degraded coastal wetland bordering the neighbourhood. The primary goals of the projects in Olaya Herrera include the restoration of degraded mangrove ecosystems, mitigation of flooding and water pollution, strengthening community participation in environmental management, and promoting sustainable urban environments (ref 1, 2). The project is led by the EPA Cartagena, which coordinates actions such as collecting solid waste, planting timber trees and ornamental plants, and restoring green spaces that had become informal dumping grounds (ref 1). It also includes a community-led initiative called Los Guardabosques de Olaya that focuses on reforestation and environmental stewardship, it involves children, youth, and local mothers in reforesting mangrove areas around the Ciénaga de la Virgen. The community has established a mangrove nursery and employs innovative waste management practices, such as installing traps in canals to prevent solid waste from entering the Ciénaga (ref 2). The project also involves the private sector in 2022, the EPA led a campaign with local companies like Konfirma, Acuacar, and Pacaribe that focused on improving environmental health through the removal of 10 cubic meters of waste, promoting healthy living environments and fostering community participation in environmental monitoring and waste management practices​ (ref 4). Also, in collaboration with community leaders and local companies, the ANDI-TRASO Alliance supports large-scale reforestation and restoration activities in the southern parts of the Ciénaga de la Virgen adjacent to Olaya Herrera. The alliance plans to plant 40,000 mangrove seedlings (ref 6).

The Oxygen Alley project, developed by the NGO Arboretum Detroit, is a green space located in the Poletown East neighborhood of Detroit. Spanning four formerly abandoned lots, the project, completed in 2023, serves as a significant environmental and community initiative aimed at improving local resilience and promoting environmental justice. Named in recognition of the closure of the Detroit waste incinerator—a major source of pollution for over 30 years—the project replaces a long-abused landscape with a thriving greenway that enhances both the ecological health and social well-being of the area.
Key features of Oxygen Alley include the planting of air-filtering trees and the creation of a shaded greenway lined with wildflowers, benches, and walking paths. This new green space not only provides a recreational area for residents but also functions as a natural air conditioner, stormwater sponge, and wildlife habitat. It addresses the neighborhood’s lack of tree cover, offering shade and cleaner air while helping mitigate the effects of climate change.
The project also underscores the neighborhood's longstanding struggle for environmental justice. The removal of 400 feet of asphalt and the remediation of a polluted landscape highlight the community’s efforts to reclaim and revitalize their environment. Oxygen Alley serves as both a functional green space and a monument to the residents’ victories over the waste industry, symbolizing their continued fight for clean air and livable spaces.
Supported by grants from the City of Detroit, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and DTE Energy Foundation, among others, the project was brought to life through over 300 hours of volunteer labor. The creation of this greenway not only improves the neighborhood’s walkability but also offers a vision for a more sustainable and equitable future, serving as a model for urban revitalization projects across Detroit and beyond.
(Ref.1,2,3)

The ReDuna project, initiated in 2014, focuses on restoring the sand dune ecosystem in Costa da Caparica (Almada) in response to severe coastal erosion exacerbated by sea-level rise and winter storms. It aims to strengthen the resilience of dunes to environmental pressures while restoring ecological balance. Actions include sand nourishment, the installation of willow sand fences, and the planting of 100,000 native species. Community engagement was a key factor, involving local residents, NGOs, and schools in maintenance and replanting efforts. The project has been successful, with significant biodiversity recovery, establishing deep-rooted vegetation, and stabilising the dunes. Ongoing monitoring and adaptive management are central to its strategy, ensuring long-term sustainability. The ReDuna project serves as a replicable model for similar coastal protection initiatives globally (Ref 1).

Eliseo Collazos is located in the coastal desert ecosystem of the Lomas or ‘fog oasis’, an area that receives less than 10 mm of rainfall per year. Vegetation cover is of particular importance in the hills surrounding Lima, as it provides critical solutions to erosion, landslides and soil degradation in the ecologically degraded ecosystem of the Lomas. However, this ecosystem is facing risks from urbanisation, illegal mining and agricultural practices, resulting in the lack of the delicate mist-fed greenery for which the Lomas are known (2). This has led to increased particulate matter in the air due to exposure to sand and wind, aggravating respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis, which is prevalent in Lima's informal communities (2).
Low-income communities have inhabited this area, forced to migrate from the rainforest, highlands and city to the desert slums (4), who have only been able to settle in these landscapes with little access to resources, prone to disaster risk, little public investment in infrastructure and little access to green spaces (2). As a result, these communities live in poor conditions (1). For this reason, in 2013, the University of Washington, under its Urban Informal Communities Initiative programme (1), initiated a participatory project that sought to address the challenges faced by the inhabitants of this area (1, 2). In a series of participatory workshops, residents identified greenspace and food security as top priorities in their community; the Gardens, Greenspace and Health project responds to these priorities as an initial step towards the expansion of greenspace, agriculture and ecological restoration in and around the Eliseo Collazos community (2, 4).
Although individual families constructed them, the front yard gardens contribute to a shared public realm and community greening (4). The general project also involved the installation of fog catchers and the creation of common recreational spaces (4).

In Phoenix, many residents live in dead zones with little or no access to fresh food. These zones are called 'food deserts,' which represent a low-income area with low access to a grocery store (3). Out of the 43 food deserts identified by the city, 18 are fully or partly in south Phoenix (2-3). In 2017, Two researchers from Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability and Leuphana University Lüneburg in Germany began exploring the idea of creating a sustainable food forest cooperative in Phoenix to provide fresh, healthy food, supporting local entrepreneurs, and promote environmental sustainability (1). The project's development team spent months immersing themselves in the world of food forests, by exploring different types of community gardens, discussing preferred characteristics, anticipating local challenges, and identifying potential collaborators (1). As a result, The Food Forest Cooperative was established and planted roots in a 0.5 acre (0.20 ha) plot within the Spaces of Opportunity Community Garden in 2022 (1). This food forest engages the local community by offering educational opportunities around the value of culturally relevant, whole fruits and vegetables, medicine making, and learning about the many uses of edible/medicinal plants (4). The Food Forest Cooperative as a multi-generational project that members preserve for their children, and their children’s children (2). The intention behind the project is to address food insecurity in south Phoenix and empowering the community to take ownership of it and reconnect with their ancestors through the land and food (2). Through the Cooperative, members can contribute different skills, from administrative work to manual labor to community education and traditional medicine (2). It was created to empower community members and challenge the patterns of our food system through the blending of environmental, social and economic goals (4).

The initiative involved the creation of three educational spaces in social service centers for children (Bucium, Ion Holban, Bogdanesti) in Iasi and its peri-urban area that included urban gardens, the development of green spaces, and facilities for sports activities. In the urban gardens, raised and arranged in a circular design, various orchards and food-producing plants were planted, along with bushes and perennial plants introduced in the new green spaces. Additionally, benches, workshop stations, a volleyball court, and a ping-pong table were constructed alongside the green areas.
The initiative was implemented by the NGO "Asociatia Outventure" and financed through the "In stare de Bine" program, funded by Kaufland Romania and managed by the Fundatia Pentru Dezvoltarea Societatii Civile (Foundation for the Development of Civil Society). The project also included training for permanent volunteers involved in the initiative and conducted 16 thematic workshops on healthy living and ecological behaviors.
The primary target group for the initiative was children and young people at risk of social exclusion, whose circumstances worsened after the COVID-19 pandemic. The objective was to provide them with "an alternative space to develop their personalities, as well as the necessary tools to adopt a healthy lifestyle in harmony with the surrounding environment." The project had a budget of 22,127 euros and was implemented over the span of six months. (1-5)

The Färjenäs Agroforestry Garden started in 2013 in the Färjenäs park in Hisingen, Gothenburg. A group of people interested in agroforestry started a study circle on the topic the year before and then formed an association to apply their knowledge in practice. The City of Gothenburg helped the project get started by providing some funding and finding a 2000 sqm spot for the garden on land owned by the city. The Färjenäs agroforestry garden association is run by volunteers, who have planted about 200 different species of trees, bushes and herbs that produce produce. The planting and management of the garden aims to promote soil health and biodiversity. The association received funding from the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency in 2020 and partnered with the Natural History Museum in Gothenburg to further promote biodiversity and wild pollinators, and has partnered with a local beekeeping association to establish a beehive in the garden. The garden is open to the public and invites the public to educational activities and working events such as planting. The association aims to be a meeting place for locals and visitors from all over the city, with different cultural backgrounds and generations. Several courses and educational programs within agroforestry, agriculture and gardening have been held at the garden. [Ref. 1-7]