1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Białystok
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Rekreacja na Jaroszówce
Short description of the intervention
The NBS is located on a previously neglected basketball and other games fields with obsolete and long unused equipment. Owing to the citizens’ initiative, the municipality built a new sport and leisure site at the Jaroszowka housing estate in Białystok. The project has increased social integration between different generations and provided a comfortable, safe and surrounded by nature space for sports and recreation. The project involved the planting of greenery, building a multifunctional playground and a multisport field, and it was complemented by benches, toilets, CCTV, and lights [1,2,4].

Address

ul. Rumcajsa
Białystok
Poland

Area boundary
POINT (23.223086 53.163531)
POINT (23.223226 53.16301)
POINT (23.225151 53.164155)
POINT (23.225189 53.163316)
NBS area image
Source of NBS area image
https://www.google.pl/maps/place/Bystrzycka,+Bia%C5%82ystok/@53.1635876,23.2230217,189m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m5!3m4!1s0x471ffe6f9541dc9b:0x787847d0e39a8388!8m2!3d53.1666428!4d23.2235152?hl=pl&authuser=0
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Please specify “other type of area” before implementation of the NBS
Previous derelict sports facilities
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2015
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2015
End date of the intervention
2016
Present stage of the intervention
Goals of the intervention
1) Providing a comfortable space for outdoor sports (like basketball, volleyball, football) for the residents;
2) Providing a modern and safe green recreational area for sport and leisure activities in the location of the former and later neglected sports facilities;
3) Increased social integration between different generations;
4) Increased access to the green recreational area in the district [1].
Quantitative targets
unknown
Monitoring indicators defined
unknown
Implementation activities
1) Building multifunctional sports pitch, playground, an outdoor gym and a sandpit;
2) Assembly of swings, carousels, a slide and a climbing wall;
3) Assembly of benches, bicycle racks and bins;
4) Building a new fence around the complex;
5) Installing new lamps and CCTV;
6) Planting greenery;
7) Performing all necessary sanitary and electrical works;
8) Building toilets [1,2,4].
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Parks and urban forests
Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces
Vegetation Type
Please specify other amenities offered by the NBS
Lamps and CCTV
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Cultural services
Recreation
Mental and physical health and wellbeing
Social and community interactions
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Governance
Non-government actors
Citizens or community groups
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
Citizens developed a proposal and applied for funds for its implementation from the participatory city budget. The local municipality financed the project in a co-funding arrangement with Funduszu Rozwoju Kultury Fizycznej (The Fund for the Development of Physical Culture). The contractor was a private company Hydros Plus Tomasz Kulesza [1,4].
Key actors - initiating organization
Land owners
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Local government/municipality
Citizens or community group
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Yes
Please specify the "local regulation/strategy/plan"
The rules of the participatory budget of Białystok state though that all submitted projects have to be compatible with law, third party rights (including property rights), as well as with the adopted plans, strategies and programs of the City of Białystok.(3)
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Please specify other type of voluntary intervention
Citizens developed a proposal on their own initiative.
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
Participatory budget of Białystok.
Co-finance for NBS
Yes
Co-financing governance arrangements
Yes
Co-governance arrangement
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Financing
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Around 1,800 000 PLN (around 400.000 EUR)
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
unknown
Please specify cost savings
unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
Around 1,800 000 PLN (around 400.000 EUR) [4]
Type of fund(s) used
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Type of innovation
Novelty level of the innovation
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
unknown
Replicability/Transferability
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
unknown
Impacts, benefits
Description of environmental benefits
The NBS is located on a previously neglected basketball and other games fields with obsolete and long unused equipment. The NBS has restored the area by maintianing and planting new greenery around new modern sports facilities [1,4].
Economic impacts
Description of economic benefits
unknown
Description of social and cultural benefits
The municipality implemented the project owing to the citizens’ initiative and a proactive approach towards the participatory budget. The project has increased social integration between different generations and provided a comfortable, safe and surrounded by nature space for sports and recreation. The site is complemented by benches, toilets, CCTV, and lights [1,2,4].
Type of reported impacts
Indicators
Visitors traffic [4]
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
Unknown as of September of 2020.
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
List of references
1.www.bialystok.pl, (2017), 'Recreation in Jaroszowka' ('Rekreacja na Jaroszówce'), https://www.bialystok.pl/pl/wiadomosci/aktualnosci/rekreacja-na-jaroszowce.html (Accessed: 12 September 2020).
2. http://bialystok.wyborcza.pl (2017), 'Modern and safe place. Sport and recreation in Jaroszówka' ('Nowoczesne i bezpieczne miejsce. Sport i rekreacja na Jaroszówce'), http://bialystok.wyborcza.pl/bialystok/7,35241,22062548,nowoczesne-i-bezpieczne-miejsce-sport-i-rekreacja-na-jaroszowce.html (Accessed: 12 September 2020).
3. City Council website, 'The rules of the participatory budget' ('Zasady') http://budzet.um.bialystok.pl/pl/budzet/zasady.html (Accessed: 12 September 2020).
4. Ausztol, K. (2016). Boiska, "piłkarzyki", plac zabaw. Kompleks na Jaroszówce już działa (Pitches, table football, a playground. The site at Jaroszówka is already functioning. Białystok Online. Available at: http://www.bialystokonline.pl/boiska-pilkarzyki-plac-zabaw-kompleks-na-jaroszowce-juz-dziala,artykul,92822,1,1.html (Accessed: 12 September 2020).
Interview comments
An email was sent to obtain additional information on sections 4 and 6. (Updated in 2017)
Comments and notes
Comments
Re:2 I changed the description of the project, but not the implementation activities as there is really nothing to add there (the information on the project was scarce)
Re:4 I changed it to ‘yes’, but I cannot identify exact name of the strategy/plan.
Re:5 This is a very standard neighbourhood project (even for Polish standards) and I think that it shouldn’t qualify as an innovation in any sense. (Updated in 2017)
Additional insights
I received an email from the Białystok City Council explaining that the projects from the participatory budgets are designed by the citizens and that citizens can be inspired by the local strategies/plans (that are available to the public), but the City Council doesn’t know which plans that would be in case of every singular project. In an email they also asked for clarification regarding what do we mean by ‘monitoring’ – indicating that there is no formal monitoring system in place. (Updated in 2017)
Public Images
Image
Playground in Białystok
Playground in Białystok
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKN0dl3D-28