1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Sintra
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Parque Urbano da Cavaleira
Short description of the intervention
In 2017, the Sintra City Council opened a new urban park in the quarter of Cavaleira, with 25 thousand square meters that are inserted in urbanization where about 5 thousand people live. The park has zones of stay and of leisure, circuits of exercise for adults and seniors, children's green playground, pedestrian routes, canine park and the entire park has a green turf cover.
The design of the park, an investment of around 600 thousand euros, counted on the active participation of the population through ideas for the final project. (ref.2)
Address

R. Cidade de Portimão 35,
2725-079 Sintra
Portugal

Total area
24763.00m²
NBS area
24763.00m²
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2014
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2016
End date of the intervention
2017
Present stage of the intervention
Goals of the intervention
1) Create a new centrality in an area, until then, without spaces of leisure for the population, with the purpose of returning the public space to the citizens. (ref.3)
2) Implement a new green area with grass and other green covers;
3) Create leisure and recreational areas with circuits of exercise for adults and seniors, children's green playground, pedestrian routes, canine park and the entire park has a green turf cover. (ref.2)
4) To return the public space to the residents. (1)
5) To value and improve the daily lives of all who live and work in the municipality of Sintra. (2)
6) This intervention aims to harmoniously consolidate the space as a whole, using the green as a connecting element (characteristic vegetation recreating, thus, the natural and cultural landscape of Sintra) and efforts on the diversity of equipment (ref.4)
Quantitative targets
Create 25 thousand square meters of green space and living areas intended for all generations (ref.3)
Serving approx. 5000 people who live in the neighborhood (1)
Monitoring indicators defined
Size area that was covered
No of people benefiting from the NBS (3)
Implementation activities
Work was being carried out on the installation of irrigation networks, lighting networks, as well as the delimitation of leisure spaces provided for in the project (3)
Type of NBS project
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Grey infrastructure featuring greens
Green playgrounds and school grounds
Parks and urban forests
Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces
Green areas for water management
Sustainable urban drainage systems
What is the level of innovation / development of the NBS related to water management?
Vegetation Type
Please specify how many trees were planted
Unknown no of trees
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Regulating services
Flood regulation
Cultural services
Aesthetic appreciation
Recreation
Mental and physical health and wellbeing
Social and community interactions
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Governance
Governance arrangements
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
This was a projects that counted on the active participation of the population through ideas for the project to create the park, an initiative that gained a new momentum, (ref.3)
Key actors - initiating organization
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"
PDM Regulation - Municipal Master Plan (Regulamento do PDM - Plano Director Municipal) (ref.5)
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Mandatory (based on policy)
Intervention is mandatory
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
Yes
Please specify the general plan with GI/NBS section
PDM Regulation - Municipal Master Plan (Regulamento do PDM - Plano Director Municipal) (ref.5)
If there is a relevant strategy or plan, please specify the theme / type of the plan.
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
Unknown
Co-finance for NBS
No
Co-financing governance arrangements
No
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?
Unknown
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)
700.000 euros (1)
Source(s) of funding
Type of fund(s) used
Non-financial contribution
Unknown
Business models
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Please specify technological innovation
This intervention aims to harmoniously consolidate the space as a whole, using the green as a connecting element and it represents an effort on the diversity of equipment, with the creation of a wide space with zones of stay and leisure, circuits of maintenance for adults / seniors, children's playground, new green areas and pedestrian paths. (ref.3)
Please specify social innovation
An important social aspect of this NBS intervention was that it was rooted in the active participation of the population through ideas for the project to create the park, an initiative that gained a new momentum and gave an added value to the project (ref.3)
Novelty level of the innovation
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Impacts, benefits
Description of environmental benefits
No impacts were reported by the municipality however it is clear that from an environmental point of view one of the benefits was that a new green area was created, this being the sixth in the entire city of Sintra, in just 3 years time.(2)
Economic impacts
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Description of social and cultural benefits
No official reports regarding impacts have been submitted, however it is worth mentioning that the municipality was expecting an increase in local involvement when it came to green matters in the city, meaning active participation to decide how the park will be designed. The NBS indeed improved the access to green spaces for 5000 people who live there because this urban park creates a centrality in an area without leisure spaces for the population and is part of the municipality wish to return the public space to the residents (1, 2)
Type of reported impacts
Indicators
Unknown
Environmental, social and economic impacts
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 July 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
Yes
Mode(s) of citizen involvement in evaluation/assessment
Please specify other modes of citizen involvement in evaluation/assessment
The concession of the park counted on the active participation of the population through ideas for the final project.
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
List of references
(1) Câmara Munic. Sintra (2017) Parque Urbano da Cavaleira será inaugurado em breve, Available at http://www.cm-sintra.pt/parque-urbano-da-cavaleira-sera-inaugurado-em-breve (Accessed 22-6-2020).

(2) Câmara Munic. Sintra (2017) Parque Urbano da Cavaleira inaugurado esta terça-feira Available at http://www.cm-sintra.pt/parque-urbano-da-cavaleira-inaugurado-esta-terca-feira (Accessed 22-6-2020).

(3) SintraNotiocias (2017), Basílio Horta inaugurou Parque Urbano da Cavaleira, Available at http://sintranoticias.pt/2017/04/25/basilio-horta-inaugura-parque-urbano-da-cavaleira (22-6-2020)

(4) Jornal da Regiao (2017), Começaram as obras do novo Parque Urbano da Cavaleira, no Algueirão, Available at https://jregiao-online.webnode.pt/products/comecaram-as-obras-do-novo-parque-urbano-da-cavaleira-no-algueirao/ (Accessed 4-8-2020)

(5) PDM Regulation - Municipal Master Plan (Website not available in 2020)
Comments and notes
Public Images
Image
Opening of Cavaleira Park
Opening of Cavaleira Park
Source: http://sintranoticias.pt/2017/04/25/basilio-horta-inaugura-parque-urbano-da-cavaleira
Image
Opening of Cavaleira Park
Opening of Cavaleira Park
Source: http://sintranoticias.pt/2017/04/25/basilio-horta-inaugura-parque-urbano-da-cavaleira
Image
Opening of Cavaleira Park
Opening of Cavaleira Park
Source: http://sintranoticias.pt/2017/04/25/basilio-horta-inaugura-parque-urbano-da-cavaleira