Provision of labour

The catchment includes the River Avon (a major resource for recreational activities and public water supply) and its various tributaries. Coventry is the largest urban area in the catchment, and the catchment has a high value for wildlife. (Ref. 1)
Main priorities include engaging communities to take ownership of their local water environment, reducing urban and rural pollution; delivering enhancement projects in the 3 Priority Areas (e.g. Coventry Brooks) and Returning water corridors to a near-natural state. (Ref. 2). The Catchment Based Approach (CaBA) is a Government policy framework that empowers local action to improve the water environment through community partnerships. A renewed focus on the catchment-based approach has led to Catchment Partnerships (i.e. The Warwickshire Avon Catchment Partnership) being set up to drive local delivery of these projects. (Ref. 3)

The Garden Factory ('Tuinfabriek') is an exceptional urban agriculture project on a roof of the central station that aims at becoming the largest food-producing roof of the Netherlands. The project is a self-sustaining vegetable garden located on the roof of a busy mall in the centre of Utrecht (ref. 5). On the roof, citizens, students, company employees and schools work together to grow vegetables and keep bees and chicken. The Garden Factory reflects an ecological 'self-sustaining factory' as the chickens, worms and bees 'work' in the garden as being part of the decomposing system and pollination and a system is built for rainwater retention that allows for irrigation (ref. 1). Eating, composting, sowing, growing, harvesting, cooking form the production process of this Garden Factory (ref. 4).
The main elements of the roof garden are in place, such as the crop bins, the chicken coop and the decomposing machine are completed. However, it is an ongoing developing project as some elements are still in development stage such as some elements of the Soup Kitchen and the aim is to integrate the Garden Factory more with the central station shopping mall in multiple ways (ref. 1).

The city department for green space, environment and sustainability and the foundation citizens for Münster initiated a citizen-based intervention which aims at turning the park area at the "Spickmannplatz“ called "Grünschleife“ into a meeting point for residents and neighbours. The concept for its regeneration is based on workshops and ideation processes of citizens whose involvement goes beyond urban gardening activities but involves an active co-creation of the area by co-planning and development. Apart from several communal restorations works, vegetables, fruits and herbs plantations, a pavilion, a dog station and chessboards with benches were set up (ref. 1).

The initiative promoted by the event “Primavera Mediterranea” (Mediterranean spring) transforms the central pedestrian area of via Argirio into an urban park. The project is aimed at rethinking the urban spaces in a green way, as urban gardens are built within the whole central area. The main benefit of the initiative is to give a green view of the city centre, a new dimension of the lived urban space. In addition, workshops and manifestations are organized within the area, to promote also the social and cultural value of the zone. (Ref.1.) The intervention is an initiative taking place every year since 2011, which lasts for days. Private shops, associations and consultancies work together to realise the urban gardens in the main street in Bari. (Ref.1.2.&3.)

Warwickshire Wildlife Trust has completed an urban river restoration on the Guphill Brook that aims to restore the brook's natural features and enhance the surrounding habitat. "The project [is expected to] bring multiple benefits to diminishing wildlife and deprived local communities but also importantly to flood risk reduction, which is becoming ever more important with the increased negative effects of climate change." (Ref. 1)

The hurricane Kyrill devastated up to one-third of the tree stock in the city of Münster and thereby changed the green cityscape in 2007. Therefore, the civic society movement "Foundation Citizens for Münster" initiated the project "Bürgerbäume" (literal translation: citizen trees) to foster reforestation of the promenade of the city castle and other affected spots in 2008. In collaboration with the city department for urban green, motivated citizens and citizen groups took over tree sponsorships with up to € 1,000 per tree to help restore the urban green within three months after the event (ref. 1, 4).

In 2011 the Municipality of Lisbon promoted a project for urban gardens in the Horticultural Park of Telheiras (Ref.4).
The park is an allotment garden with the objective of supporting the urban agricultural practice for its own consumption. The residents of the locality had the possibility of renting at a symbolic price, one of the plots made available by the municipality (ref.5).
Beyond the provision of plots, the Council also provides fences, shelters for storage, water irrigation, training and technical support (ref. 1).

The project tackles the habitat fragility of the Ligurian wetlands and the impact of a turtle species called Emys orbicularis in the Centa Piana river, the Vara and Magra rivers areas. The project focused on the restoration of the natural habitat, the eradication of invasive American species threatening the European turtle species and the assistance of local turtles reproduction and re-introduction in the wild. A large part of the project was conducted thanks to the participation of volunteers and large emphasis was given to education about environmental habitats protection. (1)

"The Coventry Water Vole Project aims to improve Coventry’s waterways and riverside habitat for water voles." "Water voles are Britain's most severely threatened mammal. Numbers have declined by as much as 95% in Warwickshire in recent years due to threats such as habitat loss, habitat fragmentation, poisoning, and predation.” "The Coventry Water Vole Project has focused on the control of the non-native and highly invasive plant Himalayan balsam, followed by replanting some riverside areas with native 'water vole friendly' wetland plants." (Ref. 1)

The city of Clermont-Ferrand has 2 sites of family gardens, located at rue Robert Lemoy and rue du Château des Vergnes at which they have installed on a total area of 40 216 m², 172 parcels leased to, mainly, Clermontois residents in apartments without gardens. The gardens are a true place of life for gardeners where families and friends may meet and share convivial moments. Inscribed in a practice respectful of the environment, the gardeners and their cultivations turn toward a kind of agriculture that expects from each gardener an eco-responsible behavior in the production of food (Ref. 1).