Provision of other services

After more than one 100 trees were slaughtered in a few months upon order of the city in 2016, the association "Défenses des Arbres en Pays d'Aix" was created by multiple NGOs with the purpose of saving the plant heritage of Aix-en-Provence. Their main goal was to encourage the city's council to establish a "Charter for trees" dedicated to the city of Aix en Provence (Ref. 1). The work of the association was useful as the city decided to engage in a new charter, and prepare a new planting season with 64 trees (in 2016) (Ref. 4). The Charter was developed in 2017 (Ref. 6) and an environmental management plan for activities was developed in 2018 (Ref. 7).

The Green Belt in Frankfurt am Main spans in the inner area of the city and covers almost a third of the city's wider area which is around 80 square kilometres, around half of which is the city forest (6). In 1991, as stated in the city council's Green Belt Constitution, the Belt has been declared a protected open space while it also outlined the long term goal of securing and developing it (1). The green belt with its landscapes, excursion destinations and the large network of paths is important for the quality of life in Frankfurt and at the same time offers a place of retreat for plants and animals. It is essential for a good urban climate (1).

In 2019, the city of Poznań finalized works on another city park, as a part of its long-term urban redevelopment plan. When designing the park, the focus was on creating a place for relaxing and recreation for all residents - regardless of what forms of activity and relaxation they prefer. Therefore, the entire area has been divided into zones adapted to different needs, be it for active adults, children, or dog owners. The park comprises of an extensive lawn and is separated from a noisy street by a corridor of trees. Everything is lit with solar lamps [1,2,5].

Located in the neighborhood of Pla del Bon Repòs com, Carolines Altes, Carolines Baixes and Campoamor, the community orchard of Carolines is an initiative to transform an abandoned lot into a sustainable garden and a community orchard (Ref. 2). "The place where this orchard is located was an abandoned space for 20 years where a large amount of garbage accumulated. The neighbors decided to clean the area by giving it a use with an orchard area, meeting area, gardening. The people responsible for it are the assembly of neighbors. It is also an action to combat the physical and psychological degradation of the neighborhood, being the community garden an excuse for this, but also a fundamental pillar where these ideas are based." (Ref. 2)

The Huerto del Rey Moro is an urban community orchard/ garden beside the historic house Casa del Rey Moro. It is one of the only open green spaces in the downtown area of Sevilla where activities of environmental education, leisure and socializing are performed. (Ref 2) The Rey Moro orchard is cited as keeping true to the historic and cultural use of the area since it has been used as an orchard on and off over the past 500 years. (ref 2) Thanks to citizens themselves, as citizens acted to keep it a public and open space against a proposed legislation that would destroy it. (Ref 5)

“The purpose of the C/O City project is to highlight the value of nature in the city, create planning documentation and develop concrete solutions that facilitate work with ecosystem services in urban planning.” The three phases of the project were to develop tools and methods, verify and adjust the tools and make them available to key actors. The final phase was to test the tools/methods and evaluate them. (Note: the starting point of the project was the environmental profiling of the Royal Seaport; i.e. Norra Djurgårdsstaden). Now as the project is completed, the results and lessons are continued by a non-profit association. The purpose of the association is to draw attention to and highlight the value of urban ecosystem services and contribute to increased knowledge in the public construction sector. (Ref. 1, 7, 8)