Co-management/Joint management

The NBS was inspired by the first social garden created by citizens on Chrobrego Street. Later, the municipality provided funds for 4 additional projects. Social gardens were created in the housing estates of Wyżyny, Okole, Jary and Wilczak. Residents planted new bushes, flowers, trees, grass, and perennials, and arranged the existing nature in their pocket gardens. In some cases, they also established 'hotels' for insects and pollinators or created thematic paths. Common efforts are to grow healthy plants, herb and vegetable, and to create a friendly atmosphere in the gardens. The gardens are small, 100 square meters on average [1,4].

The Biodroom is a community garden where citizens can meet each other, children can play, and where vegetables are grown ecologically. The Biodrome started as a laboratory for art, gardening and ecology in the city: a temporary culture project with art manifestations, but is since 2014 it functions as a community garden that is maintained by citizens (Ref. 1).

Interkultural Garten was founded in 2009 as an initiative of the Society for the Promotion of Occupational and Social Integration. The aims of the project are social integration between migrants and locals from the same neighborhood, healthy and free-off-charge food supply for those who are in need, as well as the improvement of the natural environment in the neighborhood. The garden plot is located on the former Reese barracks ground (Ref. 1).

The Lolli-Malaspina area of the central station intervention aims to replace the current urban space and to replace it with a system that can complete and integrate the existing one, and generate a new centrality, transforming the current laceration into an urban seam. There are new gardens outside the central station, which link the different areas of the railway, and it has been implemented because the area of the central station is a strategical node for the city which has to be reinforced with new green areas. (Ref.1.)

'Groene Mient' (Green Commons) is a citizen initiative that realized an exceptional social-ecological residential project consisting of three housing buildings of energy neutral homes and a 3,500 m2 communal garden (1,6). Storm water is captured from the roofs of the buildings into bioswales, permeable paving is applied, the shared garden is 'eatable' and houses run on sustainable energy (1). The houses do not have a gas connection and have three different sustainable energy systems: heat pump with heat-cold storage, solar boiler or electric heating (6).

The ‘Mountain Forest Initiative’ was launched in 2009 by the Bavarian Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Forestry to restore the protective function of the vulnerable alpine forest in light of climate change, and was ongoing until 2014. To create a general sense of ownership in the process, the Mountain Forest Initiative sought the involvement of different stakeholders at the local level (e.g., private forest owners, land-use related authorities, hunters, nature conservationists, and tourism associations) (Ref. 1).

The intervention to regenerate 5 squares in the city of Catania is a result of an announcement published by the EU, where European cities had the chance to present projects to get funds. Catania municipality was chosen for the importance of the areas from a historical and cultural perspective, and for the aim to insert green areas and vegetation both inside and outside the historical buildings. The square will see a new green area, in a process of linkage of nature and architecture. The whole area will be filled with some Mediterranean plants and trees (Ref.1.)

The Sea Heroes Garden is a community garden that was initiated by citizens on an empty lot with the goal to create a garden in which children can play, fruit and vegetables are grown organically and social activities are organized.(1) In the garden, multiple measures allow for storm water retention and the vegetation provides habitat for a broad variety of species. (5).

"Located near several schools, the renovation of this 1,900 m² area, shrubby massifs, grassed areas and varied plants, comes directly from the initiative of local residents" (Ref.1). "During the renovation, the municipal departments ensured the enhancement of biodiversity and ecological management by favoring species that require little watering and phytosanitary treatment" (Ref. 2, page 12).

'Proeftuin Erasmusveld' is a new and sustainable urban residential area in The Hague. It will be a new nature-inclusive, energy-efficient, car-free neighbourhood that is created for plants, animals and people promoting healthy living (1). As of November 2020, The building of the neighbourhood with its unique houses and buildings is still in progress (1).

Currently, the area is an 'experimental area' for all kinds of sustainability initiatives that may be used for the realization of the neighbourhood, including self-sufficient 'tiny houses' and urban farmland (1,2). The ambition for Erasmusveld is to become a leading sustainable neighbourhood with a sustainable water system, the use of sustainable energy and a vegetable garden with high connectedness between citizens (4).