Climate change mitigation

The Seven Lochs Wetland Park is an urban park that is due to be created in Scotland. It will comprise nearly 20 km² of land and water between Glasgow and Coatbridge. The park will combine many existing features, including four local nature reserves; Bishop Loch, Cardowan Moss, Commonhead Moss (a raised bog) and Hogganfield Park; Drumpellier Country Park which includes Woodend Loch SSSI and Lochend Loch; Frankfield Loch; Johnston Loch; Garnqueen Loch; Provan Hall a 15th-century category A listed building. It will be Scotland's largest urban heritage and nature park. The vision for the Seven Lochs Wetland Park is of a new park of national significance, sustaining and enhancing a high quality, innovative wetland environment that will (a) protect and enhance biodiversity and heritage (b) promote health and well-being (c) contribute to environmental, economic and social regeneration (Ref 1).

The Leeds Parks and Green Space Strategy is a park protection, improvement, and creation program in Leeds under their Cultural Strategy. Main priorities are set out to achieve a vision where good quality and accessible parks and green spaces are at the heart of the community and meet the needs of everyone who lives, works, visits or invests in Leeds, now and for the future (Ref 5). The Parks and Green Space Strategy looks at the contribution made to priorities nationally and locally, and how it fits within the Leeds Cultural Strategy to develop parks and green spaces (Ref 3). Consultation is being undertaken to develop a vision for the future of Leeds City Council owned and managed public parks and green spaces beyond 2020, and a strategy for how to deliver that vision over the next 10 years. The new strategy will replace the previous strategy which runs to 2020 (Ref 9).

The municipality initiated to realize a healthy and climate-proof 'city island' which includes a large variety of projects, including the City Island Park Tour, which is a cycling/walking tour around the island that includes multiple green-blue infrastructure elements along two canals. Together it can be recognized as a large city park (ref. 2, 6). The tour contains the sights of green banks, recreation possibilities, bridges and boulevard-ways, thereby promoting environmental quality, mobility and attractiveness of the area (ref. 6). A food park at Leeuwensteyn is envisioned for 2050 (ref. 7).

Malls Mire is an area of mixed woodland and wetland habitat situated between Toryglen and Rutherglen. People from the surrounding communities have been working with Urban Roots to manage the woodland since 2009, improving its value for wildlife and working on the paths so that more people can enjoy it(Ref 1). It was declared a Local Nature Reserve in March 2015(Ref 2). Surveys by entomologists showed that the site is valuable for a number of rare beetles and a spider, the latter, Southern Motherphage (Coelotes terrestris) having only been found at one other site in Scotland(Ref 2).

The project started in 2013, when a group of private companies started a collaboration with the municipality of Bari to build a series of gardens on the top of households roofs in the city. With a total extension of 2000 sqm for the experiment, the main goal is to create a small micro-climate. The main advantages of this experiment is an improvement in the process of absorption of rain and to reduce energetic costs for heating. The green roofs are expected to play a role in facing the challenges posed by climate change. (Ref.1.)

The Humberhead Peatlands are the UK's largest lowland raised bog complex and are part of the Natura 2000 network. They are located East of Doncaster and include the Thorne Moors and the Hatfield Moors (both towns are part of the Doncaster Borough). Commercial peat extraction has changed the hydraulic balance of the area, which impacts the condition of the peatland. This project aims to restore the water balance and thereby the peatland that can help prevent flooding, which is a breeding ground for the European nightjar, while also creating local jobs. The Humberhead Peatlands LIFE+ project completed its delivery phase in June 2019. (Ref 2, 3)

"This disctrict of "Plateau de Haye" is part of the EcoQuartier approach, is one of the most ambitious urban renewal projects. In line with the development of the New Urban Renewal Program, work was carried out this year [2012] on the challenges of opening up territory to its urban and forestry environment in order to confirm the "Forest City" approach initiated by the architect-town planner Alexandre Chemetoff" (Ref. 1). It received the EcoQuartier National Grand Prize (Ref. 2). A forest, community gardens and a green corridor are being developed with a rainwater recovery system (Ref. 2). Work is set to continue until 2024 (Ref. 10). "It will first allow work to be done on the functionalities of the district : development of spaces freed up by the demolition of the Blanc Sycamore and the Purple Beech, reconversion of the Tamaris and Ombelles into housing, shops and spaces dedicated to companies, creation of green spaces , shared gardens and parking" (Ref. 10).

Glasgow Green is the largest park in central Glasgow with an area of 55 ha. The Glasgow Green renewal project was planned in order to restore the area from the disrepair and poor aesthetic quality to attractive, extensive open spaces, modern play facilities, spacious winter gardens, and historic people’s palace (Ref 1). The Glasgow Green renewal plan has been devised to restore Glasgow Green (including the People's Palace and Winter Gardens, Fleshers' Haugh and Richmond Park) to its original glory and create an improved visitor attraction. (Ref 3)

An urban park located in front of the central train station in Bucharest, built in 1937, and rehabilitated in 2008, as a response to an environmental awareness campaign. The park is a buffer green zone between the train station and the industrial neighborhood (1)

BIO.FOR.POLIS is a project for the cities of Caserta and Napoli, aiming at improving the biodiversity of the two forests under study. Their projects deal with the construction of streams within the Castelvolturno forest to connect the different parts of it. The two forest areas localized within an urban environment aim to improve the conditions of the ecosystems in a condition of human pressure. This is explicitly considered as a climate mitigation strategy. (Ref.1.)