Enabling opportunities for physical activity

The government of Mallorca promotes orchards, as part of an ecological movement in Spain. As a result, five orchards were constructed, reclaiming abandoned urban spaces by the Mallorca city government in 2010.
The project has three pillars: strengthening social cohesion and inclusion, creating opportunities for education and for recreation. They were also constructed with pensioners in mind (Ref 2).
There would be an annual draw to give to distribute the orchards. However, this got delayed since 2013. In 2019, the municipality took back the property from the previous owners, and one of the orchards was taken from the list of orchards due to its bad conditions (Ref 5). In 2020, there was going to be a new draw for the distribution of orchards with new focus groups requirements but due to Covid19, this project has been paused (Ref 5).

Owing to the city’s participatory budget, the residents created a well-equipped green recreational square in a vacant area of one of Bydgoszcz's neighbourhoods. The initiative involved the creation of an outdoor gym with several exercise equipment stations, as well as planting pollution-resistant trees and bushes - including oaks, maples, pine and spruce. The initiative aims to manage vacant space and increase access to the green space in this city district [1].

Southsea Green community garden was developed from a derelict strip of land, to encourage more local growing and spread the message about gardening and volunteering. With time, the garden has transformed into a community green-space (1). Southsea Greenhouse is a collective of gardeners and crafters. The Greenhouse Community Co-operative is transforming wasteland into a community garden and re-investing profits from sales of produce and crafts, back into the local community. Community events and workshops are offered to encourage sharing of local skills and resources, foster a love of the city’s greenspace, and care for wildlife. (3)

The revitalization of two parks in Bydgoszcz - on 'Dabrowski’ and 'Liberty’ hills was planned in 2016 and successfully implemented in 2019. The project involved greenery planting, building health paths and outlook points, as well as new benches and a playground. It improved the aesthetic qualities of the parks, supported the effective management of rainwater and reduced noise from the surrounding areas [1].

The project aims to completely redevelop ‘Rozemaai’, a neighborhood in Antwerp, focusing on climate change adaptation, green spaces, and recreation. This includes a sustainable drainage system in which storm water flows via swales into a water stream with nature-friendly river banks, trees and bushes in the neighborhood, green parking lots, allotments and recreational facilities such as picnic tables (Ref. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). Since 2019, the district has had a new, accessible park in which the Donkse brook plays a leading role (Ref. 7).

A new wildflower meadow has been created at a new estate on the outskirts of Belfast. The Mount Eagles Drive Action Group held a wildflower planting event with two local Colin primary schools, namely, Christ the Redeemer and Our Lady Queen of Peace to provide a unique opportunity for children to learn about nature, and, in particular, how wildflowers are an essential part of our landscape, enhancing the biodiversity of our native insect, plant and animal species. (ref1) Pupils from Christ the Redeemer and Our Lady Queen of Peace schools spent a morning planting a wide variety of wildflower plugs and seeds in the Mount Eagles wildflower meadow, under the expert supervision of highly trained horticulturalists. (Ref 3)

The Dee Park Regeneration Project aims to rebuild the 1,100 homes from the 1960s-built estate, that has been worked on in close consultation with the community. The estate is one of the 20 per cent most deprived areas in the country. The vision for the regeneration project is to create “a safe, inclusive and sustainable community, economically, environmentally and socially, as part of the wider Reading, where people want to live and work, and which will inspire a sense of pride”. The third and final phase of the project is ongoing and is expected to be completed soon. (Ref. 1, 4, 8, 9)

A project for the creation of a new central park was launched in 2018, where a harbor consisting of three docks used to be and is now used as primarily as a car park. The park was planned to consist of three large green spaces that are the exact same size as the original docks. As the green areas are planned to be surrounded by rows of trees, the park will look like New York’s Central Park. The park is set to contribute to Antwerp’s climate change resiliency as the central green area will contain a water basin in which stormwater can be stored temporarily and slowly infiltrate, which is enhanced by the riverbank vegetation (Ref. 1, 2, 6).

Offord Road community garden is a place for the residents of West Reading (i.e. those who live, work, go to school in the area). Reading Borough Council set up the community garden (i.e. the green space) at the Oxford Road end of Western Elms Avenue through a grant called ‘Section 106’ (thus giving the site back to the community in 1996). (Ref. 1, 2, 7)

Pegnitztal West is a new corridor and recreation zone along a section of the Pegnitz river in Nurnberg suitable for all kinds of social groups and intended for recreational activities (1). The project instrumentalizes green and blue infrastructure for creating conditions for sport, leisure, and recreation, as well as serving a transitional function for the dwellers of the neighboring Gostenhof and St. Johannis districts (1). The green corridor also provides a protected urban habitat for various species, including more than 8 different tree species, water bats, green woodpeckers and swamp warblers. The project also stabilized the water level of the river and helps flood protection efforts. (2, 7)