Enabling opportunities for physical activity

"MiColtivo, Orto a Scuola" promoted by Fondazione Riccardo Catella, aims at involving children with horticulture with the aim of educating them on the importance of a correct diet and environmental issues. The first pilot project was launched in local schools in 2012. The project was developed in the concept of the imminent EXPO 2015, as the main topics were nutrition and the environment. (1)

This is a tree-planting initiative for the creation of a new forested area in the Parco Nord of Bologna. During the project lifetime (originally planned from2016-2018), a total of 4.000 new trees will be planted. The trees will be 2-2,5 meters high to give the appearance of a forested area inside the city (1).
As of 2019, the implementation of the forest is on hold and it depends on the construction of the so-called "Passante di Bologna", namely a highway with 3 high-speed routes. If the highway is approved (and there is enough funding) then the forest can also be implemented (6).

San Giuliano Park, inaugurated in May 2004, was designed by Arch. Antonio Di Mambro of the Comunitas Group. The first two lots have been implemented for a total area of about 74 hectares, including green areas and recreational infrastructure. The creation of this park is one of the biggest re-qualification initiatives in the national territory. With the implementation of the park, the area of Punta San Giuliano, used for years as a landfill of industrial and urban waste, definitively loses its barrier function between Mestre and its lagoon and returns to the natural state of the ancient city (1).

The project opts for switching to more sustainable and organic ways of handling natural parks in the urban areas of the city of Bologna. The project was launched in 2008 and focused on 100 hectares, meaning 10 parks (out of the 1.100 total in the city). The goal is to develop maintenance techniques with low impact on local flora and fauna, stimulating biodiversity and an equilibrium with the surrounding urban environment, as well as the reduction of toxicity impacts for vulnerable residents (i.e. children and elderly people) (1 and 2).
This NBS solution focuses on changing maintenance of Bologna public urban parks from conventional techniques to biological ones (1 and 2).

The park will have a surface of 100.000 sqm. It is designed to be the beating heart between municipality offices, fashion and culture related buildings, vital train connections and residential areas. The paths generate a mosaic of irregular plots. Each with specific groups of plant species, grasses or lawn. Circular tree groupings are superimposed on these plots, and together they will form a botanic library. The vegetal patches alternate with water and hard materials, thus creating a series of public spaces that house cultural and recreational program (1).

The project aimed to make the banks of the river Sava a more secure place by setting up illumination poles and thus motivate people to go there also by installing potable water fountains. The project includes environmental friendly illumination of both sides of the river Sava, development of 6 water pipes and toilets and renovation of the pedestrian and bike paths (4 sq km). The project in the second phase will also include additional illumination and water stations up to Jankomirski Bridge (in total 16 km, on both sides of the river Sava) (Ref 1).
The locals use the area for running, dog walking and for relaxation. Previously the place didn't have lights which made it unsafe during the night. The Mayor promised the citizens to return the river as well as an emphasis on the bridges that "conect, rather than separate" (Ref 1, 2, 3, 4).

This is a pilot project part of the strategic plan "Città di Città" in the Milano province, launched in 2006 by the Direzione Centrale Risorse Ambientali, by the Parco Agricolo Sud Milano and by the Multiplicity.lab of the Politecnico di Milano. The project consists in the realisation of a green ring surrounding the city for an extension of 30.000 hectares (15% of the metropolitan area). The ring will connect a series of green areas already existing in the city. The project will insert a total of 3 million new trees along different areas of the city (2). The "metrobosco" is described as: a green belt made up of new forests, parks and rows that extend along the borders of the capital of Milan. A continuous ring of trees and small and large clearings to meet farms, abbeys, watercourses, agricultural areas and spaces for recreation and sports. The project arises from the need to redefine the relationship between city and country, to intensify plant and animal biodiversity, the preservation of existing and the construction of new "ecological corridors", the mitigation of climate imbalances, the abatement of noise and atmospheric pollution, the care and maintenance of the territory and the production of sources for agro-energies (4).

On a yearly basis, the city of Zagreb, Zagrebački holding plants new trees and bushes to maintain Zagreb as a green city with 114 hectares of green spaces (Ref 2). Also includes maintenance of green surfaces, such as grass in public parks along with tram tracks and planting new trees and maintaining existing ones next to kindergartens and schools (Ref 2). Maintenance of city parks, lawns and tree lines includes cleaning, mowing and collecting grass and garbage from green areas, restoration of trampled lawns, maintenance and pruning of trees, shrubs and hedges, maintenance and care of seasonal and permanent flower beds, maintenance of paved and dune areas in parks and installation and maintenance of urban equipment in parks and children's playgrounds (Ref 1).

The Alicante City Council will receive 11 million euros from the European FEDER sustainable growth program 2014-2020 to carry out this project, the Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Strategy of Alicante DUSI Las Cigarreras. This funding will allow the integral transformation of an area that extends between The Castles of Santa Bárbara and San Fernando.” (Ref. 1). The specific transformation includes the recovery and dynamization of an important urban area that includes four historical neighbourhoods and two of the most emblematic mountains of the city, surrounded by two castles and with extensive green areas and rehabilitation of the existing city from the social and environmental sustainability, facing new urban development (Ref. 2)

A community project named Green Rehab in Göteborg’s botanical garden and it is “a nature-based rehabilitation programme for workers suffering from stress-related illness or mild depression in Sweden's Västra Götaland Region. The programme offers a new beginning for employees on long-term sick leave, by combining traditional occupational, physio- and psychotherapy with recent research insights into how gardens and nature can aid recovery from illness. The goal is that a participant who completes the programme will go back to work again and achieve a better quality of life. (Ref. 1)