Environmental quality

The Gorla Maggiore water park, inaugurated in March 2013, is situated within the municipality of Gorla Maggiore, in the Italian region Lombardy, located about 30 kilometers northwest of Milan. The water park is a constructed wetlands (CW) built on the banks of the Olona river that includes (a) a pollutant removal area composed of a grid, a sedimentation tank and four vertical sub-surface flow constructed wetlands; (b) a multipurpose area with a surface flow constructed wetland or pond with multiple roles; and (c) a recreational park with restored riparian trees, green open space, walking and cycling paths. [1]

The Gran Recorrido de Bilbao (GR), known as the Green Ring or Great Route of Bilbao, is a part of Bilbao’s Green Belt, a municipal initiative that encompasses forest and urban parks surrounding the city. The Green Route aims to skirt the City passing through the forest parks of Artxanda, the mountain of Avril, Arnotegi, Pagasarri, and Arraiz. It completes a route of 99.3 kilometers in a closed belt of trails, paths, roads and streets signposted with references to routes, interesting places, and general information. The Green Route is reachable from the center of Bilbao through eleven additional routes that all lead to a central point. [3][4]

The Lama Balice Nature Park is located near a long 'lama', which is a deep karst gorge, located north of the city of Bari. Established in an abandoned site, the nature park protects the area of the riverbed in the periphery of the city, acting as a natural channel for regulating water flow. It also serves as a recreational and cultural hub, while conserving agricultural functions and maintaining biodiversity. An administrative body consisting of the participating local mayors has been set up to manage the protected area. [1][2]

The "Oasis for Children" project, implemented in Zagreb, is based on the experience of implementing non-institutional education in 5 primary schools in Zagreb. The main objective of the project is to promote the principles of healthy lifestyles, environmental protection, sustainable development and volunteering among pupils of partner primary schools. Throughout the year, students will be educated outdoors in school gardens, on environmental protection, sustainable development, healthy lifestyles and volunteerism. Students will also work on the garden for the opportunity of practising the knowledge gained from the regular education system. Every academic year, new primary schools are added to the project with the increased popularity of the school gardens [Ref 1]

After 2011, in the face of crisis and austerity hardship and the collapse of the central public welfare system, many municipalities assumed the role of enhancing food production through urban allotment gardens. In Ag. Dimitrios (AD), the idea emerged from a couple of newly elected representatives one of whom was part of an agriculture cooperative outside of Athens. A mixture of social and environmental goals were set (to change the microclimate, to change people's habits, to reintroduce contact with nature in the city, to be environment-friendly through good practices, and to create an educational ground for children). [1]

The Tree Strategy is a municipal action plan in progress, aiming to address some of the main sustainability challenges described in the Environmental Program of Malmö City. Its main relations to sustainability challenges include improved health and well-being, decrease differences in those among different social groups and increase biodiversity. The Strategy includes a range of possibilities for evaluating its ecological and social success (ref. 1).

Initiated by the City Administration, NGOs and citizen groups, public funds have in recent years been used alongside partnerships with local businesses, landowners and citizen initiatives to invigorate the East Quarter. This initiative was proposed through the redesign, extension and new development of parks, greening and communal use of vacant plots, the establishment of new urban forests, the setting up of new communal gardens, and the planning and partial implementation of a green corridor for cyclists and pedestrians.
Within this large project, three NBS areas actively contributed to the improvement of the Quarter: Querbeet, Bunte Gärten and Parkbogen Ost (1).
Querbeet is a community garden in the Eastern district of Leipzig, formed in 2012. The garden is lead by democratic self-governance principles where the focus is on shared space, with a focus on enhancing cultural interactions and encouraging active citizenship (1). Since 2017, the plot of the garden has reduced, however, the non-profit organisation formed two new gardens: a community garden and a school garden where environmental education the main activity (2)
Bunten Garten (Colorful Garden) is a community garden and registered refugee aid association that aims to bring residents and refugees together (3) The garden was revived in 2015, and since offers opportunities for recreation, wellbeing and informal support to refugee families (1).
Parkbogen Ost is a scheme focusing on developing unused railway tracks as an arch-shaped, green mobility corridor running along the perimeters of much of Leipzig’s East Quarter and connecting the quarter’s green spaces and providing easier access, by foot or bike, to the city centre as well as to surrounding areas. (1, 4)

Initially the park was created in 1903 as a summer residence for the royal family and had a no-visitor’s policy. For over 40 years the park collected 821 trees, shrub and, grass species from all over the world on less than 100 ha. After the estate was given back to the successors of Tsar Boris III, they partially donated the park to Sofia municipality and in 2013 the park-museum ‘Vrana’ was opened for visitors. Due to its rare species, well-preserved wilderness and historical significance, the park enjoys great interest from tourists as well as scientists as a biodiversity hotspot. (Ref 1)

The idea of beekeeping originated from AUDI AG, Audi Hungaria's parent company. In 2015, Audi Hungaria was in the midst of implementing its flora and fauna protection plan thus the beekeeping idea was in line with ongoing developments, and was quickly taken up by management. 6 bee colonies with 270,000 bees were installed in September 2015. The bees produce 200-240 kilograms of honey each year, which is branded as Audi Hungaria Premium Honey, and gifted to visitors, as well as purchasable in the gift shop. The income is used for nature conservation programmes. The company also cooperates with the University of Sopron in a biomonitoring project which uses the bees as bioindicators of environmental pollution. (Reference 1)

The School Garden of Széchenyi István University, Apáczai Csere János Faculty in downtown Győr was reestablished by the Vice Dean of Apáczai in 2013. Apáczai’s new school garden trains university students studying education on properly organizing and maintaining the school garden with ecological methods in the format of an optional credit course at the university. Alongside the university students, elementary school student groups are responsible for the planting, maintenance, harvesting, seed collection and other activities under the supervision of teachers and in Apáczai’s garden. The modern school garden movement is rapidly growing since 2013 due to its recognized value in current pedagogical movements, and role in education for sustainability (Reference 1). In 2019, a raised garden bed was also added to the garden, which made that part of the garden accessible to wheelchair users as well. (Reference 2)