Health and well-being (SDG 3)

‘Odla i stan’ aims to spread and develop urban farming in a long-term and sustainable manner with residents, associations, property owners and city administrations. The company also works with educational farming at schools and in Malmö Museums (Malmö Museer). Furthermore, “urban farming is an excellent method for increasing social community while providing self-produced food. ‘Odla i stan’ works to organize and coordinate organic farming in the urban environment.” This is done by only working with organic methods and trying to use only local resources.
(ref. 1, 3)

The present intervention is about the rehabilitation of the freedom square (Námestie hraničiarov) (formerly Gottwald square) in the city district of Petržalka of the city of Bratislava (9, 11). The area of the intervention is about 1 ha. The pavement was replaced by grass areas, trees, and flower beds in the square’s alleys. A water capturing and irrigation system was also installed to ensure resilience to drought. The project was implemented by the city district of Petržalka, which is - with 100,000 inhabitants - one of the larger and most densely populated districts of Bratislava. (1)

"Since August 2004, the city of Montpellier has allowed residents to rent plots of garden, called "Les jardins Familiaux"(family gardens). The first plots were located in the Mosson district, but in view of the success of this operation, the city decided to open additional gardens at the Grands Grès site in the Port Marianne district, then at the Rieucoulon in the Croix- Money. The enthusiasts of green spaces can thus indulge in the pleasure of gardening in family thanks to these brackets of greenery. They grow vegetables and fruit as they please"(Ref. 1). Seventeen gardens (as of August 3, 2020) are located in different areas across the city (Ref. 6). "These gardens are urban planning tools favoring the social bond and the preservation of biodiversity and the urban landscape, for the gardeners interviewed these are essentially places of nature and well-being in the city"(Ref. 4)

Organic Without Borders (OWB) is an NGO (ideell förening) that works to develop and support methods for a sustainable future anywhere in the world. The NGO develops methods through socio-ecological city farming and working pedagogically with children and adults and their relationship to food and farming in Sweden and other countries (ref.1).

The intervention was planned to revitalize and clean a derelict area close to the university hospital in Blato. Before the project was implemented, the area was an informal waste disposal site for the locals. The area was neglected for more than 30 years. Initially, Mayor Milan Bandić planned a large urban park with a thermal spa in the spot. The area was cleaned and some of the constructions had begun, but later it stopped due to some political hurdles (Ref 1, 2).
The first phase, cleaning the shrubs and waste from the area has been completed in 2015, but the use of the area has not been determined yet, therefore the project has not been completed (Ref 1).

The project refers to the development of a vacant plot to create a social garden. Activities and plans implemented included: planting greenery, creating flower meadows and flowerbeds, common flowers planting by citizens, common vegetable growing area and a greenhouse, recreational area (hammock, trampolines, field games, sun loungers and sofas for recreation), cultural zone (outdoor cinema, exhibition space), workshop area (for artistic, ecological and sports workshops), canteen area (open-air kitchen, outdoor bar, communal dining space). The garden was open for the public between 2016 and 2018.(1)(4)

The initiative group from Timisoara, formed after the permaculture sessions supported by the Romanian Permaculture Association, contributed to the creation of a vegetable garden in the courtyard of the Waldorf Kindergarten.
The garden is a source of fresh vegetables for the morning snack of children and space for them to learn about gardening and plants.(1)

Approximately one-fifth of the rain that falls in Malmö's urban area is led to Risebergabäcken, which makes it by far Malmö's largest watercourse. None of the other watercourses receives more than a very small part of the municipality's stormwater. The flow in Risebergabäcken is in many places it is narrow and deep, which means that the water rises quickly when there is a lot of rain (ref. 7). Large precipitation and asphalt industrial environment in Skogholm's meadows (Skogholms ängar) have long been a problem of overload in Risebergabäcken, but the ecological stormwater system delays and cleans the water, as well as preventing erosion and floods (ref. 1).

The curtain forest at the end of the city is a project that was initiated by the Timisoara's Municipality in 2001 by planting different tree species and creating a barrier for high-temperature summers. It's 60 m high and it was designed to stand in front of very strong winds especially since Timisoara is a city located in a very plain area. Now, it comprises 23 hectares and the municipality aims at 50. (2)

The Nature Island Pennenfeld-Bonn ("Naturinsel Pennenfeld") is a community garden project of the Lebensqualität im Alter - LeA (Quality of Life in Old Age) Association, the District Management (QM) of Pennenfeld and the municipal housing company VEBOWAG (9). The project started in 2012 and its aim was the transformation of a 1,800 sqm large tree-lined lawn area (9). The lawn was to be transformed into a park-like natural community garden for recreation where elderly residents have more opportunity to experience nature, while at the same time it is a place of encounter that promotes social stability by encouraging all other residents to get engaged in the planning, implementation and maintenance processes (1,3,9). Besides enhancing the quality of life for residents and elderly people living with dementia, other project objectives were to foster and increase the local biodiversity as well as to strengthen community building and mutual support in the neighbourhood (2).