Improving mental health

Wildlife in the City is a project led by Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, with Nottingham City Council, to promote, protect and celebrate the nature reserves, wildlife sites and green spaces across Nottingham City (ref. 2). Wildlife in the City is a project run by Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust was originally designed to raise awareness of the value of urban wildlife and to inspire people to get involved with caring for wildlife sites on their doorstep. The project aimed to engage people in their local green spaces and wildlife. Wildlife in the City ran lots of activities and events, volunteering opportunities, training opportunities and more (ref. 1). It began as a three-year project funded by Natural England through Access to Nature, as part of the Big Lottery Fund's Changing Spaces programme. The project worked with local people to undertake vital habitat creation and management works throughout the city. It particularly worked in areas of Nottingham with previously little wildlife activity from the partners. These areas were Bestwood, Bulwell, Aspley/Broxtowe estate, Clifton, The Meadows, and Sneinton (ref. 6). After the funding for the project has ended, its objectives and the partnership between the City Council and Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust remained and the Trust continues managing many of the Council's wildlife sites and using local volunteers to help out with essential tasks such as scrub management, gardening, litter picks and floral surveys (ref 2).

Belfast is located within the River Lagan Catchment and is at risk from flash floods caused by storm water unable to drain away into the combined storm and sewerage network. The Local Development Plan will facilitate the development of green infrastructure resource or ecosystem services such as the green wedges in Lagan Valley Regional Park (ref 2). Lagan Canal is one of the emerging partnership projects to produce plans to restore and revitalise the Lagan Canal corridor. The river Lagan and the canal is an asset for the city, and for the wider region (Ref 1).

The project created a friendly green recreation area for the elderly in the neighbourhood where there is a lack of spaces dedicated to the elderly. The plans involve the revitalization of a neglected square, plantings assorted greenery and preservation of the existing trees. The NBS should foster physical activity and social inclusion of the elderly residents in the neighbourhood, as well as to lead to the revitalization of the district and improved standards of living [1,2].

"Walking pathway located on the banks of the river of the Arc which flows to the south of the city. It follows the meanders of the river and includes games for children, a fitness trail, meadows in the shade of tall trees that border the stream. It covers an area of 10 hectares." (Ref. 1)

Grace House is a charity that provides care to children with disabilities. The staff has created a Sensory Garden and a fruit and vegetable patch to improve the neglected surrounding area. The project is seen as an opportunity for local people to engage in gardening activities as well as a source of health, social and learning benefits. Volunteers have been involved in the execution of the project (Ref 1).

The Malmo Office Tower is a building of offices built having in mind the example of the Swedish city of Malmo. The building is the only green building in Craiova and it has as a starting point the development of sustainable infrastructure and the use of alternative energy sources. It contains green balconies and it aims to become an example for other cities throughout Romania, bearing as a goal to transform in reality "the dream of a green city, where our children can breathe without worry" (1) It is located near the major 2 parks of the city.

The Garden Janine (formerly called Jardin Nouveau) group is participating in the "Aix en Transition" initiative, which wants to increase food and energy resilience in order to better prepare for the future. This group initiated and supported the establishment of a vegetable garden benefiting homeless people, hosted in the Humanitarian Division of the "Jas de Bouffan" district (Ref. 1). A garden was previously cultivated on the area, but had become dilapidated. In 2019, much of the area was repurposed as an orchard as the vegetable garden was deemed to require too much continual presence/labour (Ref. 6).

The indoor green wall installed at the University of Natural Sciences in Lublin. Apart from its decorative and aesthetical functions, the wall will serve educational and research purposes. The wall consists entirely of moss and does not require watering. It will be monitored regularly to analyse the impact of light conditions for proper growth and development of plants in these type of installations [1,2].

The first external green wall in Lublin was installed at the University of Natural Sciences in September 2015, and it was later followed by two smaller installations inside and outside in 2017 [5]. Apart from their decorative and aesthetical functions, the walls serve educational and research purposes, as the suitability of the chosen plants for the Polish climate conditions will be evaluated for similar urban projects in the country. Finally, the project promotes urban greenery and certain offsetting for grey infrastructure [1, 2, 3, 5].

In 2008 the new building of the WGV-Insurance has been opened in Stuttgart. Since then customers and employees of the WGV have enjoyed the beautiful courtyards which contribute to a good working environment. The approx. 3.6 ft. (1.1 m) high, built-in planters have been provided with an automatic irrigation system with the irrigation pipes installed below the elevated concrete slabs. The four courtyards have been planted with a total of 58 small crowned trees. In addition, several extensive green roof areas of approx. 21,600 sq. ft. (2,000 m²) total were installed to improve the Stuttgart climate. (1, 6).