Tourism support

The greening of the Bega channel is a project which dates from 2008 and which aims at cleaning and revitalizing the channel on a distance of 44 km, in order to improve water quality, increase economic activities related with the river, and avoid future floods of the area. Since the channel has not been revitalized from 1945, the 2008 project is seen as an important step in improving not only the life quality of the Timisoara's inhabitants but also a major step in including environmental issues on the official agenda of the municipality. (1)

The Botanical Park is originally a garden which went through a modernization and rearrangement process in 2008. The park covers an area of 8.41 hectares and has a varied flora which is of Romania and also of various areas of the world which have a similar climate to the country. The purpose of the rearrangement was to maintain the area for scientific endeavours and to educate the public with respect to the importance of the environment. The municipality added this area to the 13th existing parks of Timisoara, which are part of the green belt of the city. (1)

Bastion Theresia Timisoara was built as a defensive perimeter for the Romanian town of Timisoara and has languished for decades in the center of the city. The bastion was rehabilitated and it incorporates green spaces and a community center. The old fortress' location in the middle of town makes it a natural hub for transportation and assembly, and the extensive green roof incorporates it into the city's urban green belt. (1)

The Port of Alicante is finalizing the installation of a new environmental barrier at Pier 17, where bulk unloading is carried out, based on a water atomization method that allows dust particles to fall to the ground of the port area and not arrive by air to the city. (Ref 11) This initiative comprises activities to reduce pollution in the port, such as a vegetable barrier against the air pollution produced by the dust during the unloading of bulk materials, supplied by an irrigation system that recovers non-drinkable water from a nearby plant. It includes the extension of the Parque del Mar, to recover historical points for tourism and the funding of a research project on air pollution (Ref. 12). “This measure is integrated within the Plan of Urban Integration of the Port of Alicante, improving the landscape impact and the port-city boundary zones from the southern access of the urban environment, along with the “Parque del Mar”, to the west zone with the installation of vegetal screens in the inner zone of the port, contributing to an important particle retention and CO2 reduction.” (Ref. 1). Inside the park, which can be traversed through paths, there is a small ornamental lake with rockery and it has children's games and petanque courts, gymnastics courts and recreational areas. The green corridor has been created with the creation of artificial mounds, for which 65,000 cubic meters of earth have been necessary, which act as a vegetal screen and visually and acoustically isolate the port facilities of the city. (Ref 7)

The action proposed by the Municipal Technical Service of Parks and Gardens at the Department of the Environment, aims at the regeneration of the forest with the repopulation of pines of different ages, to imitate a mountain in a natural state with the plantation of the Cartagena Cypress and Tetraclinex articulata, which has a good adaptation to the environment. Several plots (Plots 3, 5, 6, 8 and 12 of the project) have been repopulated with shrubs and trees such as cypress, esparto, rosemary, tomillos, lentiscos, tetraclinex and palmito, in the solana area, deciduous and riparian species, and to other silvicultural treatments, which increases the variety of existing vegetation. (Ref. 1) In addition, the project contemplates the construction of two viewpoints (Ref 1, 3). A new irrigation system is put in place for the re-use of water for sustainable use and water savings. (Ref. 7)

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)

2017 Green and Grand City is part of Göteborg's 400th anniversary (in 2021), and plans are developed up to the anniversary on a yearly basis. In 2017, the focus was on a greener and grander Göteborg. The vision for 2021 includes three themes, water, building bridges (reduces divides between people) and open spaces. The anniversary efforts build on three elements of sustainability; social, ecological and economic. (Ref. 1)

This large urban and peri-urban corridor crosses the area of Sevilla and connects the city to neighbouring towns. It is 68 km long, starting at the Bridge of the V Centenario it continues to five end points in the area. (Santiponce, Los Palacios, Dos Hermanas, Parque del Alamillo, Parque de La Corchuela) (Ref 1)

The conservation of agricultural activities allows for the preservation of the landscape for all, with the possibility to offer to Milaners a place of leisure, tranquility, nature and tradition within the city, where to taste - also while tasting the products of the earth - what is the the Milanese agricultural world. It is located in the South West of Milan, within the Parco Agricolo Sud, in an area between the two Navigli, the Grande and the Pavese (1).

There is an old tradition to preserve the wall gardens and patios in the center of Cordoba. Every year, the Festival of the Courtyards of Cordoba opens the courtyards to the public and various prizes are awarded to residents based on the plant and floral arrangement of the patios, bars, and balconies. This festival was declared as a UNESCO Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2012. (Ref. 2,3)