Displaying 1 - 529 of 529

Enhancing Brussels Ecological Network - Belgium

Enhancing Brussels Ecological Network - Belgium

The project aims to reconnect green spaces, develop biodiversity and enhance the quality of life in the city. Further objectives include improving the environment for pollination and climate regulation.

Educational services aim at enhancing the ecological awareness of citizens. Another goal is to foster local cohesion by providing a public available urban green space with enhanced biodiversity that allows for social encounters.


Linz - NBS as a motor for urban growth

recreation-area-solarcity-foto-stadt-linzjpg.jpg

The city’s Grünlandkonzept (green space strategy) provides detailed strategic indications for local land use and infrastructure planning (Stadt Linz, 2013). Enhancing and protecting urban green areas is seen as a way of increasing the city’s attractiveness, and will also form part of the upcoming transformation of the city harbour area. Linz AG, a holding company owned by the municipality, is planning to position the harbour on the Danube river as an important regional and international business location, inter alia by means of intensive greening for parts of the area...




Milan - NBS for urban regeneration

milan-boeri-bosco-verticale-img.jpg

Urban redevelopment was an opportunity to adopt solutions and achieve different targets through nature-based solutions. Carta of Milan, the city's strategic environmental plan, recognises ‘green infrastructure’ as the best way to achieve environmental targets, promote social development and improve social welfare.  On a wider scale, the Lombardy Region manages the green infrastructure actions for ecological connections and the creation of ecosystems, ensuring continuity between the Alps and the Po Valley (Pianura Padana) and the urban environments within that area...


Demonstrating and promoting natural values to support decision-making in Romania

Nature for decision making

The Project “Demonstrating and promoting natural values, to support the decision-making process in Romania” (N4D) was developed based on folowing activities: A1. institutional infrastructure development; A2. Development of the ecosystem mapping and assessment framework in Romania; A3. Data analysis and management under the MAES process;  A4. Biophysical mapping and assessment of ecosystems and of their services;  A5. Project promotion; A6. Knowledge exchange with the neighbouring countries and with Norway, as the country providing the Project financing.


Co-Creation of an URBiNAT Healthy Corridor for Høje Taastrup, Copenhagen

Høje-Taastrup Municipality is a follower city in the URBiNAT project. The municipality is  sharing its urban regeneration experiences with other cities as well as learning best practices that will reinforce the implementation of the ongoing plans. Within URBiNAT Høje-Taastrup wish to explore the likely facilities to be developed and sustained on the ground where a new Community House is to be built, a passage between the Gregersens Quarter and the station and the linkages to a park which will be developed in the coming years during the refurbishments of the area (see photo). The...



BIOVEINS - connectivity of green and blue infrastructures in Almada: living veins for a biodiverse and healthy city

The main objective of our BIOVEINS proposal is to use functional diversity (FD) to highlight the mechanisms underpinning the link between GBI, taxonomic diversity (TD) and ecosystem services (ESs) provisioning, and to provide, together with local stakeholders, the ecological and interdisciplinary knowledge to identify the critical features of GBI, to guide the establishment, management and restoration of GBI, and to mitigate the effects of major urban global challenges, like habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and urban heat island.

This main objective will be accomplished by...



A CORUÑA: AN URBAN GARDENS GREEN NETWORK

A Coruña is a seaside city located in the Ártabro Gulf, north-west of Spain, with a population of 244,000 inhabitants, stunning landscapes and built on over two thousand years of architectural heritage. A Coruña has a diverse economy, mainly based on the service sector, ranging from tourism to port activities, and together with its metropolitan area it houses the headquarters of several major multi-nationals. It is a densely populated and compact city, with a territory of under 40 km2, and with a scarcity of green areas.

The nature-based solution that the city has been working with...


Volvic Water Catchment Protection

34 case studies were planned by the H2020 PEGASUS project in different farming and forest systems and along the supply chain in 10 EU countries, to: 

  • examine the issues faced in ensuring effective provision of public goods/ecosystem services from farming & forest activities; and 
  • find solutions to enable the economic social and environmental sustainability of the EU’s farmed & forest areas.



UNaLab - Alluvial meadows, Vuores, Tampere, Finland

UNaLab Alluvial meadows

Space for retention of the urban runoff in the times of heavy rain to complement the measures for enhanced stormwater quality and quantity management in the Vuores area. Vegetation is selected from the local species to support biodiversity, including perennials suitable for wet conditions. Additionally, the area is equipped with the information sign introducing the NBS and its functions.


NAIAD Case Studies: Lower Danube Demonstration site (Romania)

The Lower Danube demo case has as main objective to create an efficient network of national, regional and local stakeholders in order to apply collaborative approach for water security measures and extreme meteorological events mitigation by using the ecosystem service and green infrastructure. In the NAIAD project the Lower Danube demo case study is focused on understanding the social risk perception and challenges for NBS implementation, to open business opportunities for insurance sector and to identify potential business model to foster Nature Based Solutions implementation and...





H2020 AQUACROSS Case Study 4: Management and impact of Invasive Alien Species in Lough Erne in Ireland

Lough Erne (c) Tim O‘Higgins

The AQUACROSSCase Study examines the implications of the regulation on Invasive Alien Species (IAS) (i.e. non-native plants and animals harming the local ecosystem) for practical management in Lough Erne, Northern Ireland, in the context of existing environmental commitments under EU legislation.


Assessing and mapping ecosystem services in the mosaic landscapes of the Maltese Islands

...

The present ecosystem services assessment and mapping has been mainly scientifically-driven, with the objective of this study being that of carrying out a first assessment of the capacity and flow of ES in the Maltese Islands (Central Mediterranean). ES capacity is defined as the potential of ecosystems to provide services appreciated by humans, while ES flow refers to the actual use of the ES and occurs at the location where an ES enters within a utility or production function.

Given the insular and urbanised environment, and the dependence on local ecosystems for


Urban forests and promotion of native ecosystems in São Paulo, Brazil

Example of a forest restoration planned and conducted by activists and local engaged population in the city of São Paulo (image courtesy by Ricardo Cardim).

Developing a planting scheme with the support of the local engaged population. The creation of national institutions and laws that gave the support for the local activism focused on natural areas. In São Paulo, different groups are working to increase the biodiversity and tree cover in the city by planting small forest patches, locally known as pocket forests. These activities are first planned with the local stakeholders, and then the area is prepared for planting, including the eventual removal of pavement, preparation of the soil, among other measures. The act of planting per se is...


Complex of Three Parks Foreseen as A Site of the International Horticultural Exhibition 2024 - Łódź, Poland

COMPLEX OF THREE PARKS FORESEEN AS A SITE OF THE INTERNATIONAL HORTICULTURAL EXHIBITION 2024, ŁÓDŹ, POLAND

The development of three parks foreseen as a site of the International Horticultural Exhibition 2024 aims to serve as an urban green space allowing for urban revitalisation, shaping the urban landscape and using the potential of green spaces in cities especially with regards to the provision of cultural ecosystem services, such as aesthetics, entertainment, heritage and interpersonal integration


Quay Garden Project - Habitats for Local Species on a City Center River

Quay Gardens - Habitats for local species
  • Implementation of vegetated rafts as habitats for local species on a city center river
  • Using Bio-sourced materials

It aims to implement artificial shelters for fauna (nesting box, insect hotels, artificial spawning areas…) and vegetation supports were installed. Wooden terraces were also installed to allow citizens to enjoy and observe biodiversity. This project is both thought for biodiversity and for citizens and finaly allow cohabitation between them.



Municipality of Pavlos Melas

The municipality of Pavlos Melas is located in the Northern Greece, in the Region of Central Macedonia, in the northwestern part of Thessaloniki. The municipality faces challenges in addressing issues in environmental, economic and social cohesion section. Through nature-based solutions, Pavlos Melas municipality intends to achieve environmental, social and economic benefits.

The flagship nature-based solution of Pavlos Melas municipality is the creation of Pavlos Melas Metropolitan Park on a former military camp (about 33 hectares) located in the dense urban fabric. Due to its...


Landscape and Recreation Value Trade

Kuusamo, Finland

This case study from the SINCERE project had the goal to:

  • Introduce a payment for ecosystem services (PES) system in which forest owners are compensated for voluntarily enhancing the provision of landscape and recreational values in their forests.
  • The innovative mechanism (IM) consists of a planning process to select valuable forest areas in terms of biodiversity, landscape and carbon stock and a pilot project to collect and distribute funds to implement forest
  • ...

Digital Beehive

Digital Beehive

Create healthy bee communities and work to preserve the biodiversity. By tracking the beehives and thus gathering information about the bee communities and their behaviour, extreme weather events can be predicted.


Co-Creation of an URBiNAT Healthy Corridor for Campaña, Porto

URBiNAT intervention areas. In Porto city, Campanhã parish was identified as one of the priority areas for urban regeneration aiming at a more sustainable improvement of local living conditions. This area faces severe socio-economic challenges territorial aggravated by isolation, due to lack of accessibility, safety, feeling of security and poor overall conditions of the urban space.

The outline of a study area was developed by the Local Taskforce of Porto, according to the previously established commitment by the municipality of Porto to develop the project URBiNAT in this area. The first criteria were to ensure the inclusion of Cerco, Falcão, Lagarteiro, and other social housing neighbourhoods nearby.

Given the intention of implementing new healthy corridors, the study area includes the most relevant strategic green spaces (Oriental Park, Corujeira Plaza, Quinta da Bonjóia, municipal nursery), services (schools, industry, health centres, local associations)...


Improving the Antwerp green and blue infrastructure based on multi-functional ambition levels.

Antwerp is the second largest city in Belgium. It has 517 000 inhabitants and a surface of 204.5 km². The city is a mix of a highly urbanized central area, with a clear shortage of available green space, some larger important conservation areas at the borders of the city, and an industrial harbour area. Important challenges the city is faced with are flood risks both from tidal and pluvial floods, air quality and heat stress.

The city has the ambition to become greener. To achieve this purpose, a masterplan on green and blue infrastructure was developed, focusing on five “park-...More



Reverse auction pilot for forest ecosystem services in rural and peri-urban areas (habitat restoration)

Forest in Flanders

This case study from the SINCERE project had the goal to:

  • Test reverse auctions as a way to fund and stimulate the generation of much-needed forest ecosystem services (FES) - habitat restoration in forested hunted areas - and as alternative to subsidy schemes in a densely populated and urbanised region.
  • Test if approach leads to more cost-efficient use of limited financial resources and supports initiatives considered important to relevant stakeholders and society as a whole.
  • Implement
  • ...


Ecological Continuities Restoration - Ecological Corridor on Existing Bridge

Grand-breuil Bridge, St Etienne Community
  • Ecological corridor

The aim of this project is to connect two areas separated by a highway by creating a
wildlife passage on an existing bridge in order to reinforce an ecological corridor. This
structure is thought to allow cohabitation between fauna and motorists.

This project is also combined with another environmetal friendly solution:

  • Bio-sourced materials

Restoring Danube floodplains in Austria

Danube estuary Tiergartenarm (Austria) (photo viadonau)

Riverbank restorations are implemented on a stretch of approximately 800m shoreline of the Danube to increase lateral river-floodplain connectivity and the functioning of the floodplain as an ecosystem. The aim is to reach a good ecological status of the river as well as good navigation status. The case study works with an adaptive management process and adresses multiple pressures (ecological deficits, security of navigation, riverbed deepening, flood protection).

This case study is one of 17 that are part of the EU Horizon2020 project MERLIN - Mainstreaming Ecological Restoration...





Managing urban Biodiversity and Green Infrastructure to increase city resilience in Coimbra (UrbanGaia project)

Urban green space in Coimbra

The aim is to develop realistic indicators to evaluate, manage and develop performant GBIs in cities and intensively managed landscapes. UrbanGaia explicitly focusses on analysis of ecological and socio-economic features of the many existing GBIs within a place-based and socio-ecological research framework. The project consists of three main approaches which converge in a transdisciplinary analysis of GBI performance: ecological science, political economic analysis and stakeholder co-creation.




Measuring and Improving Urban Tree Vitality and ES Provisioning through Inoculation with Ectomycorrhizal Fungi in Porto (URBANMYCOSERVE)

Urban trees in Porto

The aim is (i) to provide an assessment of the EcM community and functional group composition of urban trees, and of its environmental drivers, using next generation sequencing techniques; (ii) to relate specific EcM, or functional groups of EcM, to tree health, and tree ecosystem service delivery and resilience, using advanced noninvasive spectral and physiological sensing technology, diameter growth measurements, and urban biophysical modeling; and (iii) to develop and test (in situ & ex situ) a dedicated EcM-inoculum to improve urban tree health, and ecosystem service delivery and...


Ecological Restoration & Local Sustainable Fishing by Immersing artificial reefs - PRADO Reefs Project

Artificial reefs - Prado bay (3)

Ecological restoration by immersing diverse artificial reefs to provide shelters and habitats to marine species. The aim of the project is to diversify and regenerate marine natural resources in order to both make local fishing durable and ecological restoration.

  • Protect and provide long term benefits related to biodiversity and then to all the economical activities (fishery, tourism) linked in.


City districts as testing grounds: integrated sustainable stormwater solutions through retrofitting in existing neighbourhoods and as part of urban transformation processes in Malmö, Sweden

Bo01 in the west harbour Malmö.

The city’s green and blue areas have a long history, and are even today seen as an important and integrated part of the city of Malmö, as reflected in the recent Master Plan. The ambitions are to create a close, dense, green and mixed functioning city, with densification as a driver, rather than expansion into the outside highly productive farmland. Urban green is a vital component of the future of the city and, in the master plan, is brought forward under such diverse headings as Green City, Green and Blue Environments, Biodiversity, Countryside and Agriculture, Children’s Perspectives,...


GIZ ValuES - Rewarding farmers for reducing sedimentation, Indonesia

Removing sediment from reservoirs is an important part of the costs of hydro-power generation. Under the “Rewarding Upland Poor for Environmental Services” project (RUPES), an initiative by ICRAF, upstream farmers changed land-use practices for reducing soil erosion and sedimentation load in streams. The sedimentation rate was used as an indicator to measure the effectiveness of the agreed activities. Monitoring sedimentation rate as an indicator for the positive impact of improving land-use practices made the success of the changes in land-use practices transparent and motivated all...




Komppasuo peat extraction area: healing and new usage strategies

Komppasuo peat extraction site (photo: Jani Antila, Tapio Oy)

After peat extraction in the Komppasuo bog, Finnland, was initiated in 1987, it was stopped in 2021 and restoration projects are aiming at bringing the landscape back to a functioning and sustainable ecosystem. The objective is to establish wetland conservation areas from previously drained peatlands, to set up constructed wetlands for water purification, increasing water quality, increasing the amount of suitable habitats for migratory fish and the endangered freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera) as well as increasing the areas suitable for recreation.

This case...


Linderud Community Garden

 Linderud Community Garden

Developing the communal area as a social meeting place for the local neighborhood, strengthening the community feeling and building a sense of ownership of the area. By providing growing space to different local entrepreneurs, the garden supports the local green economy and helps building a network of initiatives with different social impact.


Mutirão Reflorestamento: reforestation collective action

Praia Vermelha seen from the Sugar Loaf Mountain

Context

Rio de Janeiro is a coastal city that ranges from 2 m above sea level to forested massifs that divide the city into zones: central, north, south and west. The highest peak is Pedra Branca (White Rock), at 1 024 m high. The city has significant forested areas that cover most of the massifs. The population living in slums in 2010 was 19 % of the inhabitants  (last census). The informal occupation of steep slopes and flood-prone areas occur mainly because of the lack of social housing planning, and the laws that protect vulnerable areas where formal occupation cannot occur....


The restoration of the former saltworks in southern France

1 Restore a more natural hydrological functioning that reconnects the surrounding hydrosystems (including the lagoons located further inland, the Mediterranean Sea and the Rhône River).

2 Restore the natural ecosystems characteristic of coastal lagoons and sandy coastlines, including dunes, salt steppes and saltmarshes.

3 Maintain or increase the carrying capacity for breeding colonial water birds.

4 Implement adaptive management to sea-level rise, creating accommodation space for water spread.

5...


Green Façade Pilot Project, INPS, Genova

 INPS (National Institute  Social Insurance) Green Facade - Genoa neighborhood of Sestri Ponente

A vertical greening system installed on the facade of an office building built early in the last century and renovated in the 1980’s, owned by INPS (National Institute of Social Insurance) and located in the city center of the Genova neighborhood of Sestri Ponente.

INPS Green Facade is a pilot project coordinated by the University of Genoa (DAD) which aims to quantify the positive effects of the green envelopes in densely built urban environment. Monitoring activities are focused on the evaluation of the environmental benefits, both economic and social, in particular in densely...


Forester City of Lorient, France

Reforestation of unused areas in the municipality of Lorient

The city of Lorient has developped an urban and local forestry partnership to supply the city in firewood chips and building timber. This project is based on local economy and on collaboration with local foresters to provide a sustainable management of this resource.

  • Local production of wood to supply (energy and building timber) the city of Lorient
  • Reduce the environmental impacts of importation
  • Foster the local economy
  • Enhance the city by using abandonned sites for logging

Poznań Nature-based Solution exemplar Case Study

Figure 1. Eco-garden installed at one of Poznań's kindergartens as part of the Connecting Nature exemplar.

The challenge for Poznań is to improve the quality of life in those areas that do not have equitable access to greenspace due to being very urbanised and with higher population densities. By focusing on nature-based solution approaches to deliver this, it is possible to reverse the city’s trend towards a rate of high soil sealing in the city centre’s densely built-up residential areas, which exacerbate climate change impacts, particularly during heat waves and episodic flooding from intense rainfall.

The City of Poznan Connecting Nature team identified pocket parks and urban gardens...


Land use legacies: Land use and ecosystem service scenarios in the Grenoble Urban Area

Analysing future land use trajectories and their effects on networks of biodiversity and ecosystem services for the Grenoble urban area. It will offer a better knowledge of mechanisms underpinning ecosystem services as well as analysing trade-offs and synergies between biodiversity, critical ecosystem services and territorial management. Further it will facilitate appropriation of tools and concepts by stakeholders and support the integration of the complexity of ecological functioning into debates on territorial planning and management.


Nature-based solutions for improving well-being in urban areas in Sheffield, United Kingdom

This case study examines in particular the interface between four sets of plans and strategies, providing important context for further examination of meso- and micro-scale interventions covered in subsequent sections. This case also touches on other formally adopted plans and strategies only in relation to the above meso- and micro- scale initiatives, in an attempt to better understand contexts.


Mirafiori Sud Living Lab

The project ProGIreg is funded by the European Commission under the Horizon 2020 programme and will run from June 2018 until 2023. ProGIreg stands for ‘productive Green Infrastructure for post-industrial urban regeneration’: nature for renewal. ProGIreg develops self-sustaining business models for nature-based solutions, based on a scientific assessment of the multiple benefits they provide for social, ecological and economic regeneration.Together, local citizens, governments, businesses, NGOs and universities design the nature-based solutions and make them happen.


Bézannes Joint Development Zone (Reed Bed Park), Storm-water Management Solution

Entrance of the Reed bed Park (Parc de la Roselière)
  • Rainwater management of a 172ha area in response to a waterproofing construction

This NBS is a construction ex nihilo of a landscaped park as alternative stormwater management solution to a traditionnal civil engineering management (tubes). It takes place in a 172ha area in the city of Bézannes (Reims Métropole). This project has been implemented in response to the waterproofing of this area (strong urbanisation level).

The project is caracterized by an artificial river leading to a permanent lagoon and a reed bed. Then a wetland manage the water...


BIOTOPE CITY - the dense city as nature

Biotope City - the dense city as nature

Biotope City is an integral concept of the Biotope City Foundation Amsterdam based on the integrative combination of Flora + Fauna + Humans to realise the dense city as nature.

World's first official climate-resilient district and world's first constructed Biotope City in Vienna with 2/3 affordable social housing and climate adaptation by the support of GREENPASS - the world's first Software-as-a-Service for climate...


Heritage Colombia (HECO): Resilient landscapes that maximizes contribution to Colombia´s mitigation and adaptation goals

Heritage Colombia (HECO) is a paradigm changing programme, that through a resilient landscapes approach and a long term financial scheme, will strengthen the adaptation and mitigation to climate change of rural Colombia through the, protection and sustainably management of important ecosystems and ecosystem services, reducing deforestation and degradation in the country’s carbon-rich ecosystems. This programme focuses on 9 landscapes and will deliver verifiable climate mitigation and adaptation impacts through

(1) improving land use planning;

(2) reducing vulnerability of...



Biodiversity in Urban and Coastal Areas in Iceland

Hjörtur Þorbjörnsson in the field with caraway growing in the foreground

The Nature-based solutions in the Nordic region programme has allocated 650,000 DKK to a pilot project in Iceland that aims to increase biodiversity in Reykjavík.
 
Grasagarður Reykjavíkur is the name of the outdoor collection of living plants located in the capital of Iceland. The park conserves some 3000 plant species in eight plant collections. The collections give an idea of the enormous diversity of vegetation in the northern temperate zone.

Among the staff are Hjörtur Þorbjörnsson and...




Watershed-scale impacts of stormwater green infrastructure on hydrology, nutrient fluxes, and combined sewer overflows in the mid-Atlantic region

Use of vegetation in urban areas in the Mid-Atlantic watersheds of Washington DC, Montgomery County and Baltimore County MD, has reduced flooding and nutrient runoff. The ‘stormwater green infrastructure’ in these municipalities includes green roofs, bioswales, rain gardens and stormwater ponds. By increasing infiltration and groundwater recharge, and/or evaporation, they reduce the volume of run-off that can contribute to floods.


A local, collaborative, natural capital-approach to enhance the value of nature in Manchester

In Manchester, the EnRoute CityLab has been built on the three main ‘policy pillars’ relating to the environment in the city (Our Manchester: A vision for the Future; Manchester’s Great Outdoors: A Green and Blue Infrastructure Strategy for Manchester, and the Manchester Climate Change Strategy 2017-2050) and their core ethos of ‘biodiversity innovation and citizen action for nature’.

Manchester’s green infrastructure (GI) has been part of the city’s success for a number of years, but in 2015 the City Council recognised that, as the city continues to grow over the coming decades,...More


Jaguaré creek restoration

The very green University City, next to Jaguaré Creek

Context

Located in a central area of São Paulo city, the Jaguaré creek is canalised along its full 25 km length. Some parts are buried underground and others are contained in concrete canals between traffic lanes. The watershed has been deeply modified through the urbanisation process and receives a significant load of domestic and industrial sewage and diffuse pollution. The Jaguaré watershed has a diverse set of landscapes and urban contexts, from its springs to the heavily urbanised area where it flows to the Pinheiros river. The watershed corresponds to 1/10 of the total 270...


GIZ ValuES - Intact ecosystems are robust water infrastructure, Mongolia

This case illustrates how ecosystem service assessments can help to catalyse changes in conservation and development policy and management practice − but are rarely the sole factor. In the Upper Tuul example, the intention was to “make the case” for a higher policy and budgetary priority to be accorded to the UpperTuul ecosystem.


Restoring the Zwalm catchment in Belgium

Zwalm river in Belgium (photo: Marie Anne Forio, Ghent University)

After degradation of the river due to straightening, bank enforcements, navigational use and intensive agricultural land use along its banks, the Zwalm river basin is now to be restored at several sites. The case study aims at restoring the river to a healthy and functioning ecosystem while still allowing navigational use. A focus is on habitat restoration (spawning beds, buffer strips) and passability for fish.

This case study is one of 17 that are part of the EU Horizon2020 project MERLIN - Mainstreaming Ecological Restoration of freshwater-related ecosystems in a Landscape...


Club GREY HORSE – Providing multiple ecosystems services by forest renters

Club Grey Horse

This case study from the SINCERE project had the goal to:

  • Develop mechanisms for multi-purpose forest management, introducing the concept of ecosystem services (ES) and multi-purpose forest use into the current forest renting system which currently only provides leases for a single ES.
  • Change management priorities from wood harvesting to multi-purpose forest management.
  • Increase the economic efficiency of forest use while maintaining a balance between all ES by introducing a
  • ...




Stream and Watershed Restoration in Finland

The state of biodiversity has been decreased worldwide, and the Finnish Wildlife Service organization Metsähallitus will contribute to solving the challenge. With support from the Nordic Council of Ministers, they will restore the entire watershed area around the Mätäsoja Stream in Finland.

“The establishment of protected areas alone is not enough, and in order to halt the loss of biodiversity, we need to be more ambitious in restoring nature,” says Antti Karppinen, leader of the Mätäsoja Stream and Watershed restoration project in Finland. It is Metsähallitus...


Eső- és szürkevíz hasznosítás a Zuglói Hétszínvirág Óvodában

Víztartály az udvaron

Célkitűzés

Projekt név: Városi Vízkör /CityWaterCircles/ - Városi Együttműködési Modellek a vízfelhasználás és -újrahasznosítás hatékonyságának növelésére a körkörös gazdaság elvei alapján

Az éghajlati válság következtében súlyos probléma a csapadékmennyiség egyenetlen eloszlása: aszályok és villámárvizek sújtják a településeket. Cél hatékonyabban, gazdaságosabban használnunk a vízkészleteinket: ezt szolgálja a Zuglóban megvalósuló esővíz- és szürkevíz hasznosítási mintaberuházás.


Processed tomato supply chain of Northern Italy

34 case studies were planned by the H2020 PEGASUS project in different farming and forest systems and along the supply chain in 10 EU countries, to: 

  • examine the issues faced in ensuring effective provision of public goods/ecosystem services from farming & forest activities; and 
  • find solutions to enable the economic social and environmental sustainability of the EU’s farmed & forest areas.


Poznan - NBS for a friendly, mobile city

parkskwarty.jpg

The primary goal of the city strategy (Development Strategy for the City of Poznań 2030) is to improve quality of life for all inhabitants, in such a way that everyone feels that they have a stake in co-creating the city. One of the five strategic objectives of the city strategy –  'A green, mobile city' – sets out NBS objectives, while the other strategic objectives, including 'Friendly housing estates' and 'The spirit of community and social dialogue' contain elements of NBS. NBS objectives are also incorporated in the documents on strategy and additional spatial planning (Development...


Barking & Dagenham: Housing need as a driver for the creation of an ecologically and socially rich and diverse neighbourhood

Barking Riverside: New Community for All.

Building a sustainable and cohesive community based on environmental principals.

In 20 year’s time, Barking Riverside is an ecologically sustainable neighbourhood that provides a range of tenures from social to owner-occupied housing. Community-managed assets are bound up with informal cultural activities and public spaces, the most prominent of which is the community tended network of unique and ecologically valuable green spaces that include the regenerated riverside.



European demonstration site network for integrating biodiversity conservation into forest management

Marteloscope sites

The aim is to establish a network of demonstration sites covering a broad range of European forest types in which integrative forest management measures are being practiced. Having such sites will help train and eventually improve decision making capacities related to integrating biodiversity aspects into managed forests.


The Santiago Green Infrastructure Plan: towards a green infrastructure system

Inequity in distribution and quality of urban green infrastructure in Santiago

Developing a green infrastructure plan in Santiago as a shared territorial strategy and a means of unifying different stakeholders relevant for decision making and implementation at different spatial scales. This was achieved through a participatory approach including multiple stakeholders, workshops, and collective mapping sessions. This approach identified the principal issues, the justification of the plan, the goals, and the key spatial components.





Seashore ecosystem restoration

Context

Cabo Frio is a tourist destination with many second homes near the beaches. Urbanisation has spread along the seashore with single family homes in several real estate developments.

Objectives

The restoration and management of the restinga ecosystem, in front of the real estate developments Florestinha, Orla 500, Vivamar e Terramar in the Tamoio district, aims to enhance and maintain the sand dunes that prevent sand and waves from advancing over the road and into urbanised areas. The vegetation within the developments covers a total area of 120 000 m².


Adlershof Berlin - Combination of Decentralised Rainwater Management, Building Greening & Elements for Cooling and Ventilation

Adlershof-Berlin Quarter (1) - https://www.hu-berlin.de/de/pr/medien/multimedia/bilderservice/gebaeude/campus-adlershof/institutsgebaude-physik/view
  • Based on concept of decentralised rainwater management, building greening and elements for cooling and ventilation
  • To draw up recommendations for optimal and economical management of technical and innovative components regarding sustainable water and energy resources

The building of the Institute of physics of the Humboldt university in Berlin is the result of combining decentralised rainwater management, building greening and elements for cooling and ventilation. All necessary factors, like water and energy consumption,...


GIZ ValuES - Taï National Park sustains regional agriculture, Ivory Coast

ValuES

Several training and scoping workshops with stakeholders guided an assessment of the Taï Park’s multiple ecosystem services, and helped align it to the purpose of drumming-up support for conservation. This case illustrates the importance of intensive initial scoping prior to examining ecosystem services in more depth. Study results are now being used by park authorities to motivate increased government budget allocations, and to interest the international cocoa industry in co-financing the Taï Park – in their own best interest.


London - NBS for a leading sustainable city

queenelizabetholympicparkbiosolarconnop.JPG

The Greater London Authority (GLA) participants in the BRIDGE FP7  project identified the primary planning goals for the Central Activities Zone (CAZ)[1] as to: (a) increase green space; (b) improve air quality; (c) reduce the UHI effect (heat island) and (d) prevent flash floods, with climate change adaptation and mitigation seen as a cross cutting issue.

London has a number of plans aimed at addressing these challenges, including:

  • The Mayor’s London Plan in which two goals relate to urban green space and aim
  • ...

Co-Creation of an URBiNAT Healthy Corridor for Nadezhda, Sofia

URBiNAT Intervention Area. Nadezhda district – the Northern gateway to the capital city, has a population of 67 905, which is 5.3% of the city’s population. There are about 2113 ha urban and rural areas within the boundaries of Nadezhda district. The housing estates in Nadezhda fall within the priority areas for urban regeneration aiming at improved living conditions and better connections to the city center and the neighbouring territories, and improved condition, connectedness and accessibility of the...

The urban project of the Sofia Healthy Corridor focuses on building green connections, understandings, co-implementation and use of public spaces. The involvement of citizens in the creation of living public spaces is expected to contribute to overcoming urban fragmentation by removing physical and symbolic barriers to their use, protection of the environment and maintenance of inter-block spaces.

The Healthy Corridor in Sofia is a “green connection” designed as a pedestrian path in the public urban space, that connects the neighborhoods between themselves and the surrounding urban...




Green Noise Barrier Sachsenheim, Germany

Noise Barrier Sachsenheim © Ralf Groemminger

The noise barrier wall-system being used in Sachsenheim guarantees an instant green noise barrier wall, from the very first day on: The green noise barrier consists of a scaffold with galvanised steel lattice mats on both sides, filled with a core of plant substrates and then planted with pre-cultivated plant mats. Already at the time of assembly, the walls are at least fifty percent covered and they are completely green after six months.



INVENTORY OF NATURE-BASED INNOVATIONS

Inventory of nature-based innovations

The Erasmus+ project „Nature-Based Innovations for Urban Forest and Rainwater Management” supports communities and local authorities in combating climate change through the identification of good practices and the dissemination of innovative solutions and manuals addressed to local authorities, stakeholders, and associations to improve policies and practices to  counter climate change from an environmental, social, and economic point of view.



Peri-Urban Forest Ostend – Belgium

Peri-Urban Forest Ostend – Belgium

The peri-urban forest Ostend in Belgium aims to provide a publicly accessible space for recreation, offering educational facilities for local residents and tourists.

Through the afforestation of previous agricultural land and being part of a Green Ribbon (Groen Lint) network surrounding the city core, the peri-urban green space further aims to enhance biodiversity and ecological connectivity.

The afforestation in the coastal and harbour city was planned as a buffer zone between industrial sites and residential areas.



NAIAD Case Studies: Glinščica Demonstration Site (Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Glinščica catchment

The aim of Slovenian demo is to prepare a comparison of Nature based solutions and grey scenarios for the Glinščica catchment area, valuate the ecosystem services provided by implementation of restoration and management measures developed within the project and to develop and deploy economic and/or financial instruments (in the form of nature assurance schemes) for effective business models in the field of ecosystem services, green infrastructure and river restoration that would highlight the importance of understanding the value of ecosystems in the long run.


Landscape Park Duisburg Nord - Germany

Landscape Park Duisburg Nord - Germany

The landscape park aims to fulfil a variety of functions:

The provision of recreation and educational facilities for local residents and visitors, and the encouragement of tourism to the area. Socio-cultural and economic benefits focus on education, culture, sports and history while keeping a sense of place through preserving historic elements of the area.

Another focus lies on water protection (Freshwater storage, management and distribution)

The Landscape Park further aims to regulate micro and regional climate,...


The Hague: peacefully green

The Hague is a relatively green city in which green spaces make up to 17 % of  the city's surface area. At the same time the city faces serious challenges with respect to public health and quality of life. Therefore The Hague aims to better understand the relation between green infrastructure and public health by combining socio-economic data with data on the greenery gathered through remote sensing. The two key questions are:

  • Which set of socio-economic indicators can be identified as a reference marker for the impact of ecosystem services city-wide on human health?
  • ...More


BEGIN (Blue Green Infrastructure through Social Innovation)

Together we can build more resilient and liveable cities

The overall objective of BEGIN is to demonstrate at target sites how cities can improve climate resilience with Blue-Green Infrastructure involving stakeholders in a value-based decision- making process to overcome its current implementation barriers.

BEGIN’s driving ambition is to substitute traditional ‘grey infrastructure’ such as concrete for ‘blue-green infrastructure’ (BGI) such as parks, rivers, and lakes.


The Imperial Island Concept

Imperial Island (Císařský ostrov), Prague
  • Designation of public areas: To define stable frameworks within the landscape with public spaces within the urban structure and to distinguish these from non-public or semi-public areas (gardens, grounds, urban blocks, etc.).

  • Preserving the original level of the terrain

  • Promoting synergies between enclosed grounds and public space: Opening up banks that are inaccessible or with limited access to pedestrians, cyclists and horseback riders. Freeing Troja of part of the traffic burden.

  • Connection of the Troja Basin: By public

  • ...


Alcaldía de Medellín - Green Corridors Initiative

Medellín, like many other cities, faces rising temperatures, worsened by the urban heat island effect—concrete and tarmac absorbing the sun’s power, radiating it out as heat and keeping the city warm long after the sun has gone down. It doesn’t have to be that way, as Colombia’s second-largest city, Medellín, is showing by embracing nature-based solutions.

With the Green Corridor project, which won the 2019 Ashden Award for Cooling by Nature Award, supported by the Kigali Cooling Efficiency Program and in partnership with Sustainable Energy for All, Medellín’s city authorities...


Természetes vízmegtartás civil összefogással a Homokhátságon

Célkitűzés:

Az Alföld egyik leginkább elsivatagosodó és az aszálykároknak leginkább kitett részén, a Homokhátságon helyi gazdálkodók tömörültek egy civil szervezetbe, hogy a belvízelvezető csatornák egyszerű elgátolásával segítsék a víz oldalirányú szivárgását a talajban, ezáltal vizet juttatva a környező szántóföldi területek gyökérzónájába. A természetes vízmegtartást széleskörű monitoring és disszeminációs tevékenység kíséri.


Halfway Community Park

Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention: Halfway Community Park

The area is poorly connected to green space and in 2013 Glasgow City Council’s open space audit concluded that the site was of poor quality and limited functionality. The towers consist of mainly family flats and over 20% of the population are from an ethnic minority background. The project proposal was developed with community needs considered and 88% of locals indicated they very much wanted to see changes made to the space. There was an obvious need for a functional space which enhanced the quality of life for a community living in one of the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods in...


Abandoned lands: Agricultural shifts in the Mediterranean

This exemplar examines how changes in the way farmers manage their land in the Mediterranean area lead to changes in sustainable provisioning of ecosystem services. Land management needs to respond to threats such as economic crises, poverty, climate change, changing water availability, increasing dependency on technology, urbanization and pollution. In the countries around the Mediterranean Sea, all of these issues are present. Governments, farmers and land owners are searching for information to make the best decisions possible for the future.


Urban Green Network of Nicosia

Nicosia is the capital city of the Republic of Cyprus. It lies roughly in the centre of the island in the Mesaoria Plain, flanked by the northern range of Kyrenia Mountains with its distinctive ‘Pentadaktylos’ – the five-finger mountain. 

The capital has two distinct faces: the old, original part of the city, surrounded by sturdy Venetian walls over 400 years old, and a busy modern metropolis, which has a population of 200,452 inhabitants (≈16.6% of the country’s total population) together with the suburbs.

As the country's capital, Nicosia is the financial and business...



Beaver re-introduction in Sweden

Beaver dam in Sweden

A truly nature-based solution is implemented by allowing beavers to spread into desired areas, letting them restore degraded wetlands and small streams and ditches as well as forest landscapes.

This case study is one of 17 that are part of the EU Horizon2020 project MERLIN - Mainstreaming Ecological Restoration of freshwater-related ecosystems in a Landscape context: INnovation, upscaling and transformation


Socio-ecological urban river restoration to mitigate flood risk, improve recreational potential and provide suitable habitats for fauna and flora: The Isar in Munich, Germany

Isar river that flows through southern Germany and cross the city of Munich.

In the second part of the 20th century, three major challenges led towards a new thinking and the implementation of river restoration as a nature-based solution at the Isar.

First, after decades of river regulation, water diversion and hydro-morphological modifications, the resulting degraded morphological status and related losses of ecological and social quality triggered serious concerns from civil society and citizens.

Second, the Isar River was very popular for swimming and other water-related outdoor recreational activities as one of the key elements of the local...



Understanding the health functions of peri-urban forests in protected areas and Payment for Ecosystem Services

Activities in Nature Park Medvednica

This case study from the SINCERE project had the goal to:

  • Develop several scenarios for payments of forest ecosystem services (FES) - health benefits - and empower future management of the park.
  • Raise funds, monitor all sport events, and ensure that these are held sustainably. The innovative mechanism (IM) consists of one-time concession permits implemented in the Medvednica Nature Park.
  • Raise money for new content and infrastructure to support human health and wellbeing via a second IM consisting of
  • ...



Green Roof in refurbished industrial building (Office building 22@)

Green roof at Office building 22@ Source: picharchitects

Rehabilitation of an existing building by adding, among other rehabilitation measures, a semi-public green space on the roof with a positive influence on the health of users, positive effects on urban climate against the heat island effect and positive effect on water by it storages in the deck space. It also improves the energy efficiency of the building by the insulation provided by the layers of green cover.


Vingis and Verkiu parks in Vilnius, Lithuania (URBANGAIA project)

Location of the two UrbanGaia case studies in Vilnius

The aim of the project is to develop realistic indicators to evaluate, manage and develop performant Green and Blue infrastructure (GBIs) in cities and intensively managed landscapes. UrbanGaia explicitly focusses on analysis of ecological and socio-economic features of the many existing GBIs within a place-based and socio-ecological research framework. The project consists of three main approaches which converge in a transdisciplinary analysis of GBI performance: ecological science, political economic analysis and stakeholder co-creation.


Piratininga waterfront park

Plan of the parks with wetlands to filter run-off before it reaches the lagoon and location of various uses and equipment.

Context

Niterói is a city located in the Rio de Janeiro metropolitan region, about 20 km from the state capital. The city is divided by the forested and protected Tiririca Massif. The landscape goes from sea level to the highest peak of Elephant Rock at 412 m. The centre faces Guanabara Bay. A new tunnel has been built to enable rapid connection to the ocean region. This connection accelerates the urban expansion to the area where two ocean lagoons are located. The region has been developed as a resort for weekend houses and slums that occupied vulnerable areas. There are several...



Bátya: A belterületi csapadékesemények kezelése többmedencés csapadékvíz táplálta vizes élőhelyen történő vízvisszatartással

Bátya tó madártávlatból

Célkitűzés

Bátya vízhiányos területen fekszik, a talajvízszint alakulását a Duna vízállása és a beszivárgás/párolgás határozza meg. A települést hőhullámok, aszályos időszakok, ezenkívül extrém csapadékesemények veszélyeztetik. A cél a fentiekhez való alkalmazkodás a csapadékgazdálkodás átalakításával.


Parco Nord Milano – Italy

PARCO NORD MILANO – ITALY
  • Provision of recreation and educational facilities for local residents and visitors;
  • Health and wellbeing benefits gained through the use of the recreation facilities;
  • Landscape benefit of creating a functional green boundary between built-up areas which acts as a wooded regional park



Bristol - NBS for ensuring a sustainable future

bristol-aerial-view-bristol.jpg

All of the challenges identified in the Bristol Development Framework Core Strategy (1) concern areas which would benefit from NBS. Furthermore, the 20:20 plan – Bristol’s Sustainable City Strategy (2) – has identified climate change as one of three key challenges. It acknowledges the potential for green infrastructure, such as trees, green walls and roofs, to minimise and mitigate the urban heat island effect, while Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS) are seen as an important part of flood management. Bristol’s Parks and Green Spaces Strategy (3) includes a 20-year investment...


BIOVEINS - connectivity of green and blue infrastructures in Antwerp: living veins for a biodiverse and healthy city

The main objective of our BIOVEINS proposal is to use functional diversity (FD) to highlight the mechanisms underpinning the link between GBI, taxonomic diversity (TD) and ecosystem services (ESs) provisioning, and to provide, together with local stakeholders, the ecological and interdisciplinary knowledge to identify the critical features of GBI, to guide the establishment, management and restoration of GBI, and to mitigate the effects of major urban global challenges, like habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and urban heat island.

This main objective will be accomplished by...






Soil quality assessment for spatial planning in urban and peri-urban areas - Provence Coal Field Case Study UQUALISOL-ZU

Methodology for taking soil into account in urban planning documents: implementation in two municipalities of the Provence mining basin

The project aims at investigating whether and how a scientific knowledge on soil quality can be integrated into urban planning so as to allow soil quality to be taken into account in all its dimensions, which has not been the case so far in France.

Its objectives are:

  1. The assessment of a legal concept of soil that would lead to integrate soils in preliminary studies and preserve economic and ecosystemic functions of soils, by choosing the best adapted uses in land use planning;
  2. The production of a scientifically-sound SQI (soil quality index)
  3. ...

Fernbrae Meadows Urban Park

Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention: Fernbrae Meadows

The land was in a vacant and derelict state and safety concerns were raised due to vandalisation, fly tipping, vehicle abandonment and fires. The conversion of the site into a new urban park presented an opportunity to address the anti-social behaviour and make the site a desirable area for positive activities and community development. South Lanarkshire Council provided the match funding for the project and applied for funding from the Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention (GISI), which was granted in 2017. A ‘friends of’...



Flood Retention Basins of Lura River, Como Province

Retention basin of Lura park (1)
  • River bank renaturation and stabilization through live staking and vegetated dikes

  • Riparian afforestation

  • Phytodepuration basins

  • ​Zero-energy flood retention system (no pumping needed)

The project consists of the implementation of two rolling basins connected by an open air ditch and a pond filled with ground water. The basins will be temporarely flooded by Lura river during intense rainy periods through natural inlet from the river bed,...


Springs Square: nurturing urban waters

Built pond to collect the water from the eight springs of the Água Preta creek — social ecological benefits in the heart of the city

Context

São Paulo is the capital of the state of São Paulo and the centre of the largest metropolitan area in South America with 21.2 million inhabitants. The city has expanded over the landscape with the eradication of the original ecosystems, burying most of the creeks, with larger rivers straightened and canalised. Nature is restricted to some parks, mainly in the peripheral areas. São Paulo has been called the City of Waters due to the 300 rivers and creeks that were originally in the landscape. Many springs remain active, despite the urbanisation. There is a growing movement...


CONFLUENCE Project: Creating a Periurban Park in Prague

SOUTOK

The objectives are create long term conditions for a metropolitan periurban park Confluence (Soutok in Czech) and introduce tools for coordinated and sustainable development of periurban landscapes.

The main aim is to create harmony in between supported natural processes, economical interests and the visitors activities. Set conditions for formation of landscapes rich on natural biotop diversity, transparent and penetrable suburban areas with alive flowing river, side by side agriculture, integrated flood protection and management, and economic and sport activities....



Firth of Forth: restoring a stream and its floodplain

Introducing woody debris into the Forth river

This case study aims at a comprehensive restoration of a river and its adajcents land, including developing sustainable businesses, tourism and transport whilst not increasing carbon emissions or negatively impacting on biodiversity of the area.  River connectivity and water quality are to be improved for migratory fish (eel and Atlantic salmon) and to reduce flood risk in downstream urban areas  Additionally, upland raised bog habitats (peatlands) shall be restored.

This case study is one of 17 that are part of the EU Horizon2020 project MERLIN - Mainstreaming Ecological...


BIOVEINS - Connectivity of green and blue infrastructures in Ghent: living veins for a biodiverse and healthy city

The main objective of our BIOVEINS proposal is to use functional diversity (FD) to highlight the mechanisms underpinning the link between GBI, taxonomic diversity (TD) and ecosystem services (ESs) provisioning, and to provide, together with local stakeholders, the ecological and interdisciplinary knowledge to identify the critical features of GBI, to guide the establishment, management and restoration of GBI, and to mitigate the effects of major urban global challenges, like habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and urban heat island.

This main objective will be accomplished by...


The cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa: How to preserve BiodiverCities under the pressure of infill development

Seurasaari Open-Air Museum, Helsinki, 2018, by Leena Kopperoinen Helsinki 2018

The Helsinki Metropolitan Area consists of the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa and Kauniainen and it is located in the south coast of Finland. The Metropolitan Area covers 772 square kilometres and contains a total population of approximately 1.1 million. With about 19 per cent of the country’s population in just 0.2 per cent of its surface area, the housing density of the area is high by Finnish standards. Despite the intensity of land use, the area also has large recreational areas and green spaces.

Our EnRoute city lab covers the cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. The tiny...More


Yanweizhou Wetland Park- A resilient landscape, Jinhua

Jinhua Wetland Park. Credit: Turenscape Architects
  • Preserve the remaining patch of riparian habitat while providing amenities to the residents of the dense urban center.
  • Identify best approach to flood control (prevention with a high, concrete retaining wall or cooperation by allowing the park to flood).
  • Integrate the existing building into the surrounding environment to create a cohesive landscape.
  • Connect the separated city to the natural riparian landscape to strengthen the community and cultural identity of the city



Saida School - Ecological and Participatory Approach in a School Refurbishment

Eco-School Saida Entrance
  • Develop a school refurbishment in an ecological and participatory approach
  • Contribute to the sustainable development of the well-being of children and educational community

Implementation of an ecological building (low-energy building) favorable for biodiversity, partial impervious pavement release, green spaces and vegetable gardens creation. This project is also notable for children and educational community consultation in its conception, making them as full stakeholders. The design reinforces the ecological networks at the...


Ljubljana Region: Dealing with flood risk and mobility challenges

Ljubljana

Green engine of development, metropolitan region of knowledge.

The vision was developed by key stakeholders in the process of preparation of the Regional Development Programme for the period 2014 – 2020.The Ljubljana urban region will respect the natural and cultural environment and its carrying capacity and will build its future on knowledge, innovation, creativity and the synergy between all important players and sectors. The region will be a healthy, attractive and safe place for high-quality living. The overhauled transport infrastructure will be in line with...


Ecosystem Services Community Scotland (ESCom)

This exemplar aims to: Map and describe existing and potential use and non-use community-held values of the estuary; Elicit community-held preferences and willingness to pay for coastal land use and management on landscape-scale; Test impacts of deliberation on preferences for estuarine land in a workshop setting; Contextualise study findings through institutional analysis; Identify ecosystem values held by land-owners and their attitudes towards coastal realignment; Understand future visions for the estuaries from diverse stakeholders; Test operational potential and impact of valuation...


Greening Rome for human and ecosystem health

“Roma as seen from Gianicolo Hill” by Mac9 - licensed under CC BY-SA 2.5

Within the EnRoute Project, the challenge of the City Lab of Rome is to apply the urban-MAES framework on a multi-scale progression.

In particular, the following policy questions have been addressed:

  1. Improvement of air quality at the sub-municipality level (II District – II Municipio) according to the local demand for the service and compared to the metropolitan city context. This area is characterized by high air pollutant levels such as particulate matter and tropospheric ozone (Cattani et al., 2017; Manes & Sarigiannis, 2011), which often exceed air quality
  2. ...More


Wetland Baquedano Park, City of Llanquihue, Chile

Llanquihue city, Chile.

A Green Infrastructure Plan of Llanquihue, which includes the Baquedano Wetland Park, was developed through the joint working of the Landscape Architecture Master Program Universidad de Chile and the NGO Legado Chile Fundatio. It is a response to several socio-ecological pressures created by urban living that were affecting ecosystems within the city boundaries. In 2016 both institutions called on an open dialogue with 300 members of the community, including residences, local authorities, the school community, regional services, representative of productive industries, scientists and...


Tiszatarján: Fenntartható gazdálkodás és vízvisszatartás az ártéren a klímaalkalmazkodás érdekében

Célkitűzés

Tiszatarján a víznek nagymértékben kitett település. Tavasszal jellemzően a belvíz vagy árvíz, nyáron az aszály okoz mezőgazdasági károkat, segítve az inváziós növények terjedését. A projekt célkitűzése az ártér árvízbefogadó-képességének növelése, a vízvisszatartás mértékének emelése volt.


An assessment of green infrastructure and ecosystem services in the Valletta urban area: a case-study for sustainable urban planning

During the EnRoute project, an assessment of the green infrastructure and key urban ecosystem services was carried out for the city of Valletta and the surrounding urban area. For the EnRoute project, the Valletta case-study area is defined by the boundaries of Malta’s Northern Harbour and the Grand Harbour Local Plan areas. Urban land uses make a significant proportion of the case-study area (Figure 1).

Figure 1 – The Valletta case-study area in EnRoute: Malta's...More


A green wave of reforestation

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Pakistan)

The aim of the Ten Billion Tree Tsunami project is to restore a previously deforested area and contribute to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Green Growth Initiative. Two approaches of protected natural regeneration and planned afforestation were set in motion. Moreover, the project aims to support livelihoods, encourage eco-tourism, community engagement and generate jobs through conservation.


Budapest - NBS for climate resilience and pollution control

budapest.jpg

To address these challenges, Budapest has drafted several strategic documents, in which NBS are promoted as a way to improve the environment, sustainability, and quality of life. These documents include:

  • The Budapest 2030 Long-Term Urban Development Concept. This strategic document aims to protect and increase green areas, so as to ensure ecological connectivity and develop walking and cycling corridors. It also promotes greater investment in brownfield sites, the prevention of urban sprawl, and 'smart' city development.
  • The Integrated Urban Development Strategy 2020.
  • ...

Szeged - NBS for urban regeneration and adaptation to climate change

szeged-city-hall.jpg

Szeged’s urban development concept and integrated urban development strategy aim to improve the quality of green areas and to restore natural habitats and ecological corridors for social and recreational purposes and to mitigate the impacts of climate change. Due to the required structure for integrated urban development strategies and related financing mechanisms, there are separate objectives and plans for most urban districts (Liget, Mórapark, Makkosháza, Odessza, Roosevelt square, Tápé, Tarján, Stefánia, Vértó). They are called action areas and are developed in relation to the general...


On your roofs, get set, green! – Hamburgs green roof strategy implement NBS at different level

Green roof Strategy Hamburg - On your roofs, get set, green! (Photo and montage: © mount. Design und Kommunikation für soziales Wachstum; background photo: Michaela Stalte)

Hamburg was the first major German city to launch a comprehensive Green Roof Strategy. Its goal is to green at least 70 per cent of both new buildings and suitable flat or gently pitched roofs that are being renovated. The Ministry for Environment, Climate, Energy, and Agriculture supports the project with three million euros until the end of 2024.

In 2014 the goal was set to create 100 hectare (ha) green roofs in Hamburg within one decade. Starting from 80 ha we are on track having in 2020 about 168 ha green roofs in Hamburg.* Nevertheless, there are still many roofs in Hamburg...


Community-based urban farming and gardening on post-industrial sites

Community-based urban farming and gardening on post-industrial sites
  • Encouraging the participation of people with disabilities in activities and programs of the City Garden for therapeutic gardening and education with a positive effect on motor, sensory and cognitive abilities and encouraging their spiritual and social potential for harmonious life and health. 
  • Raising awareness and inclusion of people with disabilities of all ages in the community through therapeutic gardening and education.


Aarhus – A City Perspective (REGREEN Urban Living Lab) - Denmark

Aarhus – A City Perspective (REGREEN Urban Living Lab) - Denmark

In the scope of the REGREEN project, the Aarhus Municipality aims to promote urban liveability, by systematically enhancing and restoring ecosystem services and biodiversity as the basis for Nature-based solutions (NBS):

In this regard, Aarhus aims to improve water quality, water flow management and carbon sequestration

Further objectives include heat mitigation as well as reforestation and renaturing activities of agricultural land to create urban forests, increase biodiversity sites and allow for open...


Parkforest Ghent – Belgium

Starting with a single focus on afforestation, the project aimed at integrating Nature-Based Solutions for limiting flooding, enhancing biodiversity and reducing traffic noise pollution.

Following an integrated approach, further objectives included:

  • Safeguarding agriculture in the long term, by setting aside dedicated areas for agriculture for local farmers;
  • Increasing road safety for pedestrians and cyclists (restructuring crossings, developing links for recreational traffic);
  • Providing opportunities for recreation and play;
  • Safeguarding
  • ...

UoG Green Screens

Green Screen Experiment

To investigate the extent to which green screens (helix hedera) may provide regulatory ecosystem services. This includes acting as a buffer against airborne particulate pollution and reducing rainfall runoff rates compared to normal plywood construction hoarding. 


Forests for water in Catalonia

Rialb water reservoir

This case study from the SINCERE project had the goal to:

  • Include forests and forestry in a joint strategic planning tool with participatory design of a local forest fund.
  • The innovative mechanism (IM) consists of a payment for ecosystem services (PES) scheme focused on forests and water, strengthening governance for joint forest-water planning and on finding new resources to support forest owners to provide water-related services.

Berlin - A thriving city embraces its green spaces (URBES video)

This short film introduces Berlin as one of the European cities aligned with the URBES - Urban Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services project. The URBES project was funded as part of the EU's 7th Framework Programme for Research by BiodivERsA, which is a network of 21 research-funding agencies across 15 European countries promoting pan-European research that generates new knowledge for the conservation and sustainable management of biodiversity.


Glasgow Nature-based Solution exemplar Case Study

Figure 1. Glasgow's Open Space Strategy showcasing how nature-based solutions can be interwoven into the city's urban fabric

Meeting these multifaceted demands on Glasgow’s open spaces is going to be important in ensuring that Glasgow is well-equipped to deal with the challenges of the 21st century and to enhance the attractiveness of the city as a place in which to live and invest.

As part of the Connecting Nature project, the City of Glasgow’s ambition was to develop, and begin to deliver, an Open Space Strategy for the city to help address this changing context and the changing demands on open space. The aim was for the Strategy to be used to establish an approach for considering the different ways in...





Green corridors: Ventilation corridors network, Stuttgart

Green corridors are linear parks that help renature cities by connecting green areas to one another to form urban green infrastructure networks. They are often retrofitted along areas of abandoned traffic infrastructure, e.g. railway lines, or waterways to create interconnecting parks. Green corridors are particularly beneficial for urban biodiversity as well as cooling cities and improving air quality by providing cool air pathways.

The city of Stuttgart took this concept and implemented it on a large, city-wide scale. Located in a valley with low wind speeds, the city is prone to...



Mapping and assessing ecosystem services to support urban planning in Trento

Trento is an alpine city of 120,000 inhabitants in north-eastern Italy. The main settlement is located along the Adige River’s valley floor, and hosts around 70% of the city’s population. The remaining 30% lives in small villages spread in the surrounding hills. One of the main objectives of the administration in the last years has been to increase the amount of public green areas, particularly in deprived neighbourhoods, so as to improve equity in distribution and access. Recently, most of the efforts have focused on peri-urban areas, by creating new parks and launching activities aimed...More




Urban Farm Supplied School Canteens, Managed by the Municipality of Mouans-Sartoux

Canteens of Mouans-Sartoux supplied by a sustainable urban farm
  • [Organic] food production
  • Supply school canteen with organic food products
  • Local food network
  • Environmental education
  • 2sd rank objectives: Research/experiment, social dynamic

The project has two complementary components:

  1. An urban farm:
    Vegetable production (surface of 4+2 ha) and food process supply for the school canteens of the city (around 1200 meals) => 85% of the fruit and vegetables consumed
  2. A territorial project:
  3. ...

Kristianstads Vattenrike - Sweden’s oldest UNESCO biosphere reserve

In 2005, the UN agency UNESCO approved Kristianstads Vattenriket as a biosphere reserve covering 100 000 ha, and one of 700 in the world. This means Kristianstads Vattenrike is an internationally recognized  model for sustainable development. The Vattenrike encompasses two thirds of the municipality of Kristianstad, with the goal to “preserve, develop and support the landscape's values”. 

Nature-based solutions have been key for protection against droughts, floods, and preservation of the area, as well as nutrient leakage into the Baltic Sea.

The areas in Vattenriket include...


Water and Integrated Local Delivery (WILD) project

34 case studies were planned by the H2020 PEGASUS project in different farming and forest systems and along the supply chain in 10 EU countries, to: 

  • examine the issues faced in ensuring effective provision of public goods/ecosystem services from farming & forest activities; and 
  • find solutions to enable the economic social and environmental sustainability of the EU’s farmed & forest areas.




Assessing urban recreation ecosystem services through the use of geocache visitation and preference data: a case-study from an urbanised island environment

This national case-study assesses the use of Geocaching data to assess recreational ecosystem service delivery in the small island state of Malta. More specifically, the objectives of the study are to assess:

  1. the influence of the ecosystem type, distribution and accessibility on recreational ecosystem services delivery, and
  2. on the actual use (flow) of this ecosystem service measured using both geocache visitation data and questionnaires with geocachers that allow for a better understanding of their motivation determining ecosystem service flow.

Small scale peri-urban mosaic in Montemor-o-Novo

34 case studies were planned by the H2020 PEGASUS project in different farming and forest systems and along the supply chain in 10 EU countries, to: 

  • examine the issues faced in ensuring effective provision of public goods/ecosystem services from farming & forest activities; and 
  • find solutions to enable the economic social and environmental sustainability of the EU’s farmed & forest areas.


Community managed aquaponics system on the site of the coking plant Kokerei Hansa – Hansaponik

Community managed aquaponics system on the site of the coking plant Kokerei Hansa – Hansaponik

Aquaponics is the combination of raising fish (aquaculture) in tanks together with soilless cultivation of plants (hydroponics) in a symbiotic environment, whereby the fish waste water provides the nutrients needed to feed the plants. 

Two aquaponics greenhouses will be built on part of the site of the old coking plant Kokerei Hansa in Dortmund Huckarde as a scientific experiment. Energetic optimization and potential transfer paths of contaminants will be examined. 


BIOVEINS - Connectivity of green and blue infrastructures in Zurich: living veins for a biodiverse and healthy city

The main objective of our BIOVEINS proposal is to use functional diversity (FD) to highlight the mechanisms underpinning the link between GBI, taxonomic diversity (TD) and ecosystem services (ESs) provisioning, and to provide, together with local stakeholders, the ecological and interdisciplinary knowledge to identify the critical features of GBI, to guide the establishment, management and restoration of GBI, and to mitigate the effects of major urban global challenges, like habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and urban heat island.

This main objective will be accomplished by...


VEG-GAP

LIFE VEG-GAP

The VEG-GAP Information Platform is a web-based multi-purpose information platform exploiting the final results of the project. The platform uses Atmospheric Modelling Systems outputs. It is a collaborative framework among end-users (which can interact with data analytics), governance (facilitating the knowledge sharing on successful environmental air quality solutions), and citizens (by showing them the effects of the green interventions).

VEG-GAP is a valuable example of transnational collaboration, and of how cities, research centres, businesses and civil society can team up to...


Recreio green corridor

Partial view of the awarded project — the green street with restinga landscape design and ecological features to connect people and biodiversity.

Context

Rio de Janeiro is a coastal city that ranges from around 2 m above sea level in the lower areas to forested massifs that divide the city into zones: central, north, south and west. The highest peak is Pedra Branca (White Rock), 1 024 metres high. The city has significant forested areas that cover most of the mountains. The landscape has been highly altered during the urbanisation process, with massive dismount of hills and creation of land over wetlands, mangroves, the Guanabara Bay and along the coast of Copacabana. Most of the 267 rivers and creeks have been canalised or...


Biophysical analysis of public trees in Padova: biodiversity and ecosystem services

Biophysical analysis of public trees in Padova: biodiversity and ecosystem services

Padova is a city of around 210,000 in the north-eastern part of Italy. It is the third largest provincial capital of the Veneto region, and the most densely populated (average density 2300 inhabitants/km2). The city is located 20 km west from the Venetian lagoon at the extreme north-eastern border of the Po plain. The morphology of the territory and its key position at the crossroads of the routes that connect Venice to Milan and to Bologna has fostered the development of the city.

Soil sealing is among the main issues in Padova, where 49.3% of the municipal territory is urbanized:...More


GIZ ValuES - Combining flood protection and habitat restoration, USA

The area surrounding the confluence of the north and south branches of Thornton Creek (Seattle) experiences storm water-related flooding more often than other areas. A cost-benefit analysis, which incorporated ecosystem services values, aimed at identifying the best cost-benefit ratio among three possible options. The assessment results were intended to inform the decision of the choice of a project option.


H2020 AQUACROSS Case Study 1: Trade-offs in ecosystem-based fisheries management in the North Sea aimed at achieving Biodiversity Strategy targets

North Sea wind farms (c) RBINS

The AQUACROSSCase Study aims to improve the knowledge base available to stakeholders to enable a more informed decision-making process toward the achievement of the Biodiversity Strategy targets, including the provisioning of ecosystem services. This includes several existing European marine policy frameworks: Habitats and Birds Directives, MSFD, CFP & IMP.




Brussels Region: Redefining local authorities as bridging organisations to bring economy and environment into symbiosis

Brussels

A grounded economy in symbiosis with the environment at different scales that provides for qualitative jobs anf healthy, inclusive and sustainable lifestyles.

The region will harness local economic opportunities and employment while also addressing environmental challenges. The creation of socioeconomic value will be more closely related to the territorial scale and actively include local stakeholders and assets.


Izta - Popo - Replenishing Groundwater through Reforestation in Mexico

Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl

The Volkswagen Group (the Group) is one of the world’s leading automobile manufacturers. The Group is comprised of twelve brands (Volkswagen Passenger Cars, Audi, SEAT, ŠKODA, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, Porsche, Ducati, Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles, Scania and MAN), operating 118 production plants in 20 countries across Europe and 11 countries in the Americas, Asia, and Africa.

The Group aims to create lasting value for the Company, its employees, and its shareholders, but also for the countries and regions in which they operate. This all-embracing view of sustainability is...




Petrópolis: biological waste-water treatment

Nature-based solution to treat waste water: biodigestor and built wetland in Vila Ipanema, Petrópolis.

Context

Petrópolis is located about 70 km from the city of Rio de Janeiro. It is an important destination in the mountain region known as the Imperial City, named after Emperor Dom Pedro II who used to spend summer in the hills because of the more pleasant climate. It is an important historic site, with many tourist attractions, and is well known as a gourmet and nature-oriented destination because of its surrounding conservation units with impressive and vulnerable landscapes. The city has 82.1 % of its waste water treated, which is higher than the national average of sanitation...




Environmental recovery of a quarry ATEg20 - Pozzuolo Martesana, Truccazzano

Quarry restoration ATEg20

This project consists in two main areas :
- the northern portion : object of the first phases of extraction ended in 2007
- the southern portion : subject of the cultivation plan and recovery of recent years
The proposed project involves the areas cultivated in the northern part. It forecast an environmental naturalistic recovery and the conclusion of the overall environmental recovery of the entire extractive area.
It aims to include : 
• morphological arrangement of the slopes of embankments produced by the extractive area for the future public use;
•...




L. Braille Public Garden – Bari, Italy

Through providing a publicly accessible green space that allows for aesthetic appreciation, recreational activities and social cohesion, the Municipality of Bari aims to improve mental and physical wellbeing among the area’s citizens.

With the aim to renovate derelict land, L. Braille public garden was planned and designed to increase biodiversity, mitigate the urban heat island effect, and reduce noise, air and light pollution in the area.

The park’s green infrastructure aims to helps to achieve an e...


The Finnish River Management Association Virho

The Finnish River Management Association Virho (Virtavesien hoitohidstys Virho ry), was nominated for the Nordic Council Environment Prize 2022 with the theme of nature-based solutions. The Finnish River Management Association has the goal to revive and secure the living conditions of the entire water ecosystem in Finland. This includes fostering biodiversity and fish stocks in areas of flowing water. Virho has operated for more than 30 years restoring hundreds of kilometers of streams through building fish roads, rehabilitating streams and rapids, and deconstructing dams. 

One such...




Favela green roof

Green roof at the Arará community in the heart of a highly built-up and paved area

Context

In Rio de Janeiro the population living in slums (favelas) in 2010 was 19 % of the inhabitants (last census). The informal occupation of steep slopes and flood-prone areas occurs mainly because of the absence of social housing planning, inducing low-income people to use protected areas that the formal real-estate market cannot occupy. The climate is tropical, with extremely high temperatures especially in the northern zone where there are almost no green areas and where the low-income population live in extensive slums (favelas). The temperature can reach over 60 °C in...


Aarhus – A City Perspective (REGREEN Urban Living Lab) - Denmark

Aarhus – A City Perspective (REGREEN Urban Living Lab) - Denmark

In the scope of the REGREEN project, the Aarhus Municipality aims to promote urban liveability, by systematically enhancing and restoring ecosystem services and biodiversity as the basis for Nature-based solutions (NBS):

In this regard, Aarhus aims to improve water quality, water flow management and carbon sequestration

Further objectives include heat mitigation as well as reforestation and renaturing activities of agricultural land to create urban forests, increase biodiversity sites and allow for open...


Rotterdam - NBS for building a waterproof city

rotterdam-floating-pavillion-naamloos-49.jpg

Rotterdam aims to be 100 % climate-proof by 2025. This is the goal expressed in the city’s climate change adaptation programme. This means that by 2025 measures will already have been taken to ensure that each specific area is minimally disrupted by climate change both then and throughout the following decades. Furthermore, all urban planning in Rotterdam will take into account long-term foreseeable climate change while allowing for contingencies.

The ‘waterproof city’ is robust and resilient with a mix of paving and vegetation. The focus is on adaptive measures whereby rainwater is...


ReDuna - Restoration of S. João da Caparica Sand Dunes

ReDuna aerial view

One of the consequences of global warming is the sea level rise. In urban settings along coastlines, rising seas threaten not only houses, but also several types of infrastructures such as industries,  roads, power plants, freshwater aquifers, etc. Rising sea-level also pushes destructive storm surges further inland, posing very high risks for coastal populations, as storm surges can push water kilometers inland, causing extreme flooding far from the coast. 

The Portuguese ReDuna project aims to restore the natural capacity of the Almada sand dune-beach ecosystem to healthily...




Urban gardens in Barcelona: multifunctional green to enhance Nature-Based Thinking in cities

Renaturing Barcelona: various green typologies in the centre of the city. Bellow, on the left: Cover of the government measure “The Programme for Enhancing the Urban Green Infrastructure”. Photo captures: Corina Basnou.

The Programme for Enhancing the Urban Green Infrastructure is an ambitious government measure approved in 2017. It establishes the main strategies for enhancing the quality and quantity of green infrastructure in Barcelona till 2030. Barcelona wants to renature the city and create, in this period, 165 ha of new green spaces, which increases the green spaces/inhabitant ratio by 1m2. As Barcelona is a compact city, there are various strategies to improve, transform or create new green spaces. The actions will take place at various urban scales (street, district or city scale) and...



Ljubljana: NBS for Urban Regeneration and Wellbeing

Ljubljana

In the framework of "Vision Ljubljana 2025", the city has adopted several sustainability-oriented strategic documents, especially the:

Urban Master Plan (83% of all city development is directed towards renewing existing developed areas and brownfields). This is the most important planning instrument for green spaces in the city.

Environment Protection Programme 2014-20, aiming to protect and enhance the natural environment in the city.


Cloudburst Management Plan, Copenhagan

Copenhagen. Credit Ramboll

In July 2011, in less than two hours, Copenhagen was hit by an extreme 1000-year storm event – or Cloudburst – where 150mm of rain left large areas of the city under up to one meter of water. The 2011 event had been preceded by a 100-year storm in August 2010 and was hit again in 2014. Copenhagen realized that Cloudbursts were not a one-off occurrence; the threat compounds as harbor sea levels are predicted to rise one meter by 2110. In a city where many buildings and services are located below street level and where stormwater and sewage are in a combined pipe system, contaminated...




Elderberry Walk

Elderberry Walk Street Design - Credit to HAB Housing

To create a development on a brownfield site where Green Infrastructure (GI) is integral to the layout of dwellings and create a sense of place whilst delivering a rich mix of housing tenures with a focus on affordability for local people.


SABICAS - Gausa catchment case study

SABICAS (SAfeguard BIodiversity and improve Climate Adaptation in catchment areas under pressure: tools and Solutions) aims to provide tools and knowledge needed to quantify the benefits and co-benefits of nature-based solutions. The goal is to facilitate dialogue and decision making among stakeholders and managers. SABICAS will engage with all key catchment stakeholders through several activities, including workshops and living labs.


Removing dams in the Deba River, Spain

Dam removal in the Deba River

The hydro-geomorphology of the Deba River basin in the Basque country will be restored, mainly through dam demolition, restoring river morphology, connectivity and faunal permeability. Stakeholder interaction is being promoted, connecting local communities, institutions and governments. A main objective is to promote environmental education and the conceptualisation of nature-based solutions oriented restoration policies.

This case study is one of 17 that are part of the EU Horizon2020 project MERLIN - Mainstreaming Ecological Restoration of freshwater-related ecosystems in a...



BIOVEINS - Connectivity of green and blue infrastructures in Poznan: living veins for a biodiverse and healthy city

The main objective of our BIOVEINS proposal is to use functional diversity (FD) to highlight the mechanisms underpinning the link between GBI, taxonomic diversity (TD) and ecosystem services (ESs) provisioning, and to provide, together with local stakeholders, the ecological and interdisciplinary knowledge to identify the critical features of GBI, to guide the establishment, management and restoration of GBI, and to mitigate the effects of major urban global challenges, like habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and urban heat island.

This main objective will be accomplished by...


Environmental recovery of a quarry ATEg30 Pero

ATEg30 - quarry restoration

The project aims to transform an old quarry in a public park. The project foresees the renaturalization of the lakeshore, the realization of a peninsula, the filling of settling tanks created for the extraction activities and the realization weak slope in the nord sector that want connect the lake with the countryside.
Objectives are to create : 
• morphological arrangement of the slopes of embankments produced by the extractive area for the future public use
• laying turf
• vegetation reconstruction of marsh and riparian environment
• vegetation...


Quito: Urban Agriculture as Nature Based Solution for facing Climate Change and Food Sovereignty

Women orchards located in their home’s backyards. Source: CONQUITO, 2018

The project aims to tackle climate change, poverty and food provision, by supporting urban gardens on public or private land with community participation. The aims being food security and sovereignty, environmental management, employment and income improvement, social inclusion, sustainability and resilience.




River Meuse project

The so-colled Border Meuse or "Grensmaas" Project has three main objectives: reduce flood risk, healthier and more diverse nature, and the commercial benefit of both gravel extraction and nature-based economic development.


Nature-based solutions in mountain catchments reduce impact of anthropogenic climate change on drought streamflow

Quantifying how well Nature-based Solutions can offset anthropogenic climate change impacts is important for adaptation planning but has rarely been done. This report aims to show that a widely-applied Nature-based Solution in South Africa – invasive alien tree clearing – reduces the impact of anthropogenic climate change on drought streamflow. Using a multi-model joint-attribution of climate and landscape-vegetation states during the 2015–2017 Cape Town “Day Zero” drought.


Co-Creation of an URBiNAT Healthy Corridor for Siena

View of ancient city of Siena from Ravacciano

The main objective of URBiNAT in the Municipality of Siena is to identify a Healthy Corridor for the Ravacciano neighbourhood, as a way to develop the neighbourhood as well, and to make the green spaces present more viable and accessible. 

The local diagnostic has allowed the identification of the population's greatest needs, both in terms of mobility and connection with the city's historic centre, and of access to green areas, considered as places of sociality and wellbeing.

To this aim, within the actions foreseen by URBiNAT, the Municipality of Siena has planned to develop...


Ecuador: INNOQUA demo site in Quito

INNOQUA is a four-year EU-funded Horizon 2020 project. Bringing expertise from multiple disciplines, the 20 project partners are seeking to demonstrate a novel, modular system for wastewater treatment based on the purifying capacity of earthworms, zooplankton and microalgae, operating under real conditions.

Due to its modular configuration, the INNOQUA system can address multiple aspects of wastewater treatment and water re-use in water stressed communities, rapidly expanding cities and industries – both in developed and developing countries. The decentralised approach helps to...


NAIAD Case study: Thames basin demonstration site

 The floodplains of the River Thames are characterised by high land prices and intense urbanisation, with few options for creating extra flood storage.  A number of tributaries of the fluvial Thames suffer localised flooding in urban reaches, affecting local inhabitants, businesses, property and infrastructure. 

Recently there has been UK government investment in natural flood management (NFM) and there is growing interest in how land management such as Conservation Agriculture can provide water management for storing flood water as well as biological benefits....




H2020 AQUACROSS Case Study 3 - Danube River Basin - harmonising inland, coastal and marine ecosystem management to achieve aquatic biodiversity targets

Danube River connected sidearm (c) Andrea Funk

Restoring river-floodplains to protect biodiversity: The Danube’s river biodiversity is threatened by changes to hydrology and geomorphology (so-called hydro-morphological alterations), such as disconnection of floodplains. Multiple human activities, including the construction of hydropower plants, expansion of agriculture, and large-scale river regulation measures to increase navigation and flood protection are resulting in an ongoing loss of habitat and biodiversity. Our aim: In this Case Study, we apply the AQUACROSS Assessment Framework to identify how management of...




Middlefield Greenspace

The issues identified at the site were lack of connectivity, safety, vandalism, poor signage and quality of the space due to frequent flooding. Aberdeen City Council has worked with the community extensively, which included conducting a ‘Total Place’ audit of the neighbourhood in 2014, consulting with children at after school clubs and with the local community groups. The result was a funding application which represented the needs of the community: improving the functionality and aesthetics of the park and introducing a flood alleviation scheme. 

Key aims:

  • Reduce the
  • ...

Erosion Protection with Nature-based Solutions in Norway

The Norwegian Institute for Bioeconomy will prevent erosion by strengthening slopes and edges with nature-based solutions (NbS). The aim is to improve local environmental conditions and increase water quality and biodiversity in streams and rivers.

In many creeks and streams, both large and small, erosion is a major problem. The problem arises as a result of various types of interventions in nature and is typically solved with stone and concrete - so-called grey solutions. But the grey solutions often have negative consequences on the local environmental conditions, water quality...


St. Eunan's Community Greenspace

Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention: St. Eunan's Community Greenspace

The Council’s Open Space Strategy of 2011 identified the Drumry and Linnvale area of Clydebank as lacking access to natural or semi-natural green space. 80% of people in the area live within 500 metres of vacant and derelict land, 31% of children are living in poverty and the area has a higher than average percentage of single parent households. This compares with 62% in West Dunbartonshire as a whole and only 20% in Scotland. The Council’s Open Space Strategy of 2011 identified the area as lacking access to green space. This project provides an opportunity to extend open space and...



Upscaling the Tzipori river restorations in Israel

Tzipori river, Israel

After a decade of restoration measures along the Tzipori stream in Israel, this case study will monitor their success and aims at upscaling measures to the watershed scale in order to create a model for management of stream basin rehabilitation.

This case study is one of 17 that are part of the EU Horizon2020 project MERLIN - Mainstreaming Ecological Restoration of freshwater-related ecosystems in a Landscape context: INnovation, upscaling and transformation.


ECOPAY Connect – Forest-habitat biodiversity payment scheme

 Oglio Sud Regional Park

This case study from the SINCERE project had the goal to:

  • Set up a partnership between the regional park and local poplar plantations to increase the sustainable management of the plantations while increasing funding for restoration of crucial areas within the regional park.
  • Bring together farmers into a certification group, facilitating certification and reducing costs, while benefitting the natural environment of the regional park.
  • The innovative mechanism (IM) consists of a
  • ...

Green Roof of Aimé Césaire School Complex

Aimé Césaire Primary School: A Garden Home (Source: urbannext.net/aime-cesaire-primary-school)

In 2013, an experimental and educational project, conceived as a garden home for a school, was built at the heart of the green district known as ‘Duke’s Meadow’ on the Île de Nantes. The building’s roof was covered by 2,700 square meters of natural dunes.

The objective is to create a green roof, relying heavily on a phytosociological approach to plant colonization and high biodiversity, but also a site that is easy to manage.

The originality of its green roof results from a co-construction between architects and landscape designer. Its qualities are undeniable, and this...


Agro-forestry in the Slovenian Alps

34 case studies were planned by the H2020 PEGASUS project in different farming and forest systems and along the supply chain in 10 EU countries, to: 

  • examine the issues faced in ensuring effective provision of public goods/ecosystem services from farming & forest activities; and 
  • find solutions to enable the economic social and environmental sustainability of the EU’s farmed & forest areas.

Brasília: Serrinha do Paranoá waters project

Community Planting

Context

Brasília is the capital of Brazil and its third largest city in population. The city was built according to a modernist plan by the famous Brazilian urbanist Lucio Costa, eliminating extensive areas of the cerrado biome (Brazilian savannah), which is being devastated by the spread of urbanisation and by agribusiness.

The city was planned with a core, where the buildings host all federal institutions. The city is zoned for specific uses, such as residential, hotels and businesses. Residents need cars to move around. Low-income housing is located in ‘satellite cities...


URBES Berlin - A thriving city embraces its green spaces

Figure 1: quantitative assessment of ecosystem services demand and supply in 4 European cities (after Baro et al, 2015)

The URBES project focusses on functional diversity, urban ecosystem services and NBS, institutions, economics and resilience science and worked to translate research insights into principles, landscape designs and applications. It explores the drivers behind loss/enhancement of urban ecosystem services delivered by nature based solutions such as urban green space, monetary and non-monetary valuation of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the urban landscape and what are the most effective mechanisms for the governance of non-marketed ecosystem services.

In the Berlin case study,...


BIOVEINS - Connectivity of green and blue infrastructures in Paris: living veins for a biodiverse and healthy city

The main objective of our BIOVEINS proposal is to use functional diversity (FD) to highlight the mechanisms underpinning the link between GBI, taxonomic diversity (TD) and ecosystem services (ESs) provisioning, and to provide, together with local stakeholders, the ecological and interdisciplinary knowledge to identify the critical features of GBI, to guide the establishment, management and restoration of GBI, and to mitigate the effects of major urban global challenges, like habitat fragmentation, air pollution, and urban heat island.

This main objective will be accomplished by...



The Green Corridors Network as the background of a NBS approach in Lisbon, Portugal

UAG parks were installed since 2011 as part of a process of social inclusion, where quality of the public space was the decisive point for citizen engagement and approval.

For several reasons, protecting important ecological areas in Lisbon from urbanisation has become difficult. Remnant areas of natural habitat have gained particular importance in consolidating the green corridors network, benefiting from the fact that much of this land is still within the municipality’s property holdings. The “Lisbon Green Plan” published in 1996 set out the approach used in 2008 to implement safeguarding measures to protect the ecological structure under development threat at that point. It triggered an update to the Lisbon Master Plan at a time when climate issues were...



PROAmazonia - Utilizing forest conservation and sustainable production practices to address climate change and strengthen local livelihoods in Ecuador

PROAmazonia is an ambitious, five-year collaborative initiative to transform the agriculture and forestry sectors in the Amazon region to more sustainable management and production practices. It is an inclusive, cross-sectoral and multi-stakeholder initiative seeking a just transition to sustainable land-use practices to significantly reduce deforestation and restore degraded ecosystems, improve the livelihoods of some of the most impoverished communities in Ecuador, and establish viable economic markets for sustainably produced, deforestation-free products. 


Retention/sedimentation basin

The sedimentation basin after completion (Photo: ADBS)

The main problem to solve with the implemented NBS measures is the runoff of soil and pollutants from the farmland to irrigation canals and from there to the nearby Lake Massaciuccoli on the Tuscan coast.

Through the H2020 project PHUSICOS sedimentation basin  have been implemented to prevent runoff of soil and pollutants from farmlands. 


Schansbroek, Genk – brownfield regeneration

Schansbroek lies near the source zone of the Stiemerbeek River and near the coal mine of Waterschei. Former mining activities severely affected natural water management contributing to pollution and flooding for local residents. This was partly related to a change in the topography of the area caused by the mining operations. To protect local residences, rainfall and groundwater has had to be pumped into the Stiemerbeek River. The hydrological impact has also caused water shortage for natural wetland areas negatively impacting the biodiversity of these areas.



Park Spoor Noord, Antwerp

park-spoor-noord4credit-antwerp-municipality.jpg

The release of an open public space with such dimensions in a densely-built city district offered a unique opportunity to restore the connection among the surrounding areas with a solid green lung.  The site was previously a brownfield land that needed remediation. (During the entire remediation operation, approximately 100,000 m³ of land was excavated) However, even the residents of the neighboring areas faced with initial skepticism the usefulness of a park in the specific location.

The idea was to have an economically viable park that would function as social space, a space that...




Enhancement of Cultural Ecosystem Services in the Park Forest Grmoščica - Zagreb, Croatia

ENHANCEMENT OF CULTURAL ECOSYSTEM SERVICES IN THE PARK FOREST GRMOŠČICA - ZAGREB, CROATIA

With the aim to enhance the management and utilisation of Urban Forests as Natural Heritage in Danube Cities, the URBforDAN Interreg Danube project fosters innovative and participatory approaches to build recreational infrastructure that also serves an educational value.

The management of the Urban Forest area also aims at providing regulating ecosystem services.


All eyes on the future; Matching regional supply of and demand for mountain ecosystem services in the Swiss Alps

Exploring which policy strategies can balance the supply of and demand for mountain ecosystem services in the future? Mountains provide many ecosystem services to both, people living in and outside the mountains. In the Swiss Alps study area, the number of farms abandoned is increasing and traditional farming systems are in decline. Therefore, as in many European mountain regions, the provision of essential services is at risk. At the same time, touristic activities and settlement development enhance local demand for ecosystem services. New and integrated strategies in agricultural,...


UNaLab - Urban street greening, Eindhoven, the Netherlands

UNaLan Urban greening

Several streets around the Eindhoven city centre (Waagstraat, Bilderdijklaan, Willemstraat, H. Boexstraat and Dommelstraat) have been rehabilitated and nature-based solutions such as bioswales and street trees have been introduced to address existing problems with heat stress and flooding, and to enhance biodiversity and attractiveness for pedestrians and cyclists.


Restoring Danube floodplains in Romania

Garla Mare Romania

Former wetlands adjacent to the river are being reconnected to demonstrate the benefits of re-wetting /reconnection to the natural flood pulse of the Danube River in order to enhance the benefits provided to nature and local communities.

This case study is one of 17 that are part of the EU Horizon2020 project MERLIN - Mainstreaming Ecological Restoration of freshwater-related ecosystems in a Landscape context: INnovation, upscaling and transformation.


Canal and North Gateway

Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention: Canal and North Gateway

Extensive community engagement sessions were conducted from 2015-2016 by Scottish Canals and Glasgow City Council, including a charrette at Port Dundas which recognised the role green and blue infrastructure could play in regenerating the area. As a result of this, plans to develop the area included extending the path network, re-designing entrances, installing boardwalks, creating picnic areas and building a bridge across the canal to improve access.

The second part of the project is the ‘Smart Canal’ and this forms part of the North Glasgow Integrated Water Management System and...


How to tell your city’s story using the Connecting Nature Framework - Sarajevo

The development of a resilient city pleasant for the life of citizens of all ages and the satisfaction of their needs is one of the goals of the City, but also of other institutions. The City of Sarajevo faces challenges in achieving these goals (often insufficient financial resources, shared competencies, political factors, etc.). These challenges faced the Agency, as well, and they were taken into account in defining the exemplar.

The visit of Osmos in November 2018 identified the main challenges and problems in the city, but also identified and interviewed various stakeholders,...



Socio-cultural valuation of green space in peri-urban Edinburgh

Place-based studies around peri-urban Edinburgh are working with policy makers to better understand society's socio-cultural values of green space. The exemplar aims to: Understand appreciation of ecosystem services in the Pentland Hills; Understand potential to offset urban development in East Lothian; Identify societal ecosystem services benefits in urban and peri-urban contexts; Assess the socio-cultural values of these ecosystem services; Apply, test and further develop ecosystem service valuation methods.




Community Garden at the Village of Nagykovácsi (near Budapest)

  • To create a community garden with the target of the collective work, education and the production of vegetables as well
  • Educating people to acquire and/or to improve skills in vegetables gardening

This is a new initiative in a wealthy suburban village near Budapest. Despite of that the people live in a small village, their lifestyle is more urban and they have a little connection to each other. Observing the situation, some local people decided to create a community garden where people can work together, and they have the...


Greater Easterhouse Green and Blue Network

Green Infrastructure Strategic Intervention: Greater Easterhouse

The project will involve the creation of two green-blue infrastructure corridors which will connect to the large Seven Lochs Wetland Park. The green networks will provide communities in the Greater Easterhosue area with a green connection to the larger wetland park but will also provide them with a local greenspace. 

Key aims:

  • Create and improve multi-functional and connected greenspaces 
  • Creation of habitats
  • Reduce flood risk
  • Improve health and well-being of local communities

Let's Crop the Diversity (LCD)

  • Regenerate abandoned, unused and/or under-used spaces in densely urbanized areas
  • Promote innovative agricultural practices
  • Involvement of citizens and marginalized social classes (Social benefits)

“Let’s Crop the Diversity” (LCD) aims to redevelop urban spaces through the coproduction of solutions based on nature (NBS) to promote resilience and environmental quality of the geographical areas of intervention.

The goal of this project is developing an Urban Agricultural System that, thanks to the...


Reverse auction pilot for forest ecosystem services in rural and peri-urban areas (wildlife population control)

Forest

This case study from the SINCERE project had the goal to:

  • Test reverse auctions as a way to fund and stimulate the generation of much-needed forest ecosystem services (FES) - wildlife population control, habitat restoration in forested hunted areas - and as alternative to subsidy schemes in a populous and urbanised area.
  • Test if approach leads to more cost-efficient use of limited financial resources and supports initiatives considered important to relevant stakeholders and society as a whole.
  • ...


How a Green Infrastructure Strategy can inform a Regional Spatial and Economic Strategy for the Dublin City Region of Ireland.

‘Sunrise in Bailey lighthouse Dublin’ by Giuseppe Milo is licensed under CC BY 2.0.

The main settlement in Ireland is the capital city of Dublin (Figure 1), which has a population of 1.2 million persons, nearly 1 in 4 of Ireland’s population. Dublin is supported regionally by key strategic county towns and an extensive rural hinterland, the population of the Greater Dublin area is approximately 2 million persons.

The Dublin City Region has a wide range of important terrestrial, coastal and marine habitats, extensive green areas and parks (the Phoenix Park in Dublin city is one of the largest walled city parks in Europe at 707ha, the Wicklow Mountains National Park...More


ECO-Park development (Balaton lake) of Balatonfűzfő city

Eco-Park of Balatonfűzfő
  • Development of an ecological park at the lake Balaton

The plans of the municipality and the local civic organzation were to develop a pleasant, ecological park filled with different kind of leisure activities from the neglected gulf.

The objective is a comprehensive reconstruction of the area in Balatonfűzfő, from Fövenyfürdő Beach to Tobruki Beach is enabling the semi-natural utilization of the area near the city and near the lake. This project has two phases:

  1. The first phase a semi-natural promenade with special playground was created
  2. ...

Using semi-natural meadow vegetation for restoration of river revetments: A case study in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River

This study aimed to use a semi-natural meadow as an ecological restoration tool for the optimisation of ecosystem services and landscape attractiveness of river revetments. River revetments combine bank reinforcement with greening and can resist flood washing and provide waterfront space for human activities; thus, it has become a key functional unit in riparian ecosystems used to foster ecosystem services such as the interception and filtration of polluted surface water, habitat for organisms and aesthetic beauty.

Herbaceous species that naturally occur in habitats with infrequent...


Lisbon: NBS Enhancing Resilience through Urban Regeneration

Lisbon

To tackle these challenges, the city has taken a series of measures in the context of the Master Development Plan. The plan sets out guidelines and objectives for specific planning and local development. In particular, the municipal ecological structure takes into account ecological principles and the importance of preserving natural, forest, agricultural and cultural heritage. Together with the Biodiversity 2020 Strategy, the...


Püspökszilágy: Alkalmazkodás a klímaváltozáshoz lefolyás-lassítással és vízvisszatartáson alapuló árvízi védekezéssel

Célkitűzés:

Püspökszilágy fokozottan érzékeny villámárvíz veszély szempontjából, mindeközben nyáron gyakori az aszály. A villámárvizek és az aszály komoly károkat okoz a településen. A projekt célja a két probléma kezelése természetalapú megoldások által.




NAIAD Case Studies: Brague Demonstration site (France)

Nature Based Solutions management is more than a technical problem: specific design and integrated decision-making frameworks are needed. From a more global point of view, choice of Nature Based Solutions and effectiveness assessment require specific principles mixing pluridisciplinary quantitative and qualitative criteria and indicators. It is important to note that the choice and definition of NBS’ effectiveness indicators highly depend on time, spatial scales and decision-making contexts. La Brague DEMO proposes some pathways to contribute to this objective. It is indeed essential to...


Paying for watershed services to cities in Peru

Peruvian lanscape

This case study from the SINCERE project had the goal to:

  • Involve multiple stakeholders in decision-making and share intervention costs and benefits in a fair manner.
  • Provide an opportunity to improve relationships between upstream communities and a downstream water company.
  • The innovative mechanism (IM) consists in a payment for ecosystem services (PES) scheme which obliges water users in Cusco to pay an extra fee on the water bill to improve hydrological services.

Green Wedges - Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, China

GREEN WEDGES - JIAXING, ZHEJIANG PROVINCE, CHINA

The three green wedges around the City of Jiaxing aim to regulate urban climate and to provide space for recreation by enhancing the structure and socioecological multi-functionality of the green infrastructure in the city. 

Trees as nature-based solutions are promoted for co-development and co-design to alleviate problems of heat, air pollution and noise in the city in a participatory way.


Room for the Rhine branches

flooded Rhine branches in the Netherlands

The aim of this case study is the creation of ecological flood retention by changing land use, reconnecting floodplains and change of sluice management in summer dikes. Floodplains are reconnected and side channels restored or their creation supported, with longitudinal main channel dams benefitting both shipping and nature.

This case study is one of 17 that are part of the EU Horizon2020 project MERLIN - Mainstreaming Ecological Restoration of freshwater-related ecosystems in a Landscape context: INnovation, upscaling and transformation.


Nature-based solutions for cities transitioning towards sustainability: A participatory evaluation through a social and environmental lens

Global urbanization trends have made people move to cities where they tend to have less access to nature. Urban nature is important for human well-being and biodiversity, therefore urban planners are increasingly integrating Nature-based Solutions (NbS) projects in urban environments. 

This research investigated how to support citizen engagement for NbS while evaluating the urban environment, focusing on young people as they are often excluded from decision-making and planning processes. 

The research design included a literature review and interviews with city planners, to...


Heritage zone of Xochimilco: Tlahuac and Milpa alta, Mexico City. The importance of Nature-Based Solutions

Chinampa Atliacac harvest agrochemical-free products in Tláhuac. The chinampa is a cultivation method used by native indigenous groups to expand the territory in the lakes and lagoons of the Valley of Mexico, and they use them to grow flowers and vegetables.

Xochimilco is an important tourist attraction for Mexico City and because of thi,s public policies have been focused in conservation, tourism infrastructure and ecotourism. Therefore there is now a priority to address social and environmental challenges including: the dredging and cleaning of the canals, garbage collection and reforestation of channels, exotic species control, improving the hydraulic infrastructure, Axolotl conservation, Chinampas rehabilitation, and productive projects.

Natural systems or nature based solution have been suggested and implemented in order to reduce...


Managing urban Biodiversity and Green Infrastructure to increase city resilience in Ghent (UrbanGaia project)

UrbanGaia case-study sites in Ghent

The aim is to develop a realistic framework of indicators to evaluate, manage and develop performant Urban Green-Blue Infrastructure (U-GBI) in cities and intensively managed landscapes. UrbanGaia explicitly focusses on analysis of ecological and socio-economic features of the many existing GBIs. The evaluation of one the green axis of the ecological network in Ghent will serve as a case study for the framework of indicators. Furthermore, policy, governance and management practices of U-GBI are analyzed to identify innovative approaches to GBI implementation and usage.


Adaptation of Bratislava city to Climate Change

Jama Sportpark

The Strategy on adaptation to negative effects of climate change within the territory of Bratislava the Capital of the Slovak Republic (2014) and the forthcoming Action plan for adaptation to climate change in Bratislava 2017-2020 focus on the following goals: assess the vulnerability of the city to most relevant climate change hazards, mainstream adaptation planning into policies, being a climate neutral city, support awareness raising and partnership in climate change adaptation and provide a framework for monitoring and evaluation of the adaptation process.

Climate change...



Co-Creation of an URBiNAT Healthy Corridor for Nova Gorica, Slovenia

The city of Nova Gorica has been shaping its municipal strategy around the 3 main axes of the Regional Development Strategy of Northern Primorska, namely:

  • Development priority 1: Increasing competitiveness, innovation and employment opportunities in the region;
  • Development priority 2: Improving the quality of life
  • Development priority 3: Sustainable environmental, spatial and infrastructural development of the region

Priority 3 in particular, given the centrality of Nova Gorica and its surrounding settlements in the region, states “a. rational and...



Ecosystem services futures for Lochaber

Leanachan forest survey

The aim of my research is to provide evidence to forest planners and policy makers on the effects of alternative woodland management and expansion strategies on the delivery of a range of key ecosystem services, using the public forest estate in Lochaber as a case study.

The lifespan of woodlands and length of commercial forest rotations are long enough that trees planted today are growing into an uncertain future. As a result, forest planners and policy makers are having to make management decisions to increase the resilience of forests to climate change. These management decisions...




Nottingham: Sustainable housing in times of climate change and resource scarcity

Nottingham

Provision of innovative energy efficient homes within resilient communities.

Our vision for Nottingham is to provide high-quality affordable homes within communities that promote the health, happiness and wellbeing of their occupants and encourage the efficient use of resources as a means of stimulating long term social, physical and economic renewal of urban neighbourhoods in the city.


Climate change adaption and the river Seest Mølleå

The center of the city Kolding is frequently under threat from flooding due to heavy or prolonged precipitation events. Located at the bottom of a river valley, the municipality has initiated many climate-proofing projects to mitigate flood risks. One such project, initiated by Kolding municipality and the utility company Bluekolding, concerns the river Seest Mølleå. The nature-based climate adaptation project cost a total of 3,5 mio. DKK, and was inaugurated in November 2021 after 5 months of construction. 

When heavy prescriptions occur in the large catchment area outside the city...




Amsterdam - NBS for greening the city and increasing resilience

amsterdam.jpg

The 2010 city-region plan ‘Structural Vision: Amsterdam 2040’, managed by the Department of Physical Planning, set the investment and project ambitions for the period 2010-2040. The strategy seeks to fulfil the vision of a creative and varied city, with an integrated public transport network, high quality urban planning, and investment in recreational green spaces, water and renewable energies. Water-related hazards, such as floods and storm surges, are managed at all levels - city, regional and national. The ‘Agenda Groen 2015-2018’ (Green Agenda 2015-2018) includes specific ‘...




GIZ ValuES - Protecting mangroves for local benefits, Philippines

Protecting mangroves for local benefits, Philippines

Despite legal protection, mangroves were being cleared for shrimp farming by non-local investors. In a multi-day workshop, the ideas was to learn from local community stakeholders and participating scientists about the problems surrounding the conversion of mangrove ecosystems to shrimp aquaculture.

The aim was to develop potential solutions to the problems and communicate results to the authorities to take action. The main questions to be answered were: How to compare the value attached to shrimp farming with the value of maintaining mangroves? How can the economic, social and...


Climate-proof cities: City of Tallinn, Estonia

Tallinn is the capital of Estonia and with a population of 451209 people as of 1 September 2018 (Tallinn citizens’ census, 2018 -  Tallinn citizens’census, https://www.tallinn.ee/est/Tallinna-elanike-arv). Tallinn is the largest city in Estonia, inhabiting 34.2% of the total population[1]. Tallinn is situated on the coast of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea and covers a territory of 159.37 km2

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