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Recovering urban wildlife isn’t just about protecting a city’s parks and rivers, but also making its streets, homes and skyscrapers greener.
New public buildings in Finland have to incorporate more wood, which is leading builders to innovate.
The framing of nature as separate from culture impacts our notion of landscapes and the functions, infrastructures and activities deemed appropriate within these, where natural landscapes are associated with nature conservation, and the built environment with human activity. In this paper, we propose bridging this nature–society dichotomy through a multifunctional perspective as a way to adopt a more systemic view of space in relation to landscape traits as well as material artefacts.
Rotterdam launched an innovative pilot project: QR codes were placed on some 100 trees that are declining and therefore need to be removed.
Vienna received the European City of Trees award (ECOT) from the European Arboricultural Council, acknowledging the Austrian capital as a model for care in the domain of urban greenery. The Arboricultural Council also pointed to the city’s innovative knowledge-based approach for the improved adaptability of the urban environment in the face of climate change. They also held up Vienna as an outstanding example of good practices that other European cities can emulate.
Water is becoming more important as a resource, as European cities implement an increasing number of green programmes
This brief introduces a four-part series exploring nature-based solutions (NbS). Responding to identified gaps in existing knowledge about the social and economic sustainability aspects of NbS, the series seeks to explore their costs and benefits and how they can be developed without leaving anyone behind.
The goal of the city is to house two million bees on Wiener Linien's green spaces by 2022, which means around 80 bee colonies. "Public transport is an ideal place for bees. Along the rails, there are often unused areas where countless flowering plants can settle," said Alexandra Reinagl from Wiener Linien.
This EEA report, which Ecologic Institute's McKenna Davis co-authored, provides up-to-date information for policymakers on the how to apply nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction and at the same time making use of multiple societal benefits that these solutions can bring. Drawing on selected examples across Europe, the report shows how impacts of extreme weather and climate-related events are already tackled in this way. It also assesses global and European policies and how nature-based solutions are increasingly being integrated in the efforts to shift towards sustainable development.
Urban green space improves people’s mental health and well-being: by now, this is a well-accepted proposition, with plenty of research to back it up. Based on this connection, cities are sprinkling pocket parks and green roofs throughout the urban mosaic. But is this enough? A new study suggests that city dwellers also need access to […]
Quelle place l'urbanisme accorde-t-il à la pensée écologique ? Décrivant les usages du végétal en ville depuis le XIXe siècle, Charles-François Mathis interroge l'évolution historique des partis pris de l'aménagement et les fondements de l'avènement d'un « urbanisme écologique ». Où que j'aille aujourd'hui encore, si l'occasion s'en présente, si j'ai dans une ville inconnue une heure à perdre, une dérive complaisante m'entraîne au long des rues, vers ces placides enclaves chlorophylliennes cernées de nos jours par
The transformation of a Swedish shipyard into a haven for biodiversity inspired the UK capital’s ‘urban greening factor’ plan
With the dedication process for the Semmelweis area in the 18th district of Vienna, which is currently underway, local authorities are legally securing the historic park for the future. The city is set to receive a 4.7-hectare green area, which fulfils an important recreational function for the entire district and to which public access is guaranteed. Throughout the process, areas currently designated as building land will become grassland and will be granted special park protection area status upon the task’s completion.
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From Madrid to Berlin and Paris to Budapest, scientists and planners agree, trees, trees and yet more trees can help make Europe’s cities more comfortable – even survivable – over the coming years, as global heating strengthens its grip.
Les épisodes de fortes chaleurs et de canicules poussent les municipalités à revoir leurs aménagements urbains. Pour lutter contre le phénomène des îlots de chaleur, de plus en plus de villes décident de faire sauter le bitume, pour le remplacer par des espaces naturels, des parcs ou des forêts urbaines. Alors que le béton et le bitume emmagasinent la chaleur et la restituent la nuit, les sols naturels restent plus frais et conservent l’humidité. Novethic a sélectionné cinq exemples de villes qui restaurent la nature.
Cities should invest more in expanding green spaces and nurturing natural systems - not just to keep residents healthy and tackle climate-change risks but to boost their economies
A living wall composed of pockets of greenery installed on the outside of a building can shrink the amount of heat lost through an un-insulated wall by nearly one-third, according to a new study. The findings suggest a new strategy for making older buildings more energy efficient. “Living walls have the potential to contribute to the improvement of the overall thermal performance of existing buildings,” says study team member Matthew Fox, a lecturer at the University of Plymouth School of Architecture in the UK.
The good news is that there are solutions, many of which involve bringing nature (and food) resources back into the city: more parks, more trees, natural systems (“green infrastructure”) to reduce stormwater pollution, “green” roofs, and even urban farms, such as concentrated urban farming
Des projets de forêt urbaine émergent, notamment des microforêts participatives inspirées de la méthode du japonais Miyawaki. Cette nouvelle tendance est également l’opportunité d
The time has come: 90 sheep have arrived in the Schafflerhofstrasse PV plant in Vienna - Donaustadt, the largest such in Austria. The area of more than 12 hectares is perfectly suited for grazing and in a bid to maximise the green efforts of the city, they decided to get eco-friendly lawnmowers. “They go together wonderfully,” said Climate Protection City Councilor Jürgen Czernohorszky.
The Handbook aims to provide decision-makers with a comprehensive NBS impact assessment framework, and a robust set of indicators and methodologies to assess impacts of nature-based solutions across 12 societal challenge areas: Climate Resilience; Water Management; Natural and Climate Hazards; Green Space Management; Biodiversity; Air Quality; Place Regeneration; Knowledge and Social Capacity Building for Sustainable Urban Transformation; Participatory Planning and Governance; Social Justice and Social Cohesion; Health and Well-being; New Economic Opportunities and Green Jobs. Indicators have been developed collaboratively by representatives of 17 individual EU-funded NBS projects and collaborating institutions such as the EEA and JRC, as part of the European Taskforce for NBS Impact Assessment, with the four-fold objective of: serving as a reference for relevant EU policies and activities; orient urban practitioners in developing robust impact evaluation frameworks for nature-based solutions at different scales; expand upon the pioneering work of the EKLIPSE framework by providing a comprehensive set of indicators and methodologies; and build the European evidence base regarding NBS impacts. They reflect the state of the art in current scientific research on impacts of nature-based solutions and valid and standardized methods of assessment, as well as the state of play in urban implementation of evaluation frameworks.
The experience of lockdowns across European cities has driven home the importance of access to green space to health and quality of life. In Spain, the political renewal seen in many towns after the municipal elections of 2015 helped push public space and biodiversity up the local agenda. Today, rewilded rivers in Madrid or Errenteria in the Basque country are examples of how investment and imagination can transform urban environments for the better.
Les grandes métropoles ont paru, lors du premier confinement, se repeupler d’animaux sauvages profitant du vide que nous leur avions laissé.
Les acteurs réunis au sein du BiomimCity Lab planchent sur des méthodologies communes pour construire des villes biomimétiques.
Après l'essor des jardins partagés pour réintroduire de la nature en ville, une nouvelle tendance émerge dans certaines grandes villes, les jardins-forêts ou micro-forêts. Une tendance portée par un élan citoyen, reportage à Montpellier.
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