As the project is coming to the end, it is time to unwrap all the presents that are our achievements. There are many and you can read all about them in the last newsletter. To just mention a few – we have launched a new network Bee Path Cities, published a shortened version of the guidelines that were first published in the first partnership BeePathNet. The original extended version of guidelines is also available online. To spread a lot of inspiring ideas for urban development, we have issued thematic newsletters in all partner languages as well as English and every partner city has a Bee Path with which citizens learn more about bees and pollinators in the city.
If cities wish to join the mission of pollinator well-being we have provided extensive information on how to do it on the webpage www.urbact.eu/bees. To learn all about this is and much more, please read our newsletter.
The newsletter is available in English and all 5 partner languages:
We developed guidelines – tools for cities that would like to evolve into a Bee Path City. There is a short edition “Evolving into a Bee Path City” (issued in 2022) where we summarise all key aspects of our transfer journey. It is meant to encourage new cities to follow our steps and, hopefully, read the full version of the guidelines. With special support of URBACT it was translated into 12 languages.
Full guidelines “The evolution steps toward a Bee-friendly city’” (issued in 2020) is a comprehensive almost five times thicker manual for urban authorities that would like to take action on sustainable environment and biodiversity management that is based on pollinator protection. It is available just in English.
In addition to Ljubljana’s (Slovenia) practice of urban beekeeping and its ‘Bee Path’ the full guidelines contain case studies and inspiring examples from five BeePathNet project partners cities (2018 – 2021; Amarante, Portugal; Bydgoszcz, Poland; Cesena, Italy; Hegyvidek, XII District of Budapest, Hungary and Nea Propontida, Greece). In the shortened pocket addition we added short information on activities of additional four BeePathNet Reloaded project partner cities (2021 – 2022; Bansko, Bulgaria; Bergamo, Italy; Osijek, Croatia and Sosnowiec, Poland).
Guidelines:
- Evolving into a Bee Path City – short guidelines (EN, SI, BG, DE, EL, ES, FR, HR, HU, IT, PL, PT)*
- The evolution steps toward a Bee-friendly city’ - Full guidelines (EN)
Comments: In addition to the English and Slovenian language version the short guidelines will be available in several other EU languages shortly.
If your city is seeking to understand, adapt and re-use the inspiring ‘Bee Path’ practice of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and other principles described in the guidelines, then the next step is for you to join the Bee Path Cities network. It was launched in October 2022 to continue the exchange and learning opportunities for cities beyond URBACT support. It is now open to all urban authorities in Europe and across the world. Find out more on www.urbact.eu/bees.
The fourth thematic transfer meeting took place in September 2022 in Sosnowiec, Poland and focused on new products and services. Partners from Ljubljana, Bansko, Bergamo and hosts from Sosnowiec meet in person, and partners from Croatia participated virtually.
The partner city representatives were greeted by Anna Jedynak, Mayor’s Plenipotentiary for External Funds and Social Matters. She highlighted important accomplishment directly resulting from this project such as 20 URBACT local group members deeply involved in environmental protection, establishment of a biodiversity park, also new municipality legislation on beekeeping, implemented educational programme and several new products. The city of Sosnowiec is already introducing these solutions across Poland. In her opinion the best impact of this project is a change in Sosnowiec citizens behaviour and their way of thinking.
Partners presented the progress they made with their Bee Paths and how they deal with new products in their cities. Bansko (Bulgaria) and Osijek (Croatia) are focusing on marketing aspects. Bansko, wants to introduce bee products such as honey, pollen, wax … in different forms. One of their most unusual products is a tea made of dead bees as a source of different microelements, acids and chitosan. The city of Osijek highlighted good marketing possibilities of honey vinegar and their intention to promote apitherapy as a rather unknown service in Croatia. Bergamo (Italy), a UNESCO site of gastronomy, successfully established synergies among beekeepers and cheese producers. They matched their nine special types of cheese, protected with EU label Protected geographic origin, with regionally specific honey types. On the other side, Sosnowiec focuses on awareness raising. They encourage restaurants to use honey in cooking, organised various pollinators and environment protection related events and celebrations with an excellent citizens response, awareness building for children in Zaglebie Media Library … They also made a bee mascot.
This meeting was also an opportunity to discuss the final outputs that need to be produced as well as the work on partner’s mid to long-term urban beekeeping plans. One of the most important aspects of the meeting was the finalisation of preparations for the network final conference and launch of the Bee Path Cities network which will occur at the same time. In discussion on issues related to the future the first five partner cities representatives (BeePathNet) also joined us via zoom.
The most inspiring part of the meeting was the visit of the Sosnowiec Bee Path where we learnt of different approaches the city employs to bring bees closer to residents. In the Katowice special economic zone, Agnieszka Glińska (Anna Kopka) of the Sosnowiec and Dabrowa subzone presented their work, which was followed by a presentation by Bożena Wroniszewska-Drabek from Humanitas University on how to use marketing support for new products. Among the points visited were Sielecki Castle, Schoen Museum, Zaglebie Media Library, Honey Comb Charity Shop, Museum of Medicine and Pharmacy and many more.
The final conference titled 'EU cities - good for BEES is good for PEOPLE, a transformation into green sustainable cities’ was the conclusion of the transfer of sustainable urban beekeeping knowledge from Ljubljana to nine EU cities (BeePathNet and BeePathNet Reloaded). The event that took place in Ljubljana (25th October 2022) joined residents of over 45 cities and 17 different countries worldwide either in person or virtually. It was also the official launch of the international network of Bee Path Cities – the movement that will continue to promote the vision of creating cities that are “good for pollinators and therefore good for people” beyond the project. Conference presentations and videos including the Philosophy of Bee Path Cities and guidelines for new cities to implement the movement are available on network web page.
Final words of Maruška Markovčič Ljubljana BEE PATH’s initiator, the Queen Bee of urban beekeeping knowledge transfer and Bee Path Cities international network, from the City of Ljubljana:
“I see this as a new beginning of new times!
Everybody is a spokesperson. Take the Bee Path Cities Philosophy and invite cities to join.
The final conference titled 'EU cities - good for BEES is good for PEOPLE, a transformation into green sustainable cities’ was the conclusion of a year and a half long journey of the BeePathNet Reloaded project. On the 25th October 2022 we met in hybrid form where we were joined by residents of over 45 cities and 17 different countries worldwide.
The conference was opened with a welcome speech by Dejan Crnek, deputy mayor of the City of Ljubljana and Peter Kozmus, Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association and the vice president of Apimondia.Maruška Markovčič, the project initiator and coordinator presented the journey from Ljubljana’s BEE PATH to the BeePathNet Reloaded partnership.
In the following session eminent speakers Adele Bucella (URBACT), dr. Fani Hatjina (APIMONDIA) and dr. Danilo Bevk (NationalInstituteofBiology)talked about different aspects of sustainable urban development. Participants then discussed different aspects of urban beekeeping with the aim of ensuring sustainable and environmentally friendly cities.
After the break project partners from BeePathNet Reloaded presented the work they did on their bee paths and the challenges they faced. Ivan Doktorov (Bansko, Bulgaria), Mara Sugni (Bergamo, Italy), Helena Kolenić (Osijek, Croatia), Edyta Wykurz (Sosnowiec, Poland); and Branka Trčak and Nina Ilič (Ljubljana, Slovenia) all shared their experiences with the transfer of the good practice.
All 9 cities, that transferred Ljubljana’s urban beekeeping good practice, obligated themselves to keep on implementing pollinators friendly activities also after the official project’s end and to spread the movement round Europe. To set the common understanding and role of this partnership, Vesna Erhart, network communication officer presented the key principles and aims of the Bee Path Cities international network philosophy. The network was officially launched by Nataša Jazbinšek Seršen, head of the department for environmental protection in the City of Ljubljana. With this all EU cities are invited to join the international network of Bee Path Cities and follow in founding members’ footsteps.
In the round table all 9 partner cities (BeePathNet and BeepathNet Reloaded) presented the situation regarding pollinators and the effects the project had on their cities. It was moderated by Klemen Strmšnik, URBACT lead expert, and Ed Thorpe, URBACT expert and its key point was discussion of future plans at city level and common activities of the newly established network Bee Path Cities. In Ljubljana we were joined by Maruška Markovčič (Ljubljana, Slovenia), Attila Varga (Hegyvidek, 12th District of Budapest, Hungary), Elisavet Papoulidou (Nea Propontida, Greece), Tsvetanka Obetsanova (Bansko, Bulgaria), Mara Sugni (Bergamo, Italy), Helena Kolenić (Osijek, Croatia) and Edyta Wykurz (Sosnowiec, Poland). Joining us online were Justyna Olszewska (Bydgoszcz, Poland), Elena Giovannini (Cesena, Italy) and Ana Lirio (Amarante, Portugal).
Comments: In addition to the English and Slovenian language version the short guidelines will be available in several other EU languages shortly on the international network webpage www.urbact.eu/bees.
You can choose between videos in English and Slovenian language. Link to the presentation is under speaker’s name.
Welcomespeech
Dejan Crnek, deputy mayor of the City of Ljubljana (EN, SI)
Peter Kozmus, Slovenian Beekeepers’ Association (EN, SI)
From Ljubljana’s BEE PATH to the BeePathNet Reloaded partnership. Maruška Markovčič, Ljubljana BEE PATH initiator and BeePathNet Reloaded project manager, City of Ljubljana (EN, SI)
Sustainable Urban Development for Pollinators and Citizens
URBACT – the Honeypot for European Cooperation. Adele Bucella, Head of Unit in the URBACT programme secretariat (EN, SI)
How Urban Development Focusing on Nature can Help Humans and Bees; Examples and Lessons Learned; Dr. Fani Hatjina, the President of APIMONDIA’s Bee Health Scientific Commission and the ULG coordinator for Nea Propontida (EN, SI)
No Pollinator Diversity Means no Food Security. Dr. Danilo Bevk, researcher at the Department of Organisms and Ecosystems Research, National Institute of Biology (NIB) (EN, SI)
Transfer of Ljubljana’s Good Practice on Urban Beekeeping to EU Cities (EN, SI)
Bansko Bee Path – Where Heritage meets Education. Ivan Doktorov, the Municipality of Bansko, Bulgaria
In Bergamo, Citizens and Institutions Act Together for a ‘Bee and Pollinator-Friendly’ City. Mara Sugni, Botanical Garden, the Municipality of Bergamo, Italy
The New Cradle of Beekeeping. Helena Kolenić, the Municipality of Osijek, Croatia
Bees for Dummies. Edyta Wykurz, the Municipality of Sosnowiec, Poland
Recent Evolution of Ljubljana’s Bee Path. Branka Trčak, the City of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Api-Education Programme in Ljubljana. Nina Ilič, Institute Eneja, Slovenia
The Municipality of Amarante, one of the most beautiful and “sweet” cities of Portugal, is a destination in the north of the country. It is recognized for its honey in varieties such as heather, rosemary, eucalyptus or orange that is so special, that it is labelled with the EU Protected geographical indication. Originating from traditional use of honey in the culinary field and due to locals with dreams and visions, who joined small beekeepers and developed their business, local honey and diverse products made with honey or other bee products are distributed across the country and abroad. Today, beekeeping is a growing sector of the local industry especially important for the rural areas.
Honey bread – in Portuguese Broa de mel is a Portuguese musical duet that became famous in the 80s and 90s with their love songs performed in several festivals such as the Festival RTP da Canção. Their songs talked about passion, ardour, union, romance, breezes, caresses and about “honeymoons”. These sweet themes which refer to happiness and wellbeing can make us feel honey.
The name of the group as well as their song lyrics are deeply connected with “broa de mel” a well-known Portuguese sweet made in many bakeries and pastry. Honey is commonly used in Portuguese confectionary in typical sweets such as “ginger and honey cake”, “honey and cinnamon cake”, “honey bread with egg cream filling”, “cake of olive oil and honey with cinnamon and nuts"," Algarvian honey cake "," honey and yogurt cake" and "honey and raisin cake" or "honey toast".
Honey has countless uses; from gastronomy to cosmetics, health and wellness…. or as a unique product. Increased demand for such products plays an important role in the local economy, as recognized by Alexandre Vieira, current president of Apimarão (Association of Beekeepers of Marão and Aboboreira), an association that brings together about 50 beekeepers. He is committed to making Apimarão more dynamic and through the association create logistical conditions that facilitate the work of honey producers, whether in terms of extraction or commercialization.
A forest engineer, and also a beekeeper himself, Alexandre Vieira sells pollen to tearooms, pastry shops or pharmacies but above all he is committed to the design and building of beehives. He produces apiaries regardless of size even small ones meant for self-consumption.
The mountains of Marão and Aboboreira and the slopes of the river Ovelha have flora of heather, rosemary, eucalyptus and orange blossoms. Honey produced there is a very special EU food product which has the EU label “Protected geographical indication (PGI)”.
In Amarante there are several others inspiring stories related to honey. There is a story of Alexandre Morais who today owns 200 hives and export products abroad, but it all started with a swarm entering his house. The successes story of the Dolmen store (Cooperative for Local and Regional Development); Tiago Morais, a professional firefighter and professed admirer of Nordic cultures that fulfilled his great passion for mead “the drink of the Gods” by producing it (Runas Hidromel). And nevertheless Inside Experiences, a local tour operator, who created two routes / tours to provide tourists with the honey experience.
Summarised from article by Nicolau Ribeiro (Municipality of Amarante)
Knowledge hub:Education
For a start we invite you to read a “pocket” version of guidelines with inspiring stories from 10 EU cities. It will be available in 12 EU languages by the beginning of December 2022. Though, to start a movement in your city, we recommend to deep-dive in full guidelines and tools described below.
Read chapter 8 Bee Products – The development of bee products in the Bee Path. There you will find how Ljubljana did it and some of its success stories such as Rent-a-beehive.si, Special house honey dessert of the restaurant Pri Kolovratu, cooperation with the Slovene Ethnographic Museum….
There are also cases studies from all BeePathNet partner cities Cesena (Italy), Bydgoszcz (Poland), Hegyvidek (Hungary), Nea Propontida (Greece) and Amarante (Portugal).
BeePathNet newsletters library - visit the thematic newsletters archive and find inspiring urban stories, ideas for small scale activities with a big impact, involvement of different stakeholders etc… To get closer to citizens, we translated them in several languages.
Just for a first inspiration, we present some of our Bee-friendly cities good practices.
BeePathNet Reloaded partner – the city of Sosnowiec, Poland
Sosnowiec the city where everybody is part of awareness raising
In Sosnowiec the city administration has succeeded in attracting the interest of various institutions and citizens who all work together in raising awareness about bees and why we need to change our attitudes and way of thinking to provide a brighter future for all of us.
The institutions that have managed to incorporate the care for bees into their work can be found in many fields of work in Sosnowiec. Let us mention just a few of them: Zagłębie Media Library, Honey Comb Charity Shop, Museum of Medicine and Pharmacy, Sielecki Castle and many more. Even the Katowice Special Economic Zone has joined in the buzz and is sharing and spreading knowledge.
BeePathNet lead partner – the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Rent-a-beehive.si / Najemi panj.si
Urban beekeeper Gorazd Trušnovec gained entrepreneurial education through the Entrepreneurship Training Programme organized by the City of Ljubljana and the Cene Štupar Educational Centre, where he developed a special product called “Rent-a-beehive”.The rent-a-beehive service is usually based on a one-year agreement, where customers can rent two or more beehives. For an annual rent, a client gets 10 large glasses of honey per hive, with the option of buying up all the remaining honey, and he/she can attend to all the beekeeping tasks with beekeepers explaining the individual operations. There are also mentoring packages, team-buildings for companies, workshops for children … Lately he started with a bee-keeping course as a rehabilitation program for prisoners.
BeePathNet partner – the city of Amarante, Portugal
Dolmen
Dolmen is the name of a co-operative for local development located in Amarante, Portugal. It includes members from different sectors – from the public sector (like the Municipality of Amarante), other associations, SMEs, producers and individuals.
The mission of Dolmen is to promote local development through the valorization of local products, culture, heritage and people. Its operation focus is on rural areas, not only from Amarante, but also from other neighbour municipalities, such as Baião, Cinfães, Marco de Canaveses, Penafiel and Resende. Crucial to their business development is participation at national fairs, the fair of the hypermarket Continente and fairs abroad.
BEE PATH Good Practice logic is very simple - bees are the best indicator of healthy environment! BeePathNet Transfer network aims to up-grade and transfer BEE PATH concept, solutions and results from Ljubljana to 5 other EU Cities. It will address urban environmental, biodiversity and food self-sufficiency challenges linked to urban beekeeping through integrated and participative approaches, build key stakeholders’ capacity to influence relevant policies, develop and implement efficient solutions.
BEE PATH good practice logic is very simple - bees are the best indicator of healthy environment! BeePathNet-Expanded project will widen the network of “bee-friendly cities” based on BeePathNet project transfer success. It will address urban environmental, biodiversity and food self-sufficiency
To act in an environment friendly manner is a key goal of modern cities. In order to instil ecological awareness in the mindset of each resident, it is a long and dynamic process. The first step is to follow the principle of “Primum non nocere” (First, to do no harm). For example, kindergartens, schools, NGOs, etc. use different teaching methods, such as workshops, trips, field games and more to achieve this goal. Cross-generational training is the most effective strategy to involve all parts of society in ecological awareness and education. The city of Bydgoszcz from Poland has developed several good practices in this field.
It is a long and dynamic process to develop ecological awareness, and understanding of the importance of nature, for human beings. The process changes in line with the development of man and is dependent on the current individual characteristics, interests, as well as social factors. This is why it is very important to shape environmental awareness and sensitivity in children as early as possible, while their minds are not yet limited by social and cultural conditioning. The crucial moment for making citizens knowledgeable about the environment is in their early youth. Specifically, by teaching them a universal and appropriate behavioural mode towards nature. The next step in the development of ecological awareness is based on specific information concerning nature gained through teaching.
The basic goal of ecological education should focus on instilling the principle of “Primum non nocere” ("First, to do no harm”). The basis of this principle pertains with how to preserve and protect the richness of nature in our closest vicinity, especially in the areas with increased vulnerability due to human impact. The big question is how to achieve this goal?
Unfortunately, in most cases, the core school and kindergarten curricula devote little attention to these issues, i.e. the unique role of pollinators and their meaning in our lives. That is why teachers’ eco-initiatives are pivotal and the role of non-governmental organizations, botanical and zoological gardens, cultural centres and municipalities in the progressive approach to nature preservation is crucial.
There are several ways that you can address different groups. Workshops are one of the most valuable and effective teaching methods. Furthermore, there are class trips and field games, as well as different celebrations of ‘bee day’, bee-watching, establishment of school gardens …
Summarised from article of Justyna Olszewska, The City of Bydgoszcz, Poland
Knowledge hub:Education
Guidelines: The evolution steps toward a Bee friendly city - The transfer journey Find out more how to develop educational programmes for kindergarten and primary school children with the intention of increasing the level of knowledge about bees and awareness of their importance among the younger residents of cities in the BeePathNet partnership with guidelines for the development of urban beekeeping.
Read chapter 6 Education – Investing into our future. There you will find how Ljubljana did it and some of its good practices such as cooperation with the University Botanic Gardens Ljubljana, Biotechnical Educational Centre Ljubljana, Institute for the Development of Empathy and Creativity Eneja, and the Urban Beekeepers Association.
There is also a case study from Nea Propontida, Greece and Bydgoszcz, Poland, the BeePathNet partner cities.
BeePathNet newsletters library - visit the thematic newsletters archive and find inspiring urban stories, ideas for small scale activities with a big impact, involvement of different stakeholders etc… To get closer to citizens, we translated them in several languages.
Just for a first inspiration, we present some of our Bee-friendly cities good practices.
BeePathNet Reloaded partner – the city of Bansko, Bulgaria
Learning about pollinators in schools
The Bansko schools - Secondary school Neofit Rilski and Primary School Paisiy Hilendarski implemented pollinator related topics in the teaching programme and in clubs. Children learn about bees and the importance of pollinators through lectures, exploration, cultural heritage related to honey… and the youngest ones also through stories and dance. All based on the enthusiasm of devoted teachers and mentors as well as headmasters. In addition to the changed attitude towards environment and biodiversity it brings satisfaction and pride to schoolchildren of all ages.
BeePathNet lead partner – the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia
Educational programme for Kindergarten and Primary School Children
Institute for the Development of Empathy and Creativity Eneja with the financial support of the City of Ljubljana designed a comprehensive programme for Kindergarten and Primary School Children. Detailed description of modules, didactic recommendations, working methods and teaching materials is described in Guidelines (page 74) and all materials are available online. More about Eneja institute HERE.
BeePathNet partner – the city of Nea Propontida, Greece
Educational Seminars for Teachers
Given that the Arnea Environmental Educational Centre is the coordinating body of the Bee’s Work, Human Goods Network, it organises a three-day seminar for teachers on a subject in relation to bees. This is organised every spring in collaboration with the Directorates of Primary and Secondary Education of the region, and it also enjoys some financial support from the European Union.
Most people now agree that green is good for health and resilience. Greening urban areas and connecting them to water, or ’blue’ areas, is high on the agenda in most towns and cities. Yet, says URBACT Programme Expert Iván Tosics, even this seemingly self-evident issue is not without contradictions. In this article, he looks beyond the general “green is good” statement and finds a more nuanced picture.
It has been said many times, almost to the point of banality, that during Covid times, the demand for outdoor activites grew dramatically, leading to a marked increase in the use of parks and outdoor spaces. We all saw this in our cities in Europe. However, this did not necessarily happen to the same extent everywhere in the world. There is an interesting website, based on Google data, showing how the number of visitors to parks and outdoor spaces has changed compared to the selected baseline period, January 2020. Although it is not easy to interpret the data due to factors such as seasonal differences between North and South, we can hypothesise that in Europe and the global North, green areas were able to meet the increase in demand more easily, being generally more secure and better maintained than those in many parts of the global South.
There are many good summaries about the immediate, easy-to-reach interventions by cities as a reaction to Covid – see for example my article on temporary interventions in the use of public spaces, such as closing streets and creating pop-up bike lanes, or encouraging street play. Key questions discussed in this article are: what kind of tactical interventions into greening are observable? And how can these be turned into long-term, strategic programmes, avoiding potential pitfalls?
Many people think that all greening efforts are good for the wellbeing of citizens in general, and their health in particular. However, it is necessary to go beyond this cliché, understanding the different ways to implement the greening of cities, highlighting the efforts made to achieve synergy with other aspects of sustainable and resilient development, and calling attention to potential unwanted externalities of greening projects – among which the most important is the potential increase in socio-spatial differentiation through gentrification.
Types and benefits of green places
Owen Douglas, of the Eastern and Midland Regional Assembly in Ireland, listed the benefits of green spaces in his presentation at the URBACT Health&Greenspace Academy in December 2020. These include: enabling physical activities; improving mental well-being; supporting social interactions; and reducing environmental risks of air pollution and extreme weather events.
Green infrastructure planning can do a lot to mitigate stressful city life in compact cities, with strategically planned networks of natural and semi-natural areas, and creating new green and ‘blue’ spaces – areas of water. To achieve that, green infrastructure planning has to be multifunctional, including a diversity of green elements, such as: large natural areas as hubs; forests and parks as green parcels; smaller private gardens, playgrounds, roadside greenery, or green roofs as individual elements; corridors connecting the hubs, parcels and elements; and finally land use buffers, as transition areas, separating dense urban spaces from the suburbs.
In another presentation at the December 2020 URBACT Health&Greenspace Academy, Eduarda Marques da Costa, of the University of London, listed different types of green space interventions, from overarching development of new neighbourhoods through regeneration of residential areas and brownfield areas, including smaller-scale improvements to public spaces and support for urban gardening.
Innovative greening examples
Let us see now a few examples of the different types of greening interventions and their potential consequences.
Certain European cities have conducted large projects of strategic importance to improve sustainability and resilience.
Barcelona, Parc de les Glories (photo by Iván Tosics, November 2021)
Barcelona (ES) provides an excellent example, with its efforts to renaturalise the densely built-up city. One of the emblematic projects is the rebuilding of the Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes: besides the demolition of the elevated roundabout for cars and the building of a new High Speed Train station, a large new park is being erected under the motto of renaturalisation.
Utrecht (NL) has put re-canalisation into the core of its urban development strategy. Forty years after the historic mistake of converting the canal that encircled Utrecht’s old town into a 12-lane motorway, in 2020, the city opened the canal back up again. The restoration of the waterway was the central piece of the 2002 referendum in which residents voted for a city-centre master plan with the aim to replace roads with water. With the reopening of the Catharijnesingel, Utrecht’s inner city is again surrounded by water and greenery rather than asphalt and car traffic.
Paris (FR) has undergone large changes since the election of Mayor Anne Hidalgo in 2014. One of the key elements of the changes towards more sustainable urban development is the permanent pedestrianisation of roads along the river Seine and certain canals, which made the access to waterfront areas much easier.
Another pathway towards more sustainability is to renovate, animate, and improve the safety of existing green areas. A prime example of this is the case of Bryant park in New York (US). This was one of the no-go areas of the city, getting the nickname 'Needle Park' in the 1970s because of the large number of drug addicts who frequented it. Changes started in 1988 with an extensive renovation of the park, including radical physical restructuring of the area, making the green space attractive, transparent and lively, clearing areas to let in light, installing many moveable chairs, and creating coffee places. The park has been transformed from an insecure to a lovely space.
Breda, Valkenberg Park
A similar story is the redesign of the Valkenberg Park in Breda (NL) to improve safety, presented at the URBACT Health&Greenspace Academy in October 2021 by David Louwerse, project manager, Municipality of Tilburg.
The most common greening interventions in European cities are smaller interventions, such as creating urban gardens, or greening streets and rooftops. An article by Tamás Kállay, Lead Expert of the URBACT Health&Greenspace network, gives a good overview of such initiatives. He mentiones Tartu (EE), where “meadow boxes were placed on the road. A beach bar was opened, and the street section accommodated also an outdoor reading room, a market, picnic tables, an outdoor cinema, and various programs”. Another example from the Health&Greenspace network is Poznań (PL), where “as part of a pilot activity natural playgrounds were created in the yards of several kindergartens providing direct contact with nature and supporting creative play”.
Such examples demonstrate that “… small green space interventions, both physical changes and social activities can trigger a massive change and lead to larger actions promoting positive health outcomes.” This conclusion is further supported by another URBACT article, arguing for the importance of walking, not only in shopping streets, but also across all neighbourhoods – including ‘consumption-free’ areas.
Besides punctual interventions, many cities aim to ensure fair distribution of green across the whole city and to connect green areas into networks. Poznań is good example for the latter, aiming to protect the green belt around the city from real estate development and urban sprawl, while also increasing forest cover within the city boundaries and preserving and improving existing parks and green spaces.
Changing people's mindset and reorganising the structure of local government
Hegyvidék, district 12 of Budapest, Lead Partner of Health&Greenspace, provides innovative examples of public spaces being improved and used more frequently thanks to new ideas, rather than concrete physical greening interventions. In order to change people's mindset, the “…municipality identified ‘green prescription’ as an appropriate tool for linking cardiac rehabilitation with the Active Hegyvidék program. Green prescription is a written advice of a health professional to a patient to participate in some sort of nature-based activity.”
Hegyvidék is also pioneering an institutional restructuring of the the municipality, creating a so-called Green office. Changes can also be achieved without reorganising the municipality. For example, the URBACT network UrbSecurity presents an Urban Planning Game where Leiria’s municipal technicians develop step-by-step new approaches to increase the security of public spaces in the city. Cities can also use nudging techniques to influence behaviour, as many of the publications of Pieter Raymaekers (Leuven) show.
The positive effects of greening and their link to urban planning
Another URBACT network, Healthy Cities, focuses on including health considerations systematically into urban planning. To make this easier, a new tool has been developed, enabling users to quickly assess the health impact of their whole urban plan, and see how small adjustments could make a big difference to the lives of local people. This Healthy Cities Generator is a practical planning tool designed to give actionable indicators for anyone looking to integrate health into planning. It is based on a systematic review of scientific peer-reviewed publications linking urban determinants and their impact on health, through which the tool automatically calculates the health impact of urban planning actions.
The integration of green considerations into planning can best be achieved by regulating the access to green areas at metropolitan level – this proved to be very useful during the Covid pandemic in those urban areas, where metropolitan coordination was strong enough.
A word of caution: potential dangers of greening interventions
Against all good will, greening interventions can also have negative effects, if not applied in an integrated manner, without creating synergies with other aspects of development.
Greening usually goes well with sustainable urban mobility interventions. When regenerating public spaces, areas taken away from cars can give place to green elements, for example changing motorways into urban boulevards with trees, pedestrianising streets, turning parking spaces into ‘parklets’ with moveable plant pots. However, if large green developments are concentrated in peripheral areas of cities that are difficult to access by public transport, they can easily result in increased car use. In a broader sense, this is a danger in all green developments that create large spatial imbalances in cities, i.e. new green areas far away from many residents who would like to use them.
When managed in the right way, greening can have very important social advantages: it is a good tool to better involve disadvantaged groups into society. Greening can help the social involvement of the elderly and school children – see for example the OASIS project, converting schoolyards into green cooling islands in Paris. Even so, the biggest danger of greening interventions lies in their negative social externalities, through the gentrification process.
Gentrification can take various forms. The direct form is the regeneration of socially contested areas into high-quality neighbourhoods. If no parallel efforts are made to support disadvantaged groups, the outcome will be socially unacceptable: pushing out disadvantaged social groups to other parts of the city. I described this process in an earlier article, on the case of Teleki tér, Budapest (HU), comparing this one-sided, gentrifying regeneration to the more integrated approach used in the case of Helmholtz square, Berlin (DE). The latter, through ongoing social assistance, is much closer to the URBACT-supported integrated approach, despite the fact that participative planning was also applied in the Budapest case.
Budapest, Teleki square with fences around, 2015.
Source: www.hvg.hu
Berlin, Helmholtz square, 2015.
Source: Imre Pákozdi
A more common and less direct form of gentrification prevails through the increase of property values and rents in areas of improving quality of life, for example due to green interventions, which leads to the gradual displacement of people of lower socio-economic status. This well-known market mechanism can be kept under control with public regulations on rents, housing allowances and/or maintaining a substantial share of publicly owned housing. Unfortunately, such public interventions to control gentrification are rarely applied (or even considered) along with urban greening.
Greening is an essential form of environmental intervention. The principle of integrated development requires a certain balance between economic, environmental and social aspects of development. This, however, is not easy to achieve, even in cases when there is strong determination to keep the balance. The comparison of two European cities, developing new ecological areas, illustrates the difficulties, showing how overly strong insistence on high environmental standards might lead to the deterioration of social goals, if public resources are limited. If greening aspects are given preference over social protection aspects, the outcome is again gentrification, against the original will of the politicians.
Stockholm, Hammarby Sjöstad, 2006. Source: Iván Tosics
This article aimed to show that greening is usually a very advantageous aspect of urban development. However, certain dilemmas and potential pitfalls must be taken into account when planning green policies and interventions. With careful procedures, including green infrastructure planning as part of an integrated vision, and measuring the green and social outcomes of all investments, these pitfalls can be avoided.
Come and meet us!
This topic will be discussed at the upcoming URBACT City Festival on 15 June 2022 in a session titled ‘Greening as pathway to urban well-being and resilience’. The session will feature good practices from three URBACT Action Planning Networks, Health&Greenspace, Healthy Cities, andUrbSecurity.
With this newsletter, we begin a series of theme dedicated newsletters, each linked to one of our partner cities.
This issue is all about biodiversity in cities which depends on pollinators as much as on responsible residents. This theme is in the hands of Osijek (Croatia) and was discussed in depth on our partnership thematic meeting in November 2021. You can also read all about it, find out what took place since the last newsletter was issued and what will be going on in our partner cities in the next few months and in the process learn a thing or two about bees.
Without bees 75% of our food plants would not yield any fruits at all, there would be a major economy loss in crop production, wildflowers would not ripen seeds and biodiversity would drastically decrease. Numerous great initiatives started lately to protect bees and their pollinator counterparts – they deserve our support as they also help us.
To support cities administration initiative on biodiversity preservation and to show them diverse good practices on how to involve their citizens, institutions and economy to play active role in it BeePathNet cities developed Guidelines – The evolution steps toward a Bee friendly city supported with good practices.
Honey is a wonderfully tasty and healthy food. However, bees have a more important activity: the pollination of flowers. Without pollination by bees (or other insects), 75% of our food plants would not yield any fruits at all. Common trees in our orchard gardens like apple, pear, cherry, plum, peach, apricot, orange, lemon and others; but also, vegetables like pea, bean, tomato, paprika, cucumber, pumpkin etc. each requires pollination. According to a study from England, if there were no pollinating insects it would cause about 500 million GBP per year loss for the U.K. crop production. Although the role of honey bees in pollination is crucial, they share the task with other insects that are flying from flower to flower in order to collect or just consume the nectar. Among them, wild bees, bumblebees, butterflies, moths, bee flies, flower beetles are the most known groups. Less known fact, that beside the existence of the pollinator insects, their numerosity or occurrence is an important factor too, because it was evidenced that those flowers which were visited more frequently by bees, produced bigger and more regular shaped fruits. This can be best observed in the case of our fruit trees, but it seems true for the emergence of the wild plants’ fruits as well.
Bees and the kind of pollinators listed previously are not only responsible for pollinating the economically beneficial plants, but they are the ones who fulfil the insemination of thousands of insect-pollinated plants that are essential components of the vegetation. Without these pollinator insects, these wildflowers could not ripen seeds, which would threaten their survival in the long run.
Author: dr Péter Csontos, Botanist, Budapest, Hungary
Read chapter 5 Biodiversity - The cornerstone of the BEE PATH good practice. There you will find how Ljubljana did it and some of its good practices such as cooperation with the University Botanic Gardens Ljubljana and establishment of the Grba Public Orchard and Honey Garden and Help the Bee in the City: Plant the City with Flowers initiative. There is also a case study from Hegyvidék, Hungary, one of BeePathNet partner cities.
BeePathNet newsletters library - visit the thematic newsletters archive and find inspiring urban stories, ideas for small scale activities with a big impact, involvement of different stakeholders etc… To get closer to citizens, we translated them in several languages.
Just for a first inspiration, we present some of our Bee-friendly cities good practices.
BeePathNet Reloaded partner – the city of Osijek, Croatia
Kopački Ritis a nature park in eastern Croatia almost on the suburbs of the city of Osijek. It is located northwest of the confluence of the Drava and the Danube. It is one of the most important, largest and most attractive preserved intact wetlands in Europe.
A part of Kopački Rit has been designated as a zoological reserve. Around 260 various bird species breed here including geese and ducks, great white egret, white stork, black stork, white-tailed eagle, crows, Eurasian coot, gulls, terns, common kingfisher and European green woodpecker. Many other species use this area as a temporary shelter on migration from the northern, cooler regions to the southern, warmer areas and vice versa. More info https://pp-kopacki-rit.hr/?lang=en.
BeePathNet Reloaded partner – the city of Osijek, Croatia
Zlatna greda Park is located in the nature park Kopački Rit. It is a carefully designed concept that provides practical experiences of coexistence of man and nature, a place of learning, but also fun. The house in nature functions through practical examples of sustainable development, such as renewable energy sources, waste separation, social entrepreneurship and responsible business. In the wilderness environment, empower yourself as new protectors and promoters of the natural and traditional beauties of the middle Danube region. More info and photo credits: https://zlatna-greda.org/
BeePathNet partner – the Municipality of the XII District of Budapest (Hegyvidék), Hungary
The Urban Meadow Programme In the spring of 2018, external experts of the Danube-Ipoly National Park Directorate, the Botanical Section of the Hungarian Biological Society, and the Municipality of the XII District started an experiment. Its primary goal was to restore the pilot site – a meadow encircled by urbanised areas – back to its natural state. This was addressed by ensuring favourable habitat conditions in order to achieve an increased number of endemic plant and animal species. Due to significant global population decrease, specific attention was put on creating optimal conditions for all types of pollinators. This experiment was an attempt to test whether the biodiversity of urban green areas can be enriched and if urban green areas can be used and maintained as biodiversity hot-spots or stepping stones. Read more in guidelines on page 64.
Photo: Urban meadow after one-and-a-half years of implementation (Author: Péter Csontos)
BeePathNet lead partner – the city of Ljubljana, Slovenia
The Organisation of the “Help the Bee in the City: Plant the City with Flowers” awareness-raising campaign is an excellent example of a corporate-responsibility-driven initiative based on cooperation between the BTC d.d. and the City of Ljubljana. BTC d.d. was one of the first stakeholders to join the BEE PATH and has certainly become one of the most important. As the biggest shopping and commercial centre in Slovenia and South-East Europe, it has an important impact on regional traffic patterns. At the same time, due to the high percentage of built-up areas, it represents one of the biggest heat islands in the city. Subsequently, the management has become increasingly aware of the importance of sustainable development and environmental protection. This awareness has influenced its corporate responsibility agenda as the company developed a programme called “Mission: Green” through which they promote the green way of living and carry out many activities. Read more in guidelines on page 51.
We developed guidelines – tools for cities that would like to evolve into a Bee Path City. There is a short edition “Evolving into a Bee Path City” (issued in 2022) where we summarise all key aspects of our transfer journey. It is meant to encourage new cities to follow our steps and, hopefully, read the full version of the guidelines. With special support of URBACT it was translated into 12 languages.
In Sosnowiec the city administration has succeeded in attracting the interest of various institutions and citizens who all work together in raising awareness about bees and why we need to change our attitudes and way of thinking to provide a brighter future for all of us. 
