• Playful Paradigm II. Making all urban public spaces, meaningful places for Play

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    04/04/2023

     

    The experience of Playful Paradigm has clearly showed that people need urban public spaces open for play. Bringing play outside playgrounds is the challenge to provide the “right to play” to children and all citizens. Fostering cities welcoming play everywhere is the goal to driving the change for more inclusive and liveable cities.

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    Ileana Toscano, lead expert

    Playful Paradigm II is a “transfer” network stems from the long-time experience developed in the City of Udine (Italy) focused on play as a tool to foster social inclusion and participation.
    In 2017 the European Union programme called URBACT labelled Udine “Good Practice City” thanks to the play approach developed at city level. URBACT funded two project editions of Playful Paradigm, where Udine led the two Networks to transfer to other EU cities the play-based philosophy and approach. In total, 12 European cities were involved in reflecting about play. The first project edition have seen involved as transfer cities: Klaipeda (LT); Esplugues de Llobregat (ES); Viana do Castelo (PT); Novigrad (HR), Cork (IE), Larissa (HR), Katowice (PL). While in the second project wave, the transfer partners are: Grosuplje in Slovenia, Jelgava in Latvia, Lousa in Portugal and Igualada in Spain.

    The experience of the URBACT Network “Playful Paradigm” offered the opportunity to reflect on the strictly relation between “play and cities”. Play is essential for children’s health, physical-and emotional growth, and intellectual and educational development. But in cities, especially in suburbs, children do not have adequate spaces for playing and play poverty is on the rise, as is the number of children living low-play lives. Public spaces should be re-designed to welcome play and reflect values of democracy, respect, and solidarity. Play can support the urban planning activity by transforming public spaces through play place making initiatives and fostering citizens participation. In other words, well-planned cities foster play and play supports this positive city transformation through playful initiatives.

    Why PLAY is important to trigger Participation and transform Urban Public spaces?
    Play is a versatile tool to easily engage with children and families, also in difficult contexts such as suburbs or deprived neighbourhoods. The Municipality of Udine get awarded about this huge potential of play more than twenty years ago, when they started to promote play through the Ludobus-initiative - a mobile toy-library used to promote play activities both in the suburbs and in the city centre. They have had the opportunity to experiment Ludobus as a powerful tool of inclusiveness, because there are no barriers of culture, languages, gender or age while playing.
    Udine experienced that the Ludobus can transform public spaces making them places for play. The Ludobus brings an important message: “all spaces of a city are places for play”, “all public spaces are spaces for children and for all”. Ludobus is a catalyst: people start playing without being address and previously informed. Ludobus is also a tool to reach families and involve them in participatory urban processes.
    Having discovered the social impact of play at city level, the Municipality of Udine set up a municipal office dealing with play. Thanks to that, the city has becoming lead city of play in Italy and Europe and it has been able to manage several play initiatives, as: setting up a toy library, collaborating with schools and educational centers, developing healthy programmes through play for elderly people and people with special needs, organising several play events in the city, preventing gambling problems through dedicated play programmes, opening the National Archive of Game and, of course, managing the ludobus activities.
     
    Inspired by Udine, the Playful Paradigm partners started to experiment play outside playgrounds, organising play initiatives in their city. They organised temporarily closure of streets to cars, to allow people play and stay together. They transformed urban spaces in places for play: the areas in front of schools, that allow pupils play before going to school, the market streets, that can host children and family in a relaxed atmosphere, and so on. All city partners organised the World Game Day on 28 May 2022, experimenting the intergenerational approach and learning process fostered by play for children and adults.

    Playful Innovations for cities
    Considering the experience of the first project edition and the long experience of Udine, the second wave of Playful Paradigm followed on four dimension of the play approach aiming at further enhancing Playful Paradigm by fostering the inclusion of marginalised communities and promoting the gender based approach to re-think public spaces. That are:

    1. PLAY FOR SUSTAINABLE URBAN REGENERATION analyses the possibility offered by play to re-think urban public spaces. Starting from the Ludobus initiative and the play placemaking experiences, it addresses the gender sensitive approaches about public spaces and playgrounds and the intergenerational approach to include older people and adolescents in city life.
    2. PLAY FOR INCLUSION & PARTICIPATION seeks to develop a new concept for Toy Libraries looking at novel opportunities to transform them into inclusive living labs.
    3. PLAY FOR EDUCATION focuses the attention on the innovative approach in education by providing playful experiences both in formal and informal learning environments.
    4. PLAY FOR HEALTH AND WELLBEING promotes an integrated approach – social, economic and environmental - through the “WHO Healthy Cities” philosophy, involving Project Partners in a co-creation of novel solutions to foster health and wellbeing in local communities.

    Among them, two innovations in promoting play have been followed up by Playful Paradigm second wave: the Gender sensitive playgrounds & Urban Public spaces & the Toy Libraries as living labs.
    The re-design of play places like “school yards, playgrounds and recreational spaces” through a gender sensitive approach can provide an important contribution to deconstruct gender stereotypes and the inequalities starting from early age. The redesign of play places should prioritise gender neutral colours and multiple play ‘worlds’, as opposed to one central, that promote interaction between girls and boys and versatile space uses. It should foster creativity and engage with nature, as well as sports and active games. In this way, children can choose the way they play without the pressure of conforming to stereotypes.
    Toy Libraries are key within new innovative and more dynamic urban policies reflecting the huge demographic change happening in societies. Toy Library helps meeting different objectives: promoting play, educating children but also supporting families. In deprived neighbourhoods when the street means the only option kids have to socialize, Toy libraries can help families keep kids away from the dangerous exposure to petty crimes or drugs.

    The Playful Paradigm promotes the concept of Toy libraries as hands-on public spaces addressing novel opportunities of participation, equality, and intergenerational learning.
    They can be improved by Local Administrations and transformed in truly “inclusive living labs” to engage with all citizens, families, boys and girls, elderly people, children, and adults, taking care to leave no one behind. Toy Library-Living Lab can be a new home for families positioned in the centred the needs of children, girls and boys and their parents, with a special attention to those in the fringe.

    Playful Paradigm Alliances!
    Playful Paradigm has been promoting the collaboration between cities not just at the transnational project level but also at local and national level. Thanks to Playful Paradigm local alliances were boosted, aimed at promoting play urban policies. In Catalunya, Igualada (2nd Wave), Esplugues de Llobregat (1st Wave) and Barcelona started to collaborate to share play approaches and co-design city play plans. In Ireland, the city of Cork has been leading a network focused on play as cascade effect of Playful Paradigm. Jelgava Local Municipality in Latvia and the Municipality of Klaipeda in Lithuania have shared a play strategy to promote the “Play for Education”approach in schools.

    Moreover, the Playful Paradigm cities has been collaborating with other cities and international organisations, such as: UN agencies, EU partners, Private organisations, Arup, LEGO, etc.

     

    Have a look at the Final Product HERE

     

  • The Bee Path Cities - good for pollinators and therefore good for people

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    13/02/2023

    The Bee Path Cities network – a network of urban authorities that have come together under the shared vision of creating cities that are good for pollinators and therefore good for people was established in October 2022. Listen to five mayors explaining the greening changes in their neighbourhoods fostered by seeking to understand, adapt, re-use and upgrade the inspiring Ljubljana (Slovenia) ‘Bee Path’ practice. Learn what the Bee Path City network philosophy stands for and how to join HERE.

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    You can explore a diversity of approaches implemented in the cities covering the majority of different climate conditions for beekeeping, various types of bees, as well as different situations related to the perception of bees among the general public in inspiring stories of Bansko (Bulgaria), Bergamo (Italy), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Osijek (Croatia), Sosnowiec (Poland).

     

    Find out more:

    Visit webpage: www.urbact.eu/Bees

    Contact us: beepathnet@ljubljana.si

  • Copying Neighbours - augmented edition

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    Copying Neighbours
    20/01/2023

    More lessons learned about how to transfer inspiring practices between cities on sustainable food?

    Take a look at last BioCanteens URBACT Transfer Network publication



     

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    COPYING NEIGHBOURS…
    How to facilitate the collaboration between territories, the exchange of inspiring cases, the translation between governance cultures, the emulation and transfer between cities and resilience through cooperation in the face of such as the pandemic, the Ukraine crisis, or other unprecedented future problems?
    BioCanteens is one of the 23 URBACT Transfer Networks engaged in a form of “action-research” to transfer "Good Practice" from one city to a set of partner cities across Europe. In this augmented edition completing the first publication based on the experience of BioCanteens1 with the experience of BioCanteens2 “second wave”, you will find out...

    ...LESSONS OF BIOCANTEENS TRANSFER NETWORKS
    BioCanteens Transfer Network is about ensuring the distribution of sustainable school meals in participating cities as a key lever towards the development of an integrated local agri-food approach, protecting both citizens’ health and the environment. The project aims to transfer Mouans-Sartoux’s Good Practice based on the daily distribution of meals that are 100% organic and mostly composed of local products, the drastic reduction of food waste thereby fully compensating the higher cost of switching to organic products, and the organisation of dedicated educational activities to raise children’s awareness about sustainable food. It tells the various “Transfer stories” of the 9 BioCanteens city partners: Gavà in Spain, Liège and Pays des Condruses in Belgium, Rosignano-Marittimo in Italy, Torres Vedras in Portugal, Trikala in Greece, Troyan in Bulgaria, Vaslui in Romania and Wroclaw in Poland. You may also learn about “Transfer outcomes” after BioCanteens 1 & 2 and in particular the European online event organized in March 2021 in partnership with URBACT and the Glasgow Declaration and the Mouans-Sartoux Food Festival « À TABLE ! » organized in September 2022 to share the networks experiences, to raise European cities’ awareness on food sovereignty and to call on Europe to consider the need for a food exception in public procurement.

     

    Read the full document HERE and start your revolution!

  • Guidelines for cities to evolve into a Bee Path City

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    15/12/2022

     

    XS guidelinesWe 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.

     

    guidelinesFull guidelinesThe 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.

     

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    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)

    - Bee Path Cities Philosophy (EN, SI, BG, EL, FR, HR, HU, IT, PL, PT) 

    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.

     

  • Four transfer cities learning logs

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    15/12/2022

    All four cities that transferred Ljubljana good practice wrote a learning log on their urban beekeeping good practice transfer. It is a document revealing how they did it and what learnt and accomplished. Transformation on an individual, institutional and city level is presented and additionally, how it reflects on an international level. One can learn how different the starting points for each city were and some of the obstacles they needed to overcome in order to transfer the good practice. Find out how it happened in Bansko (Bulgaria), Bergamo (Italy), Osijek (Croatia) and Sosnowiec (Poland).

     

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  • BeePathNet Reloaded Transfer Network Meeting in Sosnowiec

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    13/12/2022

    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.

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    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.

  • BluAct Final Event

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    13/12/2022

    BluAct URBACT 2nd wave Final Event took place in Piraeus, 7+8 December 2022.

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    It was an amazing trip! We learned a lot from each other and now we are more ready to bring sustainable solutions to our cities! The last 2 days of BluAct we said goodbye to our good partners and friends, but we are all sure that we will meet again, in our common paths of starting up the Blue Economy! You can find all the material (photos, presentations, live videos, etc) online at: www.bluact.eu/piraeus

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  • Read about new business possibilities and the use of new products when promoting your Bee Path or how to join the international Bee Path Cities in our new newsletter

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    02/12/2022

     

    You will find all about the importance of new products for cities and how the right promotion strategy can make all the difference in the minds of residents and visitors alike. There are several inspiring urban stories for you to discover.

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    Another highlight is BeePathNet Reloaded final conference. You can watch recordings and learn about sustainable urban development topics. All nine EU cities, that transferred Ljubljana’s urban beekeeping good practice, later discussed on their future plans and activities. They are all the founding members of the international Bee Path Cities network – a network of urban authorities that are good for pollinators and therefore good for people that was officially launched on 25th October 2022. Does your city support the Bee Path Cities philosophy? If so, join us today! Find out more at https://urbact.eu/bees.

     

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    The newsletter is available in English and all 5 partner languages:

     

    БългарскиEnglishHrvatskiItalianoPolskiSlovenščina

     

    Sign up to the BeePathNet mailing list and never miss our newsletter again! HERE

     

    If you want to read previous editions of our newsletter, go HERE

     

    Find out more on the Bee Path Cities network and how to join – go to https://urbact.eu/bees

     

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  • Final conference: EU cities – good for BEES is good for PEOPLE, a transformation into green sustainable cities and launch of Bee Path Cities network

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    24/11/2022

     

    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.

    Thank you for swarming with us!”.

     

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    The article is available in English and all 5 partner languages:

     

    БългарскиEnglishHrvatski, Italiano, PolskiSlovenščina

     

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    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 (National Institute of Biology) 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).

    More info is available on the following webpages:

     

    Key final conference and BeePathNet Reloaded outputs:

    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.

     

    Conference videos and presentations:

    You can choose between videos in English and Slovenian language. Link to the presentation is under speaker’s name.

     

    Welcome speech
    • 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)
    • Discussion (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
    Bee Path Cities Philosophy and Bee Path Cities network launch (EN, SI)

     

    Vesna Erhart, network communication officer

     

    Maruška Markovčič, Ljubljana BEE PATH initiator and BeePathNet Reloaded project manager, City of Ljubljana

     

    Nataša Jazbinšek Seršen, head of Department for Environmental protection, City of Ljubljana

     

    Round table: Pollinators and Citizens – A Friendly Evolution of EU Cities (EN, SI)

     

    Moderator: Klemen Strmšnik, URBACT lead expert and Ed Thorpe, URBACT expert

     

    Representatives of Amarante (Portugal), Bansko (Bulgaria), Bergamo & Cesena (both Italy), Bydgoszcz & Sosnowiec (both Poland), Hegyvidek (Budapest, Hungary), Ljubljana (Slovenia), Nea Propontida (Greece) and Osijek (Croatia).

     

    BPN Re Final conferenceBPN Re Final conferenceBPN Re Final conferenceBPN Re Final conferenceBPN Re Final conferenceBPN Re Final conferenceBPN Re Final conference

     

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  • Numerous possibilities for new honey products

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    Group photo at TNM in Sosnowiec (Poland) taken by Katowice Special Economic Zone – Sosnowiec and Dąbrowa Subzone archive
    22/11/2022

     

    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.  

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    The article is available in English and all 5 partner languages:

     

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    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

    BPN Re front page XS guidelines

     

    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.

     

    BPN front page guidelinesGuidelines: The evolution steps toward a Bee friendly city - The transfer journey. Find out more how to develop bee products and incorporate them into the Bee Path. In the BeePathNet partnership there were several ways how to achieve this and they are described in the guidelines for the development of urban beekeeping.

     

    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.

     

    For more info visit our BeePathNet Reloaded webpage and follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

     

    Some good practices for inspiration

     

    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

     

    group photo from SosnowiecSosnowiec beesIn 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

    Najemi.panj

     

    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

     

    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.

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