The Greenkeys projects

The problem of abandoned and devalued urban areas is common among many European cities. The environmental, economic and social decline, which these areas often entail, requires rapid reconsideration and improvements as the lowering of the quality of life may not only spill over to adjacent neighbourhoods, but also the area itself does not need to be relinquished.

The cities are facing difficulties in finding an adequate solution to the main problem of how to apply methods of sustainable rehabilitation to redevelop and enhance the areas in the long term.

The European Commission has started the EU Community Initiative INTERREG III B CADSES (2005-2008), which focuses on increasing the sustainability of cities by initialising the endowment of green spaces. By means of that, local residents and medium-sized enterprises would benefit immediately, but the scientific and practical experiences gained during the projects are equally important as they will promote transnational cooperation in Europe and bring about further projects.

The key question posed by the GreenKeys project is: What are the tools and methods necessary for increasing the sustainability of urban areas by adding green spaces, given the fact that ecological, social and economical conditions are often mutually dependent?
Greenkeys focuses on the improvement of urban green spaces as a step towards more sustainable cities. The three main objectives are

  1. to provide incentives for structural changes in cities by offering opportunities for the enhancement of green spaces. Its 12 partner cities will, together with local stakeholders, develop a strategic approach for the pilot projects to create new or upgrade existing green areas to achieve more accessibility, social and recreational values and ecological efficiency. By the involvement of local activists, the political attention to the benefits of green spaces to urban environments will be increased. GreenKeys will support the implementation/evaluation of pilot projects in order
  2. to develop a “Pool of Green Strategies” (instruments, methods, concepts and good examples) based on the experiences being made to meet the demands of future needs and
  3. to use the synergies to promote the transfer of knowledge by a transnational network and, thus, foster the exchange of the particular national experiences.

In pursuing these goals, GreenKeys brings together 12 cities in 7 countries, 8 scientific supporters, external experts, design studios and NGOs, which participate through their own networks.

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Topic 2 –Sustainable Management of Urban Green Spaces

 

Green spaces play an important role for the liveability of human settlements and for improving the quality of local environments and that not only for the citizens but also to tourists and investors. Green spaces can be a component of the economic renewal of cities – as they contribute to improving the quality of urban life, build the city’s and local’s image and advance the position of the city in respect to its competitiveness. The quality of the green spaces is a key factor to earn such benefits. Their provision, management and protection should be at the top of the sustainability agenda. Despite the positive image of green spaces their maintenance and management in times of scarce public founding require increasingly an authentication – both by the decision makers in politics and administration and by the population.
 
Addressing issues have been:
•    Different views on ecological and environmental performance, economic added value of urban green spaces
•    Sustainable management and maintenance of urban green spaces (innovative funding, innovative maintenance approaches, instruments)
•    How to increase biodiversity in urban green spaces
•    Conservation of protected habitats and local biodiversity within urban green spaces
•    Monitoring, assessing and steering the performance of green situations in cities and of individual green sites (methods of quantifying, evaluating functions, criteria, indicators, local or national benchmarks)
•    What kind of green spaces are needed in the future; how should they be shaped?
•    What future problems with climate change can be expected - e.g. increasing frequency of extreme weather conditions (floods, droughts, storms, hailstorms, etc)
•    Ideas how to foster the knowledge transfer and training

We looked for innovative management and efficient use of resources, examples for their assessment, examples of goals and instruments being used, also for comments or advices on solutions of local problems, and for the information exchange, in order to start a learning process.

 

The topics

 
POLICIES AND STRATEGIES FOR URBAN GREEN SPACES
 
SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF URBAN GREEN SPACES
 
THE USES AND THE USERS OF URBAN GREEN SPACES