Networks and cities' news

Bees would say “You need me, honey!” and we challenge you to “Bee a year 2021”!

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Transfer Story from Riga: Finding new forms for stronger cooperation with Riga`s NGOs or Riga`s NGO House “expands beyond its walls”

“The Riga NGO House is an excellent place for non-governmental organisations to gather, and yet, how could we – the residents of other neighbourhoods of Riga – use all of its services?” The question came from an energetic representative of an NGO, who lives and works in Pārdaugava, across the Daugava River, during a seminar at the NGO House. She went on explaining: “This is the only House of this kind in Riga, and we also want to organise events in our neighbourhoods, closer to our places of residence, we want to engage in the activities held by the participants of the NGO House. Can we organise jointly a networking event in our neighbourhood?” Such questions are more frequently heard at the NGO House, sometimes outlining a particular direction of development that the NGO House should take – to spread its wings in other neighbourhoods of Riga. 

TRANSFER STORY - HOW TO IMPLEMENT URBAN GARDENS

In recent years urban gardening has come to constitute a practice that responds to many needs of communities as it is capable of promoting a sense of community, stimulating social cohesion, experimenting with innovative production and management models for public spaces and strengthening urban ecosystems through increasing urban biodiversity and fighting climate change.

Manchester and C-Change recognised at The Creative Green Awards Programme (UK)

UK sustainability organisation, Julie’s Bicycle, established its ‘Creative Green Awards’ programme in 2017 to celebrate and showcase the arts and culture sector’s leadership in climate action.

The Programme has several award categories: Outstanding Achievement; Best Newcomer; Highest Achievement for Commitment; Highest Achievement for Understanding; and Highest Commitment for Improvement and Creative Green Champions. Two new open categories were added to the 2020 programme - Best Campaign and Best Creative Programming. Manchester representatives were nominated in two categories.

Mapping the road towards six integrated action plans

What is your policy challenge? How are you going to communicate with your stakeholders? And how do you link what we learn on the network level with your work on a local level? Those were some of the questions discussed in the last transnational network meeting in the end of November. A peer supportive workshop on the road towards six integrated action plans.

Pärnu, an integrated health approach: from the planning to sustainable management of green areas

By becoming a healthy city, Pärnu envisions improving access to green areas and increase the everyday use of public green spaces. The city wishes to develop a better network of roads so citizens can use them in their daily commute to work or school. Since Pärnu also struggles with seasonality, the city will need to be better adapted to this new context.

As part of the project, we have focused on the riverside area. Our desire is to find a solution together with the stakeholders on how to make the existing Jaanson health trail even more attractive, while maintaining the green areas next to it. Jaanson Trail, winding path along the left bank of the Pärnu River forms a single circle with the path on the opposite bank. Both are 4 km long, but still different in appearance.

Although this area is currently in use, we hope to find the best solutions to make this area better during the project. The final goal could be said that the wish would be to make the riverside area as attractive as we have been able to make the beach area in Pärnu. We have had some good project in the beach area and we would like to continue with the riverside.

City plans to create visitor infrastructure also on beach meadow area next to river to continue beach promenade, to introduce Pärnu city’s unique and variable landscape and nature values and also create more opportunities to visit beach side and spend time in open air.

It would certainly be mentioned that in the course of the project we hope to find more solutions on how to combine urban planning and health.

A good example of integrated and sustainable management of the protected green area of the beach can be found in our project for the introduction of urban cows.

This project is linked to the city's desire to generate a healthier environment through the protection of green areas, the promotion of active mobility and also the respect for biodiversity.