POCACITO - Land use

Zagreb for Me

clf — Fri, 19 Feb 2016 09:59:12 +0000

“Zagreb for Me” is an ambitious and comprehensive project launched in 2015 by the Zagreb Society of Architects in cooperation with the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Zagreb and the City of Zagreb. The goal of the project is to start a revitalization of public spaces through the realization of 17 urban interventions in the whole city area at the same time. This distributed approach will improve the general “image of the city” and raise the quality of urban life in segments of housing, recreation, leisure and social cohesion. Although Zagreb has some significant historical parks and squares in its centre, as well as a few recreational zones, the rest of the city has plenty of neglected open spaces that have no specific function. This project aims to decentralize designed public spaces and draw attention to some forgotten city spots. At the same time, the project, created from a “bottom-up” initiative, establishes a new model of public participation as well as new forms of collaboration.

Urban Green Belt

clf — Mon, 05 Oct 2015 12:01:00 +0000

The Green Belt is a group of semi-natural periurban spaces partially recovered from degraded areas, such as gravel pits, burnt ground and drained wetlands from the fringe areas of Vitoria-Gasteiz. Through the Green Belt project, the city has been making progress since the 1990s in land management to recover biodiversity by restoring many of its damaged ecological and landscape areas. When full restoration of the parks will be completed, the Green Belt will form a continuous series of green spaces for cyclists and pedestrians, making it the natural lung of the city, linking the city with the countryside and creating a large green area for recreational use around the city.

Urban Gardens City Project

clf — Tue, 01 Sep 2015 14:10:52 +0000

The project 'Urban Gardens' was established in 2013 by the City of Zagreb to enable citizens to temporarily use small cultivable plots in the city for the production of food, spices and flowers for their own needs. Besides the sustainable use of the land owned by the city, the project has many positive impacts like improved availability of healthy food, protection of city nature and biodiversity, promotion of healthy lifestyle and creating new relationships between citizens. Nowadays, there are already 10 urban gardens in Zagreb, but due to high interest a few more gardens are planned. The process of distributing plots to citizens is placed through public calls in which socially disadvantaged citizens have an advantage.

"BiodiverCity"- green city project

clf — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 13:05:46 +0000

The project “BiodiverCity” was carried out in Malmö in 2012-2014. The project aimed to increase urban biodiversity by creating new products, services and processes for greener cities. The project's goal was to create permanent demonstrations for the dissemination of innovative solutions for urban greenery. The project budget was 9.995 million SEK (~1.18 million USD), funded by the Swedish innovation agency VINNOVA. The project included green yards, roofs and walls in different locations around the city, some including edible plants and some aiming to restore the plants and biodiversity that existed in the area before it was covered by buildings. One key to success in the project was the multi-disciplinary approach with ecologists, landscape architects, scientists, entrepreneurs, developers, etc., all of them working closely together in realizing individual greenery projects.

Low-carbon and sustainable development

clf — Mon, 31 Aug 2015 11:29:42 +0000

Shenzhen City, established as “New Town”[1] in 1979, was the first Special Economic Zone and opening-up window of China. In the past 35 years, the city has witnessed a continuous and amazingly fast economic development. In 2014, the per capita GDP of Shenzhen exceeded 24,000 USD while the total population was approaching 11 million. On the other hand, since 2010, Shenzhen has put more and more great efforts into low-carbon city construction. Clear and achievable goals were set up and all kinds of effective measures indented to reach these goals were taken, including the foundation of a carbon trading system in 2013.

[1] “New Town”: planned city/ planned city development

Wastewater reuse for urban agriculture and green spaces

clf — Wed, 26 Aug 2015 12:30:05 +0000

Lima faces multiple challenges such as a growing urban population, limited and polluted water supply and unsanitary housing. Positioned in an area of limited precipitation, the city is dependent on underground and surface water delivered from the Andes Mountains by rivers. These rivers are heavily polluted and are seasonally variable, and will be subjected to climate change in the future. Given the water scarcity and underdeveloped wastewater treatment, Lima had collaborated with stakeholders to impact national legislation on wastewater reuse and to establish a demonstration project: using treated wastewater for a multifunctional city Eco-Park. This legislation allowing for wastewater reuse for irrigation of urban green spaces has opened the way for further applications with multiple benefits.