URBIA report-FINAL 2_SL - Worldwatch Institute Europe

Copyright © 2015 by Worldwatch Institute Europe
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Citation:
Elena Bulmer, Bo Normander, Stephanie Loveless, Emilie Elten, Julia Vol, (2015).
Urban Biodiversity in Action - the URBIA Project and Award. Worldwatch Institute
Europe, WWIE Report 4. Copenhagen, Denmark.
Design/Layout: Stephanie Loveless
Illustrations and photos: Front cover design by Alvaro Sedeño and
photos throughout report are taken by Bo Normander, Daniel Yeow, Julia Vol and
Stephanie Loveless
ISBN 978-87-995431-3-7
The URBIA project is supported by:
The Danish Environmental Protection Agency ("Puljen til Grønne Ildsjæle")
The Clara Lachmanns Stiftelse, Sweden
In recent years there has been a flowering across Europe of a large number of urban
grassroots and green citizen initiatives, such as community gardens, rooftop farms and pocket
parks, which have done much to promote nature in the city and to bring important social and
community benefits to the urban living environment.
The objective of the URban Biodiversity in Action (URBIA) Project 2015 was to recognise and
reward outstanding urban biodiversity initiatives in Denmark, to foster the idea of their
replication by others and to contribute meaningfully and durably to a greater and more
widespread public consciousness of the importance of halting biodiversity loss.
We launched the URBIA Award competition in Denmark in May 2015 and 29 projects
responded to the call. There was first a shortlisting process and the winners were subsequently
selected by an Expert Panel and the prizes awarded at the successful and well-attended
URBIA Award Ceremony, which was held at the Dome of Visions in Copenhagen on June 9th,
2015.
From the URBIA team and WWIE, we would like to thank the Danish EPA and the Swedish
Clara Lachmann’s Stiftelse for supporting this project and permitting us to develop the basis of
a durable green grassroots platform in Denmark and abroad.
With kind regards and we do hope that you enjoy the report,
The URBIA Team – Elena Bulmer, Bo Normander, Stephanie Loveless, Emilie Elten, Julia Vol
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Biodiversity has been declining in most European countries for several decades due to a
multitude of pressures, such as agricultural intensification, forestry, urban sprawl, and
development of infrastructure. There is a pressing need to reverse this trend and therefore
the EU and its member states have agreed to set a target to halt the loss of biodiversity by
2020.
In the effort to protect nature and biodiversity, the urban biosphere has become an important
domain, as urban and semi-urban areas are becoming ever more prominent features of the
European landscape. As much as 75 per cent Europeans are now living in cities and the
number is only projected to grow in the coming decades.
By protecting nature in urban and surrounding areas, these efforts work to make life in the
urban setting more environmentally sustainable, raise awareness and understanding of
biodiversity in general, and also answer to the urgency voiced in related initiatives for
creating and protecting green spaces. Thus, as a way of protecting urban nature, green
spaces and community-based urban greening initiatives, such as community gardens, city
beekeeping associations, rooftop farmers, and vertical garden projects have gained ground
in many European cities over the past few years.
These initiatives have achieved much in promoting the importance of urban biodiversity for
ensuring resilient ecosystems and functioning ecosystem services, but they have
also illuminated the fact that there is still a societal lack of appreciation of the threat posed by
biodiversity loss, in addition to a lack of interest towards conservation of nature and the
creation of a well-functioning green infrastructure.
To address the strong need for communicating and
educating the public and decision makers on the
significance of urban nature and the urgent need to
halt the loss of biodiversity, Worldwatch Institute
Europe launched the Urban Biodiversity in Action
(URBIA) project in 2015.
As a first milestone, we hosted the Danish URBIA
Award competition in 2015, aimed at showcasing
best practice examples of urban biodiversity
initiatives in Denmark. This report gives an
overview of the URBIA project and presents the
results and achievements of the URBIA Award
contest in Denmark.
The objective of URBIA - the URban BIodiversity in
Action project – is to create a widespread
consciousness about the importance of halting and
reversing the loss of biodiversity and to show how
virtually everyone can participate.
We want to achieve this by identifying success stories
and best practices in urban biodiversity and green
infrastructure initiatives and through the dissemination of
these stories to a broad audience in cities across
Europe. To begin spreading the word on the importance
of urban biodiversity, in 2015, we hosted the first URBIA
Award competition in Denmark in order to assess and catalogue best practice
examples of urban biodiversity and green infrastructure endeavours in Danish
cities, and awarded the best initiatives with a prize - the URBIA Award.
Our team specifically focuses on community-based urban
and peri-urban initiatives that are practical, easily replicable
and capable of producing significant results. Initiatives may
range from highly innovative ideas to practical on-theground endeavours, such as rooftop gardening, reed beds,
city beehives, urban wildlife corridors and other urban
infrastructure projects, as well as successful learning
experiences, that are helping to foster an ecological mindset among local citizens and decision makers.
With the URBIA Award, we are not only aiming to raise awareness, but also to stimulate a selfevaluation process for participants, encouraging them to expand upon their already positive
contributions towards well-functioning ecosystems and biodiversity in the urban setting.
The URBIA Award competition in 2015 was open to the whole of Denmark. The main objective
was to promote sustainable living practices by highlighting and raising public awareness about
biodiversity and green city actions and initiatives in Denmark.
Projects ranged from highly innovative ideas to practical-on-the-ground endeavours, such as
rooftop gardening and urban wildlife corridors.
Overall 29 projects were submitted from across Denmark. Projects were categorized and
judged under one of the following three categories:
• Biodiversity conservation
• Community involvement
• Urban green innovation
The selection process was as follows:
1) Applications were evaluated by a preselection committee made up of experts from the
URBIA team. During this first stage of the evaluation process, nine initiatives were initially
shortlisted (i.e. three in each category).
2) The shortlisted projects were then evaluated by the URBIA Award Committee that
comprised of biodiversity specialists and experts in urban planning. As a tool to help select the
winners, we applied a scoreboard, where the committee members scored each project in 18
different criteria.
3) A winner and two runner ups were finally selected for each award category, and the
winners were announced at the Award Ceremony in Copenhagen on June 9th 2015.
The URBIA Award Ceremony was held on June 9th,
2015 at the Dome of Visons in Copenhagen. The
event began with a warm welcome from Lars
Højholt, a journalist at the newspaper Information and
Bo Normander, Executive Director at Worldwatch
Institute Europe, followed by a number of key
speeches given by Ivone Pereira Martins from the
European Environment Agency (EEA), Marcus
Hedblom from Sweden´s Agricultural University and
Ann Berit from the Danish Society for Nature
Conservation (DN).
For the entertainment, the group Batida and Nørrebro
Dance with Joy performed live. The full event program
may be found at www.worldwatcheurope.org/node/321. At the end of the evening the
winners were announced as listed in the following
pages.
The winners were selected by the members of the
URBIA Award Committee, which had voted for the
best projects, based on the scoring of a set number of
criteria. Each winner received a certificate and a prize
of DKK 5000. We also developed a special prize, the
People´s Choice Award, based on an online social
media poll.
1st
Vild med Vilje (VMV; or
Wildfully Wild in English) is a
communication concept
enabling a larger group of
people to make a concrete
and local difference through
helping in the maintenance
and enhancement of a rich
and wild nature by growing
hay instead of lawns.
Wildfully Wild may be used
by anyone to transform
lawns–big and small–into
lively spaces with richer
wildlife. Through simple
means and small budgets
it is possible to transform
lawns into biodiverse
grassland.
2nd
hristiania is a 40-year-old
societal experiment that
challenges the way we live in
the post-industrialised
capitalist society. Christiania
prioritises resident selfgovernance with equality and
freedom for the residents,
respect for the natural and
cultural value of the area
along with sustainable and
organic development. This
way of thinking affects the
construction, decorating and
running of the buildings,
along with planning and
conservation of the natural
areas.
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Sydhavnstippen in
Copenhagen has sprouted
up from piles of construction
waste and strong local
citizen commitment. Today it
is a popular green space for
humans and animals.
Dumping of construction
waste in the area ended in
1973, and since then
Sydhavnstippen has become
a unique cultural and natural
scene – an urban space
close to the sea comprising
of bricks
and regenerated green
space.
1st
The Byhaven 2200 is an
open community garden in
the middle of a public park in
Nørrebro, Copenhagen, run
by local volunteers. Through
practical actions, garden
users illustrate the values
that they would like our
society to be built on. The
urban garden was started
with the intent of becoming
an oasis in the city where
citizens could learn to
cultivate together, and
quickly became a biodiverse
urban space that constantly
changed, and brought
people together, creating a
space for play and
conversation.
2nd
Odense Urban Gardens is an
association that runs two
urban gardens in Odense.
Both urban gardens focus on
wild bees and plans ensure
there will be flowers all
season for bees to find food.
Pesticides are prohibited.
Odense Urban Garden
members assist and consult
in starting up new urban
gardens and gardening
projects, and they are
currently helping a
project on Østre Plads in
Odense.They are also
applying for funding for solar
cells and aim to not just be
an urban garden; but a
flagship for urban gardens.
3rd
Flowering City (“Blomstrende
By”) was initiated in
Copenhagen in 2012 to get
local residents, institutions
and companies to claim a
small piece of urban nature
that can be a roadside patch
just in front of their residence
or in a neighbouring street.
Families with kids, adults,
students, social clients – a
diversity of residents –
participate, get their hands
dirty and have the
opportunity to influence their
neighbourhood. Flowering
City has launched a new
website where you can log in
and adopt a flower bed in
your neighbourhood, easily
and quickly.
1st
Urban Green is a cross-
disciplinary project where
gardeners, biologists and
architects join forces to make
the city greener, healthier
and more beautiful using
seven native biotopes. Urban
Green has delivered
biotopes for green roofs at
Novo Nordisk in Bagsværd,
Copenhagen Municipality
(Blegdamsvej) and around
the campus at University of
Copenhagen. The goal is to
to create green corridors,
enhance urban aesthetics
and to make food available
to insects and birds.
2nd
he ØsterGRO vision is to
create, run and develop the
first rooftop farm in Denmark
as a financially sustainable
project that creates jobs. It is
anchored in a local
community at Østerbro,
Copenhagen and produces
local food, and communicate
knowledge about ecology
and organic farming to the
public. ØsterGRO produces
vegetables, eggs and honey
to the 40 members in
collaboration with a newly
launched farm in Dragør. The
newest initiative is a
restaurant in the middle of
the urban rooftop farm that
offers new gastronomic
experiences.
3rd
Bølgemarken (the Wave
Field) is a small, urban sea
farm with mussels, oysters
and seaweed where city
dwellers of Copenhagen can
get up close and personal
with their food and where it
comes from through
events and an educational
program for kids. Kids are
taught about the organisms
and ecosystems in the
harbour, where their food
comes from and how it ends
up on their plate. They are
also developing a modular,
scalable sea farm that is
easy to operate in the form of
DIY kits that make it possible
for urban citizens to have
their own sea farm under
jetties, house boats etc.
"It has been an incredibly exciting competition in which
we have looked at about 30 creative and innovative
projects in support of urban nature. The winners of the
URBIA Award 2015 are the very best examples of
urban nature and can be a model for others who want
to engage in doing something to create green cities,"
said Bo Normander, director of Worldwatch Institute
Europe, following the award ceremony.
“Urban Green is very proud to
receive this award. We hope
the price can help to encourage
more wild nature in the city for
the benefit of biodiversity and
people,” said Dorte Nissen,
founder of the firm Urban Green
“We are just so happy for the price.
In a small sunny spot in Nørrebro we
have created a green and flourishing
oasis with a committed community
and created a growing city
movement,” said Candela Vargas
from Byhaven 2200.
“We are proud to receive the URBIA Award and for
the great professional recognition it entails. URBIA
celibrates urban biodiversity, and inspire more
people to make a difference,” said Philip HahnPetersen from the company Habitats right after the
presentation of the award. Habitats won in the
category biodiversity with the project Wildfully Wild,
which converts private gardens into wild nature
ØsterGro won the
People's Choice Award
Rehabilitation of Utterslev Mose grasslands in Copenhagen
3rd
The purpose of this project is to restore an old chalk grasslands in the
Utterslev Bog, which houses a number of flora and fauna species that
are under pressure from factors such as overgrowth. Besides the
physical restoration of the grasslands, a number of lectures and
meetings about the conservation work have been organized.
Cyanide Garden In Aarhus
This urban garden is built on an abandoned coal and gas works
property. By using simple solutions, the area has been revived and
become a place where experiments with new sustainable transition
solutions may be developed. Cyanide Garden collaborates with
Frøsamlerne (the Seed Collectors) in the cultivation of different edible
plant species.
Seed Popup in Nørrebro, Copenhagen
SEED POPUP (”FRØ POPUP”) is a seed-swapping market where
everyone can come and get seeds or swap seeds with each other. The
goal of SEED POPUP is to create awareness around the importance of
biodiversity and to increase awareness and knowledge on the topic of
seed legislation in Europe and globally. Another goal is to spur interest in
old cultivated species, in gardening and in the collection of seeds.
Grow Norrebro Rooftop Garden in Copenhagen
3rd
This diverse rooftop garden was founded upon an ambition to transform
the community of Nørrebro, particularly through the engagement of the
younger generation on Nørrebro. The garden has a large outreach
through multiple events and collaborations with other initiatives that
permits it to spread the message of a greener lifestyle.
Utterslev Bog in Copenhagen
The management of the public park Utterslev Mose, e.g. the separation
of birds’ nesting from the visitor areas since the 1930ies, has made the
park one of the world’s most successful urban green locations with
considerable biodiversity that visitors can experience up close.
Creating Creativity Garden in Svendborg
The goal of this private urban garden project is to create the best
possible environmental conditions for insects in the area through seed
production and the designing of the insects´ optimal habitats. Through
garden tours along with the sharing of seeds and knowledge, the
project’s outreach has been considerable; more than 1,000 people have
visited the garden since January 2015.
City Bee in Copenhagen
3rd
City Bee works with businesses and social projects to install beehives
across the city. They train volunteers, homeless people, and asylumseekers among others in beekeeping and honey production. City Bee
focuses on improving conditions for urban pollinators through workshops,
tours and events that mainly deal with the theme of the role and
importance of insects in the.
Copenhagen Food Cooperative
The Copenhagen Food Co-Operative (KBHFF) is run by its members
through voluntary work. Via a storage facility on Enghavevej, members of
the association are supplied with organic and locally produced foods in
exchange for three hours of work each month.
Beehive City in Aarhus
Beehive city (“Bistad”) is a non-profit association that runs a socioeconomic business. The association combines social work with locally
anchored food production through the creation of employment by
teaching beekeeping to people with little or no connection to the labour
market. Bistad enables people who keep bees but have no garden to set
up their beehives in a communal courtyard in the city, and offer advice
and guidance from experienced beekeepers.
The association Øbro Gadehaver in Copenhagen
3rd
The vision of this project is to transform the city streets into gardens.
Through engagement with local residents and the creation of small street
unions, guerrilla gardening is used to green as many small areas of the
city as possible to improve the city´s overall wellbeing.
The Oasis in Årre near Varde
This project is an example of what you can do with an old parking lot.
The park is the product of a vision and need for a greener city, where
recreation and teaching about nature is the focus. Citizen involvement is
key in this project as the area is run by volunteers from the local
community in collaboration with the municipality of Varde.
The Agro Garden at University of Aarhus
The aGRO Garden is a students’ initiative that allows the students to test
and put in to practice the theories they learn about in class. A former
grass lawn has been converted into a kitchen garden, and the focus of
the project is the mutual interaction between plants and insects along
with the gathering of rainwater and composting.
City Harvest at the University of Aarhus
3rd
The aGRO Garden is a students’ initiative that allows the students to test
and put in to practice the theories they learn about in class. A former
grass lawn has been converted into a kitchen garden, and the focus of
the project is the mutual interaction between plants and insects along
with the gathering of rainwater and composting.
Surplus Food
Surplus Food is an online platform that enables the distribution of surplus
food from for example supermarkets and bakeries to local aid
organisations for residents that are in a socially vulnerable situation. The
goal is to decrease food waste and thereby have a direct, positive impact
on the environment and at the same time help many people undergoing
social hardship necessitating food.
Mobile Therapy Gardens in Copenhagen Area
The aim of this project is to inspire the creation of urban therapy and
sense gardens through the use of small, mobile green units that are easy
to bring to events. These small units each appeal to one of our six
senses; examples of these units include one with edible plants that have
a surprising taste and one with plants that attract insects. The idea of
these sensing elements stems from the idea of combining the green city
with well-being and anti-stress.
The Urban Greenhouse
3rd
TThe Urban Greenhouse is a modular greenhouse, which is designed to
optimally utilise the little amount of space that is available in the urban
environment. The building can be adjusted to any backyard or public
space where there is normally no room for greenhouses.
Herbal Salvation in Copenhagen
Herbal Salvation uses handpicked, wild herbs to create toxin-free skin
care products. Via its line of products and a number of workshops
focusing on nature, beauty and health, Herbal Salvation attempts to
create awareness about the link between nature, beauty and wellbeing.
The Tree Market in Copenhagen Area
This project makes it possible to move old trees that are in the way, such
as new construction sites, to new locations. It will soon be possible via a
website that is currently under development, to find a tree if you are in
need of one or to get rid of one, thereby prolonging the life of trees.
The URBIA team comprises of a multidisciplinary group of dedicated sustainability professionals
that strive to promote and reward best-practice urban biodiversity initiatives in Europe.
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7. THE URBIA AWARD COMMITTEE
The URBIA Award Committee is made up of biodiversity specialists and experts in urban planning
and development. The Committee is providing scientific advice to the URBIA team and is will
select the finalist projects for each of the Awards categories.
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