Marco Acri

Občine in mesta zelene projekte prilagajajo svojemu okolju. V tem smislu tudi Nova Gorica, pod vodstvom novogoriške univerze (skupaj sprojektnimi partnerji, med katerimije tudi evropska zelena prestolnica Nantes) sodeluje v projektu Urbinat. Namen slednjega je v mestu prek sonaravnih tehnoloških, krajinskih in družbenih rešitev ustvariti zelene zdrave koridorje. »Ta projekt se ne omejuje zgolj na koncept zelenega mesta, ampak gre za družbeno trajnost, zato se osredotoča tudi na družbene soseske ( social housing), sčimer izboljšuje kakovost življenja prek zelenih koridorjev tudi v predmestjih,« pojasnjuje Saša Dobričič. [To read on]

Vertical green systems represent vertical surface with living plants. There are two main types of vegetated wall: traditional direct covering of a vertical surface and indirect vertical surface using additional support system to ensure air gap between the vegetation and the wall. An option to plant vegetation in planter boxes is implemented when the ground planting is not possible. Green walls have the potential to improve urban microclimate and visual site characteristics. They affect urban heat island by direct sunshade and by increasing air quality and humidity, improve acoustic environment and biodiversity. Green walls are relevant for compact city structure and areas with properties flanked by high solid fences. They can be used as noise and air pollutant screens, living elements in spatial organization of places, and for improving the aesthetics of a site.

The pool relies on local geothermal resource to provide healthy environment for children’s physical education, training, and recreational activities. A millennia-long regional cultural tradition of living in contact with mineral water is revived. The ancient city of Serdica once emerged by a mineral spring, which is still in the historic core of Sofia. Public baths with pools have been used in the region for centuries. Swimming has been a compulsory element of school physical education and training in Bulgaria since mid-1970s, yet only few large school complexes had functioning swimming pools by late 1980s. The life-cycle concept developed for the school swimming pool puts an explicit focus on the interaction between authorities, experts, teachers and pupils, and community actors in building the functional and spatial design concept of the pool complex and its integrated management.

Green facades and living walls are vertical greenery systems for growing plants with less or without soil on a vertical surface. Living walls are relevant for interior and exterior vertical surfaces to be vegetated with wide range of plant species, herbs, and vegetables. All public buildings and public spaces can take advantage of the positive effects of a vertical garden implementation as they improve urban microclimate and visual site characteristics. They affect urban heat island by direct sunshade and increasing air quality and humidity, improve acoustic environment and biodiversity. They could have a positive effect on mental health through biophilia - a psychological orientation of being attracted to all that is alive and vital. Living walls are relevant for compact city structure locations and areas with properties flanked by high solid fences.

Traditionally, the management of stormwater has relied on pipes and sewers. Due to limited storage capacity, these systems are susceptible to overflowing during storm events, presenting risks of harmful contamination to the environment, and causing damages on buildings. Nature based rainwater management is designed to collect runoff water and relieve the pressure on sewer systems. This is done by handling the water on the terrain surface and including the hydrological performance of nature. They are based on retention and infiltration principles, which mitigates flood problems, improve quality of water and recharge underground watercourses as well as promoting and improving both biodiversity and the wellbeing of people. These NBS are very flexible and includes various possibilities for site specific adaptation, in terms of scale, technical solution and combination with other programs.

Renaturalization of neglected and abandoned urban areas through green space development and conscious planting design, to restore important ecologic and social functions. In some remarkable sites they can be an important cultural manifesto: an opportunity to promote historical continuity between its past and the new layer of occupation. Promoting its character is an important step for a truthful relation with the site’s cultural identity, creating an opportunity to reflect on the damage inflicted by its previous occupation or, on the other hand, to celebrate the relevance of its past social and technological achievements. By recovering former abandoned spaces, this NBS creates opportunities for human use and wellbeing, while achieving ecological benefits such as treatment of polluted areas, habitat restoration and increase of local biodiversity.

Watercourse restoration concerns rivers/streams that have been degraded by the urbanization process or by heavily engineered water management solutions: contained underground watercourses, channelled rivers, concrete banks, embankments, dams, among others. Despite being necessary solutions, excessive containment of waterflow means that a man-imposed limit on volume and flow might not be sufficient, offering lower flexibility to behaviour changes over time. Mixed solutions that combine man-driven watercourse control while respecting the riverbank ecosystem offers greater success at short and long term, while promoting biodiversity, ecological connectivity and a major increase in water purification.

Green space designed according to sustainability principles where natural dynamics and ecological succession are a central concept and part of the design. The ecology of the site, its plants and habitats are expected to change over time, a process that can be integrated into the site’s planning and design. Special care is given towards the promotion of urban biodiversity, natural regeneration, habitat development and ecological succession, through specific planting design and management. It can be a cost-efficient solution able to provide a deeper connection between recreational uses and nature.

Green roofs serve several purposes for a building, such as absorbing rainwater, providing insulation, creating a habitat for wildlife, increasing benevolence and decreasing stress of the people around the roof by providing a more aesthetically pleasing landscape, and helping to lower urban air temperatures and mitigate the urban heat island effect.
The roof of a building, a parking lot or some other build structure can be covered by vegetation that grows over an impermeabilization membrane and a soil substrate. Intensive green roofs are suitable for human use and flow of people. Extensive green roofs are not suitable for human use but require low maintenance and can have major ecological and economic benefits.

Urban woodland designed and managed according to ecological, aesthetic and economic principles. This NBS relies mostly on plant-based material, particularly on autochthonous vegetation. Plant species and habitat design should be chosen in accordance with local characteristics (climate, soil conditions, pollution levels, spatial needs and management capability). By using native vegetation its adaptation to the site is ensured, just like the performance in terms of water absorption and carbon fixation. Urban woodlands can help to raise social awareness towards ecological benefits of using autochthonous vegetation. At the same time, it contributes to sustainable development goals by promoting urban resilience to climate change and recreational opportunities.

Open meetings facilitated and organized in small groups in which participants are invited to debate a specific thematic. This method allows to explore and develop bottom-up and grassroots community development skills for people within their own communities. Participants can identify their most pressing social determinants, with positive and negative aspects of their environment, bringing social justice and environmental sustainability. The method also assists people to gain a clearer understanding of the principles of community development and community capacity building, increasing awareness and understanding of the main themes, terms and definitions.

Walkthrough is a method of analysis that combines observation in situ with an interview simultaneously. It creates an accepting environment that puts a small number of participants at ease allowing then to thoughtfully answer questions in their own words and add meaning to their answers. It also identifies the negative and positive aspects of the analyzed environments.
It allows identifying the perception of the residents in the place where they live. In this technique, they are invited to appropriate the neighbourhood and evaluate the territory, its inadequacies, surplus or missing furniture, barriers and potentialities, among other important elements.
Walkthrough is a participatory method and solution (NBS) that creates awareness while participants walk and discuss what they feel, see and know.

Photovoice NBS uses photos to make people aware of a reality or topic, as nature-based solutions or inclusive urban regeneration. It’s is a human-centered solution to engage citizens in the transformation of their territory. It’s also a tool to collect data related with people’s memories and perceptions. Photos allows a co- construction of the reality through the interaction of 3 elements: the researcher, the photos and the interviewee. It is a technique (called photo voice) that works well to engage children and young people in research, but also adults with advanced age that want to share their life stories. The photo voice aims to give voice, through photography, to those who are usually silenced or not involved in urban planning process.
It is also known as “participatory photography” and it has a correlation with “photo elicitation”.

Methodological tool in participatory planning and community development, it makes visible the ways that local cultural assets, stories, practices, relationships, memories, and rituals constitute places as meaningful locations.
Process of collecting, recording, analyzing and synthesizing information to describe the cultural resources, networks, links and patterns of usage of a given community or group, also strategically used to bring stakeholders into conversation.
Flexible according to the objectives, purpose and what one wants to map. E.g. facilities, organizations, stories of places, historical sites, for the past (memories and landmarks) or for the future (aspirational mapping), for the community or for outsiders.
It can be combined with approaches such as footprint of women (gender), forbidden cities (safety), asset-based community development (community assets), arts.

The main goal is to promote the waste recovering through a highly social efficient separation strategy. This would aim to separating mix waste into different fractions, organic and plastic in particular, in order to properly recycling each of them. To properly separate and recover the different fractions citizens have to look at the waste of a community as a natural resource in a metabolic perspective. In this sense, giving a reward to citizen that can be used in local commerce would foster the diffusion of this perspective. It would also constitute a deep and effective injection of wealth and an increasing of local transactions. A Natural Based Currencies can be considered as an exploratory solution adapted to recycling challenges and would represent a high synergy bio mimetic solution