News – Page 2 – ToBeLawn

Together with the INTERLACE project partners, we took part in a two-day (11-12 May 2023) conference entitled “Unlocking the potential of underutilized urban areas”.

At the conference, we had the opportunity to learn about the outcomes of the INTERLACE project achieved so far and listen to the lectures about good practices in urban greenery management, including those used in the post-industrial city of Chemnitz. A particularly inspiring lecture – about the Ruhr metropolis – was presented by Anne Budinger. Anne Budinger presented a particularly inspiring presentation about the Ruhr Metropolis. This industrial district, rich in coal, rock salt, zinc and lead ores, has the largest post-industrial park in the world. Interestingly, in the area of 33 municipalities of the Ruhr Metropolis, over 360 square kilometers of land are protected for their natural values. Other areas, including post-mining soil heaps, are subject to renaturation with the use of vegetation resistant to harsh habitat conditions. As a result, the region has gained significant space for recreational development and a hilly landscape unusual for this lowland area, which is especially attractive to downhill enthusiasts.

On the first day of the conference, we learned about the best blue-green infrastructure practices, and during the workshops, we considered the problems faced by city managers in Europe and Latin America. The challenges for the city of Kraków – presented by the ToBeLawn team – were also discussed. It has been concluded that each city will have to deal with the effects of climate change in its own way, and its fate will depend not only on its location, natural and landscape conditions but also on the actions taken by its residents.

The ToBeLawn team submitted a letter of support, under which the Institute of Botany of the Polish Academy of Sciences joined the CITIES TALK NATURE community and committed to promoting nature-based solutions within its area.

On the second day of the conference, we explored Chemnitz using the Loquiz app. In the urban game, we had to fulfill different tasks to combat the effects of climate change by designing a range of solutions based on the best blue-green infrastructure practices. We spent our break and lunch on a green roof covered with trees and herbaceous vegetation. A visit to the Saatgutgarten community garden, which aims to protect urban biodiversity, was a truly unique experience.

Gallery:

The Chemnitz center – checkerboard with treatments of different mowing intensities / photo by Małgorzata Stanek

Taking advantage of the mild weather in the last weeks of winter, we set off to establish research sites in locations previously selected (in autumn 2022) with employees of the Department of Urban Greenery in Katowice and Kraków Municipal Greenspace Authority. In total, 15 research sites were established, some in Katowice and some in Kraków. Within each one of them, plots of equal size will be delineated, where three different mowing frequencies will be applied – intensive, extensive, and biocenotic mowing.

Over the next two years, the plots will be monitored and examined for, among others, the condition of the soil system. We hope that the collected data will allow us to assess the impact of mowing frequency on the condition of the roadside lawn ecosystem and the quality of its services.

Gallery:

Site visit with the employees of the Department of Urban Greenery in Katowice / photo by Małgorzata Stanek

ToBeLawn researchers during fieldwork — Site visit with the employees of the Department of Urban Greenery in Katowice / photo by Małgorzata Stanek

In September 2022, we took part in a conference co-organized by ToBeLawn’s partners – the Sendzimir Foundation and the Kraków Metropolis Association, as part of the INTERLACE project: international cooperation to restore and rehabilitate urban ecosystems. The aim of the conference was to expand the knowledge and exchange experiences on the implementation of Nature Based Solutions (NBS).

The conference largely took the form of intensive workshops, during which the problems that City Managers have been facing were presented, especially in the context of climate change, air pollution, as well as social conditions. During group work, Workshop 1 discussed the principles of applying universal standards for urban greenery maintenance in Polish and European cities, including mowing standards. Attention was paid to the necessity of cooperation between different groups of stakeholders, including scientists (e.g. botanists, ecologists, entomologists, soil microbiologists), practitioners, i.e. people who deal with greenery in cities on a daily basis, NGOs, and city residents. In the case of our project, such cooperation has already brought results – it has allowed us to properly design the zones in which different mowing regimes will be implemented, and to determine the optimal timing of treatments.

For more information on the conference, follow the links:

Gallery:

ToBeLawn on the first day of the Cities Talk Nature Europe Conference / photo by Małgorzata Stanek

A visit to the Polish Aviators Park in Kraków — ToBeLawn on the first day of the Cities Talk Nature Europe Conference / photo by Małgorzata Stanek