Line of action:

Urban environments

Status:

En ejecución

Location:

Girona (Catalonia)

Execution date:

2022

Duration:

01/10/2022-31/12/2025

STRATEGIC IMPORTANCE: The project proposes a 180-degree turn of the city towards urban renaturalisation, to transform Girona into a greener, more resilient and healthier city: urban planning, improvement and connection of green and blue infrastructure, transversal integration of Nature-based solutions, promotion of a more liveable city, social transformation, cogeneration of knowledge and shared governance.

The actions to be carried out are divided into eight specific objectives, organized into three axes. The first axis, strategy and planning, will make it possible to define the initial state of biodiversity and the green and blue infrastructure of Girona and to specify the actions to be developed in this field within a period of 10 years.

The second axis corresponds to the implementation of actions in the territory. This section lists the ten proposals that will have a direct and visible application in the city. The initiative plans to improve the ecological status of the city’s rivers and their ecosystems through, for example, the construction of ladders for fish, creating and naturalising the city’s ponds, or improving urban biodiversity in public and private spaces, encouraging the transformation of balconies, terraces or gardens. Also to reduce the impact of both invasive exotic flora and fauna with planned intensive control operations and to build new community spaces for urban agriculture, as well as to expand those that are part of the ‘Menja’t Sant Narcís’ project. It is also planned to install outdoor learning classrooms, open to citizens and schools, for observation and discovery of the natural environment.

Within this same axis, three more projects stand out for their innovative nature and their impact on the city. One of them consists of the implementation of a pilot test to renovate the gardens of Les Pedreres by applying criteria for the promotion of biodiversity, permeability and water recovery, making it resilient to the effects of climate change. The strategies and solutions will be proposed through a participatory process and will serve as an example of good practices and a demonstration space on solutions for renaturation.

The other will focus on the construction of a green wall on one of the facades of the Sant Narcís Civic Centre. It is an innovative project due to the connection it establishes between water and agriculture, since it will allow the gray water of the equipment to be treated and, at the same time, reused to irrigate the urban community gardens of the neighborhood. The creation of green roofs in private buildings will also be encouraged, making this option known and offering technical advice to the owners who try to do so.

Finally, in the axis of cross-cutting actions, it is planned to carry out a governance and participation plan, which coordinates all the agents involved and guarantees a participatory, transversal and innovative operation; a communication and awareness plan, to publicise the project and raise public awareness of the value of nature and respect for the natural environment, and a plan for measuring and monitoring indicators, which facilitates the control of aspects such as the evolution of biodiversity or the perception of improved well-being.