Life on the edge: Greening the city boundary – an interactive webinar!

Life on the Edge: Greening the city boundary.

Periurban parks contributing to Environmental, Climate Change, Urban, Health and other EU policies

• 10th May 2019
• 11:00 CEST
• Register here

While living in a city has many advantages, it can be harsh sometimes with problems of pollution, climate change, biodiversity loss, or other environmental issues which affect health and overall well-being. Located in the outskirts of cities, Periurban Parks are multi-functional spaces that provide natural solutions to tackle all these issues. In this interactive webinar, you will hear about the important role Periurban Parks already play in some EU environmental policies and their place in many others.

This webinar is a taster of the EU Green Week 2019, this year with the theme “TAKE THE INITIATIVE! Applying environmental legislation“. Our special guests will share how policy is being implemented – and their main challenges and conquers – from 2 very different periurban parks.

In this interactive webinar, participants will be able to join in with their own video camera, share examples from their parks and direct their questions to the invited guests.

Teresa Pastor, EUROPARC expert in the periurban agenda, will introduce the webinar and shed light on the “Periurban Natural & Rural Parks: Their place in the EU Policies”, a Position Paper EUROPARC is about to release.

From an industrial Park…to a social project: the Nord Milano Park

The Parco Nord Milano (North Milan Park) was established in 1975, covering 780 hectares of an area that has been the center of Milan’s industrial district and its heavy steel industry.  The park was founded to convert and re-qualify those areas, over a period of gradual deindustrialization and outsourcing of manufacturing processes. The park combines woodlands and agricultural areas.

From an industrial camp to a social project, the park is an active promoter of social integration, developing many projects with minorities and refugees from the region. To promote healthier food habits and aiming to increase awareness and boost engagement, the park created “community vegetable gardens” and work frequently with schools and families. They are also actively working with local partners to develop health activities in the park and promote recreational sport.

Riccardo Gini is the Director of Parco Nord Milano, in charge of a PA of 40 employees and as many collaborators. Within its functions, he has always dealt with the planning and coordination of the Parco Nord construction operations. Riccardo is an agronomist and apart from agricultural projects, he has worked in the redevelopment of natural spaces and the Urban Rehabilitation Programs.

Monsanto, a Forest Park inside the European Green Capital 2020

Monsanto Forest Park is a Forest installed in Lisbon’s Council in 1934, with ca 1000 ha and covered with a very diverse flora. Despite being a Periurban Park was already considered by many as an Urban park. Not as a result of any change in its concept, simply because it was swallowed by the city expansion and its satellites. Surrounded by a growing population, the park is challenged to find creative solutions with trail systems and infrastructure, to minimise impacts on biodiversity, and maneuver visitor flows.

Fernando will tell us about their biodiversity strategy and green infrastructure, but will also show us what it means, for the only forest park in Lisbon, to be inside “The European Green Capital for 2020”. What measures are changing? What is the role of the park within the city green strategy?

Fernando Louro Alves is Forester Engineer Senior Advisor in the Lisbon City Council, serving in the Management Division of the Monsanto Forest Park, from the Department of Green Spaces. Apart from his degree in Forest Engineering specialized in management of natural resources, Fernando has training in Landscape Architecture and holds a Masters in regional and urban planning.

How to join?