Citizens can make significant changes in favour of healthier villages, cities, countries. In favour of a better planet.
How is that possible?
To best support and inspire you in your green transition, we would like to share citizen’s diaries, stories and good practice factsheets. We hope they will motivate and mostly empower you in your daily life.
Citizen Diaries
Have you ever wondered what it is like to live in a European Green Capital?
Now you can hear from some of the citizens who act as engines of change and pioneer innovative solutions to environmental challenges. We will be posting interviews with residents from our European Green Capital cities to inspire you.
Please check the Citizen Diaries from 2012 to 2021.
Jacques Félix-Faure, architect for Atelier17C in Barraux (France) has engaged with a tremendous request to build an eight-floor social housing entirely in wood. During this interview he explains what has inspired him to use this material, how essential it is to ask the right questions and how easy things get when we answer them correctly, and finally, how collective intelligence can overcome the environmental crisis.
Isabelle Robles, agricultural engineer and founder of “MillePousses”, (“One thousand micro sprouts”) has realised her dream: she has built an urban farm with the aim to create social integration jobs and enhance circular economy in Grenoble. Her urban farm has a bioclimatic greenhouse and she organises all deliveries by bicycle. Moreover, MillePousses is an ‘entreprise d’insertion,’ which supports people encountering both professional and social difficulties.
The EU Green Capital Secretariat interviewed her to find out more about her project.
Bernard Mehl, zero food waste ambassador and college canteen responsible, watches over and promotes the “En Isère, stop au gaspillage alimentaire!” plan that fights against food waste in college schools. During this interview, Bernard explained how the plan was welcomed by the schools in the Isère department, what actions are taken to raise students’ awareness about their impact on the environment, and how schools from all over Europe can adopt such a plan.
Gloria Leroy, female entrepreneur, vélotaxi (bicycle taxi) driver and soft mobility promoter had the glorious idea to propose a vélotaxi service (bicycle taxi) in Grenoble (European Green Capital 2022). Today, she calls on national authorities to recognise this activity that she considers to be a personal and household service.
The EU Green Capital Secretariat wanted to learn more about her inspirational story and interviewed her.
Pascal Aspe, a biologist holding a PhD in forest trees genetics, has been training people for years to garden at Terre Vivante.
He is a champion at finding solutions to cultivate on record small and tiny spaces. Finally, he told the EU Green Capital that ecology can be done anywhere with the right knowledge.
Loïc Bouffard, archaeologist, bike technician and trainer for the La Brico workshop, considers that “a trained cyclist is a sustainable cyclist who will not give up on riding his bike at the first technical issue”.
The EU Green Capital Secretariat wanted to learn more about the La Brico activities and how empirical learning can build ‘skilled’ cyclists.
Stories
Sharing stories brings people closer and this is what we plan on doing: bringing EU citizens closer to each other through their own stories.
The European Green Leaf 2022 Valongo is located in the north of Portugal (District of Porto) and has a population of almost 94,000 inhabitants. An area of 58.3% of the municipality is covered by forest, part of which is classified as a Natura 2000Search for available translations of the preceding link••• Site and part as a Regional Protected Landscape Area.
In Grenoble, even the local sports clubs are engaged in the social and ecological transition.
The world of tomorrow belongs to the youth. Their generation has mobilised faster than any other to face the challenges of the environmental transition, which is why the European Green Capital 2022 Grenoble has placed great emphasis on projects linked to education and youth.
The internationally adopted “One Planet Living” concept offers an integrated approach in the green transition of a city. One Planet Living helped the city of Elsinore focus on making a real impact themselves and also engaging citizens and businesses by reaching hearts as well as minds. The framework provides guidance on how to get involved in sustainable change. This is suitable for every city that wants to start or accelerate the journey towards a sustainable future.
Good Practice Factsheets
Would you like to know more about what makes a city green?
The Good Practice Factsheets provide real life examples of how the EGCA applicant cities and winners have become more sustainable in various areas such as air quality, sustainable public transport, public engagement, urban planing and many others.
Please check the Good Practices and Reports for the cycles from 2010 to 2021.
People need simple ways to deal with difficult waste. Kraków Eco-Boxes show that citizens are willing to engage in an environmentally-friendly waste collection system if it’s easy to use.
The transition towards the use of more sustainable mobility solutions needs an integrated and flexible approach, which is shown by the Spanish City of Gavà in the Gavà Mar area. The rewards of the gradual change that took place are multiple: better access to the beach, reduced noise and pollution levels, higher road safety and less emission of CO2.
Aktief, a collector of bulky household waste, works with people receiving social service benefits to give them work experience at the second-hand shop. The foundation showcases an integrated approach to how waste and circular economy objectives can be combined with social objectives.
Buildings dating from communist times have poor energy efficiency levels. The city of Bistrița, Romania showed how to drop the energy consumption significantly with a structured, well-organised thermal-retrofitting programme. This contributes to the European climate goals and improves the living conditions of the residents.
Kraków was known as one of the cities with the worst air quality in Europe. About 20 years ago, inhabitants as well as city authorities decided that this was no longer acceptable.
Development and maintenance of green areas that add value to the life of citizens as well as to biodiversity is a challenge that can only be addressed in close cooperation with all the relevant stakeholders in the city. In Kraków, this resulted in many initiatives, including a Code of Good Practice for green areas to improve conditions for pollinating insects.
The Smart City sensors in Tallinn collect valuable information on noise in the city and its sources. Based on this data, the municipality can implement adequate policy to improve environmental conditions in the city. This system is certainly replicable for other cities.
Tallinn has made a rough plan for the development of Putukaväil, a 13 km long linear park, a corridor for biodiversity, green mobility, and public space. Partnered with different stakeholders in the city, Tallinn is gradually transforming the area in a way that truly adds value to the inhabitants of Tallinn.
The innovative “Tre Rör Ut” (Three Pipe Wastewater) system collects and separates municipal wastewater closest to the source: in people’s houses. It prevents pollution, limits carbon emissions and saves water. It is important to educate people well in using the system to achieve optimal results, as seen when implemented in Helsingborg.
A citizen-based waste collection system like the one implemented in Treviso drives up recycling percentages. The needs of the citizens are important in the design of the system. Encouraging citizens to feel responsible varies depending on their situation and place.
By educating citizens about the uniqueness of their surrounding landscape, the municipality of Winterswijk creates engagement and social connection.
The redevelopment of the Quinta do Passal achieved multiple goals. Not only did the appearance of the area significantly improve but it also contributed to the wellbeing of the surrounding inhabitants. Social interaction between citizens increased, as well as the safety of the area.