Green Urban Development

European Themes

"Green Urban Development": An additional, fifth European Theme to include urban projects

The big number of municipalities, counties and regional organisations associated as partners is one of the unique characteristics and strengths of EGHN. Their specific knowledge, experiences and best practice on how to use the resources of parks and gardens for sustainable development strategies are presented in a new European Theme from May 2011 onwards.

One focus of the new theme “Green Urban Development” will be on the innovation of inner city urban areas, in particular public parks. This type of urban green, with its long history and specific resources, can be used to enhance areas with social problems or structural deficits. The evolution of existing, but sometimes rundown green sites into vivid and multifunctional spaces according to local needs and resources and inspiring all senses requires inventive designs and comprehensive implementation strategies.

The first two, new partner gardens are the Gartenschaupark Rietberg, the site of the Federal Garden Show 2008 in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany), which combines improvements of the urban fabric with a sustainable development concept and Lund City Park where historic elements are restored and contemporary elements are added to the fulfil the demands of current and future users. Other EGHN parks, as in Linköping, Stoke-on-Trent and Duisburg, add to the wide range of parks and gardens showing the possible contribution to a greener and more sustainable urban development.

High Line Park in New York, the winner of the International EGHN Award in 2010, converting a former railway line into a new, linear park of high appreciation and use, is another good example for the relevance and the opportunities addressed by the new European Theme of EGHN. Two videos, one in English and one in German demonstrate this.