Resilient cities after COVID-19: the need for green infrastructure

Romplumb, Ferneziu, Colonia Topitorilor, Urbis, and Craica sites are reclaimed in Baia Mare under the SPIRE project, becoming strategic green infrastructure integrated into the future network of healthy natural and semi-natural areas within the BM 2050 Master Plan.

The green infrastructure in the city is composed of open public spaces and natural areas, parks and trees, green streets and squares, cycle and pedestrian paths, amongst other spaces. Other elements on a smaller scale that could be envisioned are green roofs, walls, and facades. Over time this network of green infrastructures will generate a wide range of social, environmental, and economic benefits for citizens, improving the urban environmental conditions and delivering a wide range of ecosystem services.

Ecosystems bring vital benefits to citizens, such as protection and enrichment of soils, purification of water and air, and biodiversity conservation. They are also in the frontline of climate change mitigation and reduction of natural disaster risk. They support a green economy and aim to create job opportunities, becoming a cost-effective alternative to traditional “grey” infrastructure.

Fig. 2. Ecosystem services.
Source:  Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Urban green infrastructure and well-being are two interconnected dimensions that feedback into one another. On the one hand, an individual’s well-being is enhanced through healthy interaction with green infrastructure; on the other hand, the more we use and enjoy parks and green streets, the more we become aware of the need to protect and improve them. 

People everywhere wish and deserve a “good life.” We could say that our well-being refers to two main components: subjective and objective well-being. Whether assessed for an individual or a community, it must be treated as a multidimensional aspect.

According to the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, there are 5 components for human well-being: the material needed for a good life (from food, shelter, or clothing to income and livelihoods), health (strengthen, well-being, and a physical environment allowing it), good social relations (mutual respect, social and family cohesion…), security (with regards to natural and/or human-made disasters, access to natural and other resources…), and freedom of choice.

Fig. 3. Determinants and constituents of well-being.  Source:  Millennium Ecosystem Assessment

Green infrastructure can benefit well-being and health: Improving mental health (lowering the levels of mental distress, increasing positive feelings related to life satisfaction), improving physical health (mitigating air pollution and reducing noise pollution, facilitating physical activity), enhancing social cohesion (public spaces are an enabler of community activities and social interaction). Children and elderly people ae usually benefit the most when they have the chance to have a green space near their home. A well-designed network of green spaces also reduces health inequalities in cities.

Baia Mare municipality actively promotes land-use strategies and regulations. The city prioritizes NBS built upon social resilience-based sustainable proposals and initiatives, with the SPIRE project as a pioneer and champion of these initiatives. The city is currently involved in strengthening the civic spirit and the active participation of citizens in activities to improve the quality of life by implementing a participatory budgeting solution. It is called BAIA MARE BREATHES and allows allocating a budget and collecting project ideas from citizens.

The targeted projects that can be funded are:

• The use of plants and wood mass (biomass) to obtain new products of value to the community (e.g., new materials and/or products from biomass processing, solutions for urban regeneration using biomass, digitization of the biomass capitalization process).
• Arrangement of public spaces and green spaces for socializing near a neighbourhood of blocks of flats (arrangement, establishment, maintenance, and administration in the community).
• Selective collection of household waste for composting.
• Reuse of products from citizens that they no longer use: furniture, household appliances, electrical and electronic equipment that are in working order or can be repaired to be donated to disadvantaged people.
• Creative industries, education, and culture for environmental protection (development of opportunities for creative people, people with vast experience that can be shared to inspire others, proposals for educational and cultural activities that can lead to increasing the quality of education in terms of finding nature-based solutions to improve students' skills and/or ensure a healthier space for educational activities).
• Digitization (IT projects meant to increase the use of technologies to improve the quality of life in Baia Mare by using solutions based on nature, recycling, reuse, waste selection, reducing waste of uneaten food, etc.).

Citizens’ awareness regarding environmental issues is varied, even though a positive trend towards sustainable and “green” attitudes and behaviours can be observed. From October 2020, a co-creation process was launched in the city, mainly relying on digital activities due to the pandemic. These digital initiatives encompassed communication and dissemination actions and consultation, and collaborative workshops with the different communities (SPIRE - Technical Report D6.1.2). 

For public consultation activities, the SPIRE team proposed 2 online questionnaires. They were focused on needs identification, problems solving, creativity, and ideas needed for the ecological transformation of the five public required spaces located in different neighbourhoods. The first activity was set up a brainstorming exercise. The second explored urban planning and design specifics as to the entrance's location and the relation with the urban context, pedestrian paths, and tracks design, ambiance, general aesthetics, functions, and specific facilities for each site. Both gathered inspiring answers and proposals.