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Showcasing Urban Trees for Environmental Education with
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A successful citizen initiative has recently gained media attention in Vienna. In the pioneering development quarter, called Seestadt Aspern, planners and construction companies did not consider the positive demand for natural spaces in residential areas. This led to large concrete spaces that despite of some tree saplings generated the impression of enormous grey, dusty, and sealed surfaces. It made the new population moving there quite unhappy and led to the foundation of a neighbourhood association called Seestadtgrün (green Seestadt).
Members of this local initiative are not merely protesting or writing to their representatives, but rather engage in neighbourly actions to plant flowers and greenery across this barren part of the city. This also reduces CO2 levels and leads to some minor cooling effect, where the planned spaces contributed to urban heat islands. While leading by example, two successful effects emerged: firstly, it brought neighbours together in a common vision to make the area greener and more attractive and liveable. Secondly, despite some serious administrative resistance and barriers, it led to being noticed by the media and eventually by politicians.
A very positive development and achievement by the neighbourhood association was that the city council, finally, decided to invest in more green spaces and to break up some sealed tarmac areas to give it a more natural feeling.
Figure 1. This square gives the uninviting impression of a de-naturalised dusty space. It leaves people wanting for green.
Figure 2. Broken up tarmac sealed soil.
Figure 3. New wayside grassland strips instead of dust and tarmac.
