Urban green area maintenance standards - Poland

Polish municipalities have various regulations, requirements and agreements concerning green areas, which encourage companies responsible for their maintenance to favour cities with fewer demands instead of those with higher expectations regarding the quality of work, biodiversity and pro-environmental approaches. In 2021, two Polish cities - Kraków and Wrocław - initiated a project aiming to create standards for urban green area maintenance that could be widely implemented in Polish cities. The Sendzimir Foundation, the project implementer, invited 35 cities to the co-creation process and a broad group of scientists to guarantee both practical and scientific approaches. When successfully introduced, the standards (Standardy utrzymania terenów zieleni w miastach) are expected to lead to better conditions and maintenance of green spaces, including nature-based solutions, on a national scale.

Overview

Type of instrument:

Legislative, regulatory and strategic instruments›Standards

Challenges addressed

Ecologic connectivity
Soil quality
Green space management (e.g. accessibility)
Watershed restoration/water quality
Drought and fire risk
Flood risk: pluvial and fluvial / soil permeability
Heat stress and heat island effect
Noise
Nature appropriation / stewardship
Reconnection to the biosphere / environmental education

Consideration of nature-based solutions:

The general goal of the standards is that local authorities will implement them as common practice in cities across Poland. Thirty-five cities engaged in their development to implement the final document. However, the standards will also be available for other entities that manage green areas, such as housing associations, hospitals, schools, private landowners or businesses.

Targeted (peri-)urban areas:

Parks and (semi)natural urban green areas

Blue areas

Green areas for water management

External building greens

Urban green space connected to grey infrastructure

Good practice characteristics:

Support multifunctional NBS

Sustainable in the long-term

Locally appropriate

Potential to be replicated / upscaled

Innovative

Inclusivity

Governance

Government body/bodies

Initiating body:

Wroclaw Municipality and Krakow Municipality, in cooperation with the Sendzimira Foundation

Instrument design:

Details about how the instrument was designed:

The instrument was designed in close cooperation between the Sendzimir Foundation, several university representatives, and representatives of 35 Polish local governments from cities via a series of workshops and a co-creation process to jointly develop the standards guiding document.

Involvement of non-governmental actors:

Private sector, corporate, business

Researchers, university

Citizens or community groups / NGOs

Type of actor involvement:

Co-planning or co-design of instrument (e.g. boards, advisory role)

Expert task force consultation

Instrument implementation:

Type of involvement:

The standards were published in September 2022 and can now be implemented by the local governments (all interested can get the licence for free) but can also be freely implemented by other entities like housing associations, hospitals, schools, private entities etc. The review and actualisation process is open to all interested parties' comments. The Sendzimir Foundation will be active in the promotion of the instrument implementation.

Targeted actors:

Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)

Private: household, real estate developer, business , financial

Citizens or community groups (CBOs), NGOs

Financing

Sources of funding:

Public local authority’s budget

Funds provided by non-governmental organization

Budget:

Less than 50 000 €

Details about instrument financing:

All the activities were funded by the City of Wroclaw and the city of Krakow. The Sendzimir Foundation provided knowledge and additional work funded from its own financial resources.

Monitoring, evaluation and impacts

Is a monitoring framework in place?:

Did an evaluation take place?:

Yes

A questionnaire will be in place after the publication of the standards that will enable all the interested parties to provide feedback on the lessons learnt from the implementation of the instrument so that it can be reviewed and updated every two years. Cities that implement the instrument will monitor diverse aspects related to nature management.

Achieved outcomes and impacts:

The standards serve to increase the level of knowledge about urban green area maintenance best practices among the specialists from 35 Polish cities. They have also increased the level of cooperation and exchange of expertise on nature-based solution management among the representatives of Polish cities and scientists/specialists in diverse fields. Finally, the standards have increased the understanding of the relationship between maintenance practices and biodiversity, climate change mitigation and adaptation, and environmental education amongst those involved in the process - both within and outside the municipalities.

Success factors and lessons learned:

The design of the standards in a participatory way, including the involvement of a broad group of cities and other actors, is a crucial element of its expected success. Cooperation between the universities, NGOs, local governments and maintenance service providers enabled the guidelines to be both ambitious and practical/feasible. The practical angle of the standards is a critical success factor. There are a lot of publications on the topic, but the cities struggle with the lack of guidelines based on scientific expertise that are at the same time compatible with the existing practices. The broad interest in the process would not be possible without the Sendzimir Foundation's long-lasting relations with the cities. Online meetings and co-creation processes based on internet tools enabled effective and dynamic cooperation with low-budget needs. However, the project budget should have been at least twice as high to allow the smooth realisation of the process.

Sources and further information

References

List of references:

Maliszewska, K. Sendzimir Foundation (2021) sendzimir.org.pl https://sendzimir.org.pl/projekty/uniwersalne-standardy/ accessed at 30.06.2022

Maliszewska, K., Sendzielski S. et al. (2022). Standardy utrzymania terenów zieleni w miastach. Warszawa: Fundacja Sendzimira (https://sendzimir.org.pl/standardy/)

Interview(s):

Sendzimir Foundation

Further documents

Weblinks:

https://sendzimir.org.pl/projekty/uniwersalne-standardy/

https://sendzimir.org.pl/standardy/

Photos

@sendzimir.org.pl