REWILD Ghent takes greening initiatives to the next level, developing a strategy to reduce soil sealing and deliver on the ‘No Net Land Take’ ambition.
Focusing on overcoming the drivers and barriers hindering rewilding initiatives, solutions are tested in pilot projects in three of Ghent’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods. These interventions aim to deseal soil on both private and publicly owned land, through the introduction of at least nine rewilded public spaces and 20 additional rewilded private spaces. This ultimately hopes to improve local biodiversity, climate resilience, health and well-being.
About
Planetary boundaries, ‘No Net Land Take’ and the doughnut model all highlight the urgent need for a paradigm shift in urban planning and growth. However, translating these models into reality presents significant challenges.
REWILD aims to
- overcome barriers hindering rewilding and desealing initiatives,
- implement successful pilots and test solutions in three neighbourhoods in Ghent,
- develop a strategy to realise ‘No Net Land Take’ and reduce soil sealing, based on scientific facts and figures, translating them into indicators, priorities and actions.
Crucially, the project engages local stakeholders in desealing both public and privately owned land, ensuring an equitable distribution of responsibilities and benefits, thereby maximising its transformative potential. At the city scale, there is currently no framework like this in Europe, and projects engaging stakeholders to deseal private properties are rare.
Three of Ghent’s most vulnerable neighbourhoods will gain in terms of biodiversity, climate resilience, health and well-being, play areas, and more, with the introduction of eight rewilded public spaces and additional rewilded private properties. The project will equip the city to implement the strategy and solutions, and replicate the positive impacts in other places.
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About this resource
The European Urban Initiative is an essential tool of the urban dimension of Cohesion Policy for the 2021-2027 programming period. The initiative established by the European Union supports cities of all sizes, to build their capacity and knowledge, to support innovation and develop transferable and scalable innovative solutions to urban challenges of EU relevance.
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