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Description
Most green areas in Wrocław are located on the outskirts of the city, while the vast majority of downtown space is covered with concrete. As a consequence, children living in the centre of the city have limited contact with nature. Furthermore, children are very rarely included in the process of planning urban space or arranging the environment around their schools.We will address these problems by organising a cycle of workshops for Wrocław pupils. We will show them in a practical way how to take care of nature and how important biodiversity is – together we will build nesting boxes and feeders for birds, shelters for hedgehogs or hotels for pollinators. We will explain how permaculture works and we will build permaculture boxes with flowers and veggies. We will place them near schools. We will organise workshops for teachers and NGO representatives who will wish to continue activities related to our project. To wrap the project up, we will organise four fairs for the local community presenting the outcomes of our work and promoting leisure in the open air.We will organise our workshops together with our partners, EMMA and TRATWA foundations which have rich experience in engaging local community – thanks to them we will gather a group of people interested in our venture and will be provided with equipment necessary to run workshops.
Summary of project results
Wrocław is one of the biggest Polish cities and like many of them it struggles with introducing more green areas to the public spaces. Wrocław has many green areas, e.g. near schools, but they are often neglected. In response to that, we wanted to make the city greener but also – make its inhabitants, especially children and youth, more responsible for the way it looks. We hoped that by educating younger generations on biodiversity, mindfulness and caring for the environment we could make them take more responsibility for their surroundings.
We held series of workshops and meetings that focused on the theme of nature in the city (e.g. plants, hedgehogs, bees). We invited children to build, among other things, boxes for planting and sowing vegetables and flowers, nesting boxes for birds and bats. The pupils also learnt about ways in which they can care for and help nature on their own and in their everyday lives. The project involved 5 educational institutions, we organized 68 different events. The participants of the project were students of these institutions of different origins (including Polish, Ukrainian, Afghan) and material status, including people with disabilities. During workshops and events a total of 26 boxes, 4 insect hotels, 10 pollinator houses, 20 bird boxes, 20 bat boxes, 12 bird feeders and 12 hedgehog shelters were built. We also held several workshops on making seed bombs, which were very successful.
As a result of the project, the pupils raised their awareness of the natural environment in their city and became highly motivated to contribute to making their city greener, especially in their immediate surroundings. We conducted evaluation surveys among the older groups of participants, which showed an increase in their knowledge of the topics covered. Participants were interested in both the workshops and the lectures, eager to ask questions and share their experiences. We also succeeded in increasing the sensitivity and knowledge of young people about how they should behave around animals.