Sweet City: a city modelling approach for pollination

Curridabat, Costa Rica

City population: 28817

Duration: 2015 – ongoing

Implementation status: Ongoing

Scale: Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level

Project area: 15950000 m²

Type of area: Public Greenspace Area

Last updated: June 2024

In 2015 an innovative project called the "Sweet City" (Ciudad Dulce) was launched in Curridabat. Its main goal was to bring wild spaces into 21 urban neighbourhoods of Curridabat ("spaces of sweetness") and eight corridors ("transitions") and thus linking neighbourhoods and parks through a participatory re-design approach with local stakeholders [3]. The main objective of the Sweet City model is to reintroduce biodiversity into the urban space by focusing on five fundamental dimensions: Biodiversity, Infrastructure, Habitat, Co-existence and Productivity. The interventions of this project included park improvements, sustainable drainage systems, the protection of wetlands, spring water recovery, promoting organic farming practices, and many strategies that help improve biodiversity and motivate citizen participation, finally, as ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction measures and climate change adaptation actions [1].

Example of master-planned neighbourhood_Source-Tandem Arquitectos

Source: https://www.demagazine.co.uk/2019/08/27/why-curridabat-is-the-sweetest-city-in-the-world/

Overview

Nature-based solution

Blue infrastructure
Rivers/streams/canals/estuaries
In-land wetlands, peatlands, swamps, and moors
Community gardens and allotments
Community gardens
Green areas for water management
Sustainable urban drainage systems
Grey infrastructure featuring greens
Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
Riverbank/Lakeside greens
Parks and urban forests
Large urban parks or forests
Green corridors and green belts

Key challenges

Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
Climate change adaptation
Climate change mitigation
Environmental quality
Soil quality improvement
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Habitat and biodiversity restoration
Green space creation and/or management
Water management (SDG 6)
Flood protection
Improvements to water quality
Health and well-being (SDG 3)
Improving mental health
Improving physical health
Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
Social interaction
Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
Sustainable production

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Management and improved protection of rivers and other blue areas, Protection of natural ecosystems, Monitoring and maintenance of habitats and/or biodiversity

Project objectives

-Restore biodiversity and build a resilient city by recovering public and private urban spaces in disuse to create green corridors, community parks, inclusive streets for recreation, and improve the health and well-being of residents, pollinators, and other citizens (flora and fauna) who actively coexist within the urban space [7]. -Enhance wetlands to improve biodiversity and minimize flood risk [7]. -Recovering soil health as a climate change mitigation approach by promoting biodiverse vegetation and organic farming practices [7]. -Improve water management to address climate change mitigation, through the implementation of sustainable drainage systems, riverfront parks, and spring water recovery systems [7]. -Improve carbon sequestration and reduce the urban heat island effect across Curridabat through forestry cover within local parks and riverside forests [7].

Implementation activities

-Developing a climate-resilient and mitigation by establishing different types of green infrastructure (sustainable drainage systems, riverfront parks, spring water recovery, wetlands, reforestation to improve the carbon sequestration and air quality), as ecosystem-based disaster risk reduction measures for issues such as flooding, landslides and storms [7]. -Developing efforts to incorporate rational soil (Urban organic community gardening-promoting biodiverse vegetation) use as an in climate regulation and climate change mitigation strategy ( reduction of flooding, prevention of erosion). Also, the project included corridors such as shared streets, green walkways, and revitalization of 63 new and existing parks, and the development of old industrial sites to improve and create ecological connectivity for biodiversity by increasing the number and variety of pollinators and provide them better conditions to carry out their work. Finally, Sweet City enhances the quality of life of Curridabat’s community by encouraging local capacity building, promoting social interaction, improving the physical and mental health of residents, and raising environmental awareness among citizens [1,2,7].

Climate-focused activities

Climate change adaptation:

Implement measures that prevent/manage desertification, soil erosion and landslides
Restore wetlands and/or coastal ecosystems to dissipate the effects of flooding and/or storms
Implement sustainable urban drainage infrastructure (e.g. to make space for water)
Renaturalization of rivers and other water bodies

Climate change mitigation:

Increase green urban nature for carbon storage (wetlands, tree cover)
Implement sustainable forest management measures to increase carbon sinks/ improve carbon storage

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity conservation:

Protect and enhance urban habitats
Preserve and strengthen existing habitats and ecosystems
Preserve and strengthen habitat connectivity
Protect species
Undertake specific measures to protect species
Undertake specific measures to protect native species
Means for conservation governance
Raise public awareness
Public engagement
Capacity building

Biodiversity restoration:

Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
Restore native species
Restore ecological connectivity

Main beneficiaries

Local government/Municipality
Citizens or community groups

Governance

Management set-up

Co-governance with government and non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

Local government/municipality
Citizens or community group
Researchers/university
Private sector/corporate actor/company

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
Taskforce groups
Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
Citizen monitoring and review

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The Municipality of Curribad leads the project with technical support from the private sector and in alliance with civil society, private firms, not-for-profit organizations, and city residents/resident associations. The Municipality and consultancy firms, create a series of master plans for climate change mitigation and adaptation, among other projects and engage stakeholders to improve data use. The city has also developed data partnerships with academia to collect and analyze data [1,2]

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? No

... a national policy or strategy? Unknown

... a local policy or strategy? Yes (“The Sweet City vision was launched in 2015; in 2016, Sweet City became a public policy and established for city-wide implementation in the Strategic Municipal Plan (SMP) 2018-202” [5].)

Financing

Total cost

More than €4,000,000

Source(s) of funding

Other

Type of funding

Other

Non-financial contribution

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

Climate change
Enhanced carbon sequestration
Environmental quality
Improved soil quality
Water management and blue areas
Increased protection against flooding
Green space and habitat
Increased green space area
Increased conversion of degraded land or soil
Reduced biodiversity loss
Increased number of species present
Enhanced support of pollination

Economic impacts

Unknown

Socio-cultural impacts

Social justice and cohesion
Improved access to urban green space
Increased opportunities for social interaction
Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
Increased sustainability of agriculture practices
Health and wellbeing
Improved mental health
Improved physical health
Cultural heritage and sense of place
Improvement in people’s connection to nature

Type of reported impacts

Expected impacts, Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Yes

Presence of indicators used in reporting

Yes

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

Yes

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

Yes

References

1. Arquitectos, T., 2021. Ciudad Dulce. [online] Issuu. Available at: Source link [Accessed 7 September 2021].
2. CNU. 2021. Sweet City: Defeating the City-Nature Antagonism — #thisisCNU. [online] Available at: Source link [Accessed 7 September 2021].
3. Source link. 2021. Story Map Journal. [online] Available at:Source link [Accessed 7 September 2021].
4. iNaturalist. 2021. Ciudad Dulce. [online] Available at:Source link [Accessed 7 September 2021].
5. NewCities. 2021. Curridabat, Costa Rica - NewCities. [online] Available at: Source link [Accessed 7 September 2021].
6. Pepinieres-urbaines. 2021. Students workshop - University of Geneva : 'URBAN FUTURES' Co-designing the city - Source link Available at:Source link [Accessed 7 September 2021].
7. Sweet City Source link. Curridabat: Sweet City A city modelling approach based pollination. [online] Available at: Source link