Hamburg, Germany
City population: 1698688
Duration: 2011 – ongoing
Implementation status: Ongoing
Scale: Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level
Project area: unknown
Type of area: Public Greenspace Area, Other
Last updated: October 2021

Hamburg decided to increase the number of trees in the city, however, the budget was not enough to completely fulfil this goal. Therefore, the city not only tripled the municipal budget dedicated to tree planting and but began encouraging the citizens to contribute to greening the city through the donation campaign "My tree - My city”. The project was launched in 2011 as part of the European Green Capital programme of Hamburg. Citizens can donate and by using an interactive map, can choose a site and a tree species to be planted, and follow-up the implementation of their tree. (Reference 1, 3) The City of Hamburg gave for each tree that reached donations of 500 Euro the same amount on top to cover the average costs of 1.000 Euro per tree, which includes the preparation of the planting pit, the planting itself and maintenance. (Reference 4) The campaign was so successful that it continued even after Hamburg’s year as the European Green Capital and is still going on in 2020. (Reference 2, 7)

Hamburg's government and the "My Tree - My City" campaign
Hamburg's government and the "My Tree - My City" campaign
https://www.hamburg.de/projects/3542356/mytree-mycity/

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Grey infrastructure featuring greens
  • Alley or street trees and other street vegetation
  • Parks and urban forests
  • Pocket parks/neighbourhood green spaces

Key challenges

  • Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Habitat and biodiversity conservation
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Environmental quality
  • Air quality improvement

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Maintenance and management of urban nature

Project objectives

- increase the number of trees in Hannover to supply the city with oxygen, provide shading, bring nature back the city, provide habitats for animals and attract citizens to the city. - promote tree planting among citizens and involve them in making decisions. (Reference 1, 4)

Implementation activities

- an interactive map was developed shows all the street trees (all the 225.000) in the city including species and age. - the donation campaign was launched, and an online map was developed for supporting it - Seeing the success of the donation campaign which funded the planting of 600 trees in 2011, the city decided to fund the planting of 2011 more trees. In 2011, when Hamburg was the European Green Capital, 2639 trees were planted in total. - The project was continued, and between 2011 and 2016 more than 5600 trees have been planted (Reference 1, 2)

Climate-focused activities

Climate change adaptation:

  • Increase or improve urban vegetation cover to help reduce outdoor temperature
  • Create or improve outdoor spaces to help people escape from urban heat

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity conservation:

  • Protect and enhance urban habitats
  • Preserve and strengthen existing habitats and ecosystems
  • Create new habitats
  • Means for conservation governance
  • Public engagement
  • Capacity building

Main beneficiaries

  • Local government/Municipality
  • Citizens or community groups

Governance

Management set-up

  • Government-led

Type of initiating organisation

  • Local government/municipality
  • Public sector institution

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
  • Crowd-sourcing/Crowd-funding/Participatory budget
  • Dissemination of information and education
  • Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The project is led by the Ministry of Urban Development and Environment (Hamburg) in collaboration with the districts, who plant, care and renovate the trees. The Loki Schmidt Foundation collects and distributes the donations and advises donors, the Hamburger Volksbank manages the donation account, and the newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt accompanies the campaign with its support through media representation. (Reference 6) The computer programme was developed in collaboration with the makers of Hamburg’s geoVAL tree inventory, while the interactive map was developed with the Landesamt für Geoinformation und Vermessung (Agency for Geo-information and Surveying). (Reference 2). The description of the project writes: "Hamburg is involved in the national ‘GALKStraßenbaumtest’ (street tree research project ) by the Heads of German Parks Departments Conference) (www.galk.de), and since 2005 the city has been planting new tree species along its roads and assessing their suitability for certain sites" (Reference 2).

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Yes (In 2011, Hamburg was chosen to be the Green Capital of the EU (Reference 1). This programme, which is in line with aims of the EU 7th Environmental Action Program of the EU, aims to promote and award commitment and innovation to resolve environmental challenges in cities (Reference 3). The tree planting program was inspired by the Green Capital Award and it is mentioned in the selective report of the city ("Hamburg: European Green Capital: Five years on") being published in 2016 (Reference 1).)
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Unknown

Financing

Total cost

Unknown

Source(s) of funding

  • Public local authority budget
  • Crowdfunding

Type of funding

  • Earmarked public budget
  • Donations

Non-financial contribution

Type of non-financial contribution
  • Provision of land
  • Provision of labour
  • Provision of expertise
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
  • Public authorities (e.g. land, utility services)
  • Other

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Climate change
  • Lowered local temperature
  • Environmental quality
  • Improved air quality
  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased green space area
  • Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
  • Increased number of species present
  • Other

Economic impacts

  • Unknown

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Improved liveability
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Improved mental health
  • Education
  • Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
  • Other

Type of reported impacts

Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Yes

Presence of indicators used in reporting

Yes

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

Yes

References

1. Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Behörde für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt (2012) Mein Baum - Meine Stadt: “Count me in!”: More Street Trees for Hamburg. Hamburg: Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Behörde für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt. Available at: Source link [Accessed. 03 Sept. 2020]
2. Ministry of Environment and Energy. (2016). Hamburg – European Green Capital: 5 Years On: The city takes further. Hamburg: Ministry of Environment and Energy. Available at: Source link [Accessed: 03 Sept. 2020]
3. Source link. (2017). European Green Capital. [online] Available at: Source link 03 Sept. 2020].
4. Behörde für Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt. (nd.) Hamburg European Green Capital 2011: "My Tree - My City" Campaign. [online] Available at: BeSource link [Accessed: 03 Sept. 2020]
5. Source link. (nd.) Green Hamburg: Green Trees, Green City. [online]. Available at: HamSource link [Accessed: 03 Sept. 2020]
6. Pressestelle des Senats. (2011). Wochenendienst. Available at: PreSource link [Accessed: 03 Sept. 2020]
Politicians of Hamburg planting trees
Politicians of Hamburg planting trees
https://www.hamburg.de/mein-baum-meine-stadt/#detailLayer