Last updated: October 2021
The project BEETE & BIENEN (Beds & Bees) in the Eastern part of Karlsruhe is an awarded sustainability experiment where garden beds, flower beds and beehives create a new urban greenspace for humans and animals and increase the urban bee population. Residents - in collaboration and under the guidance of gardeners – plant herbs, flowers, vegetables, fruits and trees that provide food for humans and thereby provide a natural habitat for the urban bee population to thrive. Residents shall take over ownership of maintenance and cultivation of the garden in the long run. (Ref. 1). The project is not about honey yield, but about enabling the bees to live as naturally as possible. Hives and garden beds are established in several small gardens in the city, including one Marstallgarten and another in Grötzingen. (Ref. 8)
Beds and Bees (2017)
Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, retrieved 08/15/2018 from Helena Trenks
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
- Community gardens and allotments
- Community gardens
Key challenges
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Habitat and biodiversity conservation
- Green space creation and/or management
- Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
- Environmental education
- Social cohesion
- Social interaction
- Health and well-being (SDG 3)
- Improving mental health
Focus
Maintenance and management of urban nature, Monitoring and maintenance of habitats and/or biodiversity
Project objectives
- Species conservation: conservation and protection of bees. Creating and protecting natural habitats for bees. (Ref. 8)
- Creating communities and linking residents (as one major focus area of the award) by creating social spaces of exchange (Ref. 2 and 3)
- Incentivising people take over responsibility for communal activities in the neighbourhood (Ref. 1)
- Mental health: fostering activities that can balance out stress and continuous overload by media (Ref. 2)
- Encourage and multiply learning about urban gardening, the linkages between humans, plants and bees and deriving knowledge about how to enhance the urban bee population. Provide children and teenagers access and educational opportunities in urban natural spaces. (education for sustainable development) (Ref. 1, 4 and 6)
- Demonstrating the value of bees for human existence and the symbiotic relationship between humans, plants and bees (Ref. 4)
Implementation activities
The group split up into two working groups: one actively forwards the gardening initiative and the second one concentrates on beekeeping (Ref. 1). The working group focusing on plants creates flower beds from donated materials in several areas in the city approved by the municipality. (Ref. 8) The project group focusing on bees resettles bees in the city in hollowed-out tree trunks, so-called log hives, as close to nature as possible. Their work is not about the honey yield, but about enabling the bees to live as species naturally as possible. One hive of logs is set up in the Marstallgarten, another in Grötzingen. (Ref. 8) The community element is fulfilled by residents participating in the initiative coming together with the two fraction groups. (Ref. 3). The two groups and other interested citizens visit workshops, exchange knowledge and pass it on to the public. To support environmental education, information signs about the plants, the importance of bees and urban beekeeping have been put up. (Ref. 3 and 4)
Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities
Biodiversity conservation:
- Protect and enhance urban habitats
- Create new habitats
- Protect species
- Undertake specific measures to protect species
- Undertake specific measures to protect native species
- Undertake specific measures to protect endangered species
- Undertake specific measures to protect valued species
- Means for conservation governance
- Public engagement
Main beneficiaries
- Researchers/University
- Citizens or community groups
Governance
Management set-up
- Led by non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Citizens or community group
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Dissemination of information and education
- Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
- Co-management/Joint management
- Citizen science
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
The idea for the BEETE & BIENEN project came about as part of a competition launched by the Quartier Zukunft in the east of the city. “Quartier Zukunft – Labor Stadt” is the name of the research and development project of the Institute for Technology Assessment ITAS at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT), which examines and researches people and their coexistence in urban areas. The project is also financially supported by Quartier Zukunft and the Karlsruhe Community Foundation. (Ref. 8) The two groups (bee-keeping and urban gardening) consist of citizens, professional gardeners, ecologists, beekeepers interested in the cause. They applied for funding with the “Quartier Zukunft” to finance their project and ever since this was granted, they have been working on erecting plant beds and beehives in the Eastern town of Karlsruhe (Ref. 2 and 3)
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
No
... a national policy or strategy?
No
... a local policy or strategy?
No
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
- Private Foundation/Trust
- Other
Type of funding
- Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
Non-financial contribution
Type of non-financial contribution
- Provision of land
- Provision of labour
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
- Public authorities (e.g. land, utility services)
- Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Green space and habitat
- Increased green space area
- Increased protection of threatened species
- Enhanced support of pollination
Economic impacts
- Unknown
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Improved social cohesion
- Education
- Increased support for education and scientific research
- Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Presence of formal monitoring system
No
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No
Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports
No
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No
References
1. Quartier Zukunft - Labor Stadt (2016) NachhaltigkeitsExperiment Beete und Bienen. Available at: Source link 21 Oct. 2020]
2. Trenks, H. (2016) „Dein NachhaltigkeitsExperiment“: Gemeinschaft und Entschleunigung in der Karlsruher Oststadt. Available at: Source link 21 Oct. 2020]
3. Quartier Zukunft - Labor Stadt (2016a) Da will was aus dem Ei: Die Gewinner-Ideen von „Dein NachhaltigkeitsExperiment“ stehen fest! Available at: Source link 21 Oct. 2020]
4. Quartier Zukunft - Labor Stadt (2016) Das NachhaltigkeitsExperiment BEETE & BIENEN macht die Oststadt essbar – und bringt sie zum Summen! Available at: Source link 21 Oct. 2020]
5. Quartier Zukunft - Labor Stadt (2016) Konzept. Available at: Source link 21 Oct. 2020]
6. Stadt Karlsruhe (2016) Karlsruhe: Grüne Stadt Karlsruhe. Ziele der Grünen Stadt. Available at: Source link 21 Oct. 2020]
7. Kahmann, V., Krumes, K., Mester, P., Neblung, N., Romer, R. and Sonnleitner, K. (2016) Beete & Bienen. Projektantrag. Karlsruhe.
8. Druckschrift. (2017). Beete & Bienen: Schwärmen für eine essbare Stadt. [online]. Available at: Source link [Accessed: 22 Oct. 2020].
2. Trenks, H. (2016) „Dein NachhaltigkeitsExperiment“: Gemeinschaft und Entschleunigung in der Karlsruher Oststadt. Available at: Source link 21 Oct. 2020]
3. Quartier Zukunft - Labor Stadt (2016a) Da will was aus dem Ei: Die Gewinner-Ideen von „Dein NachhaltigkeitsExperiment“ stehen fest! Available at: Source link 21 Oct. 2020]
4. Quartier Zukunft - Labor Stadt (2016) Das NachhaltigkeitsExperiment BEETE & BIENEN macht die Oststadt essbar – und bringt sie zum Summen! Available at: Source link 21 Oct. 2020]
5. Quartier Zukunft - Labor Stadt (2016) Konzept. Available at: Source link 21 Oct. 2020]
6. Stadt Karlsruhe (2016) Karlsruhe: Grüne Stadt Karlsruhe. Ziele der Grünen Stadt. Available at: Source link 21 Oct. 2020]
7. Kahmann, V., Krumes, K., Mester, P., Neblung, N., Romer, R. and Sonnleitner, K. (2016) Beete & Bienen. Projektantrag. Karlsruhe.
8. Druckschrift. (2017). Beete & Bienen: Schwärmen für eine essbare Stadt. [online]. Available at: Source link [Accessed: 22 Oct. 2020].
Beds and Bees (2017)
Karlsruhe Institute for Technology, retrieved 08/15/2018 from Helena Trenks
Beds and Bees (2017)
Photographer: Cornelia Holsten, retrieved 08/15/2018 from Helena Trenks