Kletterfix - Green Walls for Leipzig

Leipzig, Germany

City population: 502920

Duration: 2015 – ongoing

Implementation status: Ongoing

Scale: Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)

Project area: unknown

Type of area: Residential, Building

Last updated: October 2021

Together with the Office for Urban Greenery and Waters of the City of Leipzig, the charitable association Ökolöwe Leipzig started the green facades initiative "Kletterfix - Green Walls for Leipzig" in 2015. The project aims at creating awareness about the multiple benefits of urban green walls and inspiring action of tenants and landlords on private property. As a measure mandated by the Urban Clean Air Plan, green facades improve the urban microclimate, general living conditions and combat particulate matter pollution. On-site advice about suitable plants and maintenance is provided upon application and respective seeds for up to 5 plants are sent for free to the applicants by the city department (1, 3, 7).

Green Facade in Connewitz, Leipzig

Alexandra Schmidt, retrieved 08/22/2018

Overview

Nature-based solution

Nature on buildings (external)
Green walls or facades

Key challenges

Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
Climate change adaptation
Climate change mitigation
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Green space creation and/or management
Environmental quality
Air quality improvement
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
Health and well-being (SDG 3)
Improving mental health
Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
Real estate development

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Knowledge creation and awareness raising

Project objectives

1. Encourage private and commercial house owners, builders, housing companies, tenants and landlords to take action with greening their facades on private property (1); 2. Increase public awareness about the multiple benefits that green facades deliver apart from aesthetic functions (1); 3. Improve general living conditions, carbon sequestration, urban health, urban microclimate, combat particulate matter pollution (3, 8); 4. Increase urban biodiversity by creating food sources for bees, ladybirds and bumblebees (7); 5. Increase habitats for spiders, insects and small animals that keep away small animals unwanted in the house (8); 6. Generate economic savings for tenants based on reduced heating fees due to improved insulation and reduced maintenance costs for facades that are protected from the plants (8).

Implementation activities

The programme "Kletterfix" was implemented in 2015 and is administered by the charitable organization Ökolöwe and the Office for Urban Greenery and Waters of the City of Leipzig: - Employees of Ökolöwe offer guided tours in Leipzig to showcase best practice examples of greened facades that have been implemented so far in the framework of the programme and thereby promote future action on behalf of citizens. - Application of intensive direct PR measures to promote participation in the programme. - Provide 2,000 seed packages each year to be sent out to tenants or landlords wanting to green their facades. - Upon tenants' or house owners' online application, they receive professional advice by one of the employees of the Ökolöwe concerning the selection of the plants best suited to the local conditions and further maintenance. - The association and the city department also help with the implementation (1, 2, 3, 4, 5).

Climate-focused activities

Climate change adaptation:

Increase or improve urban vegetation cover to help reduce outdoor temperature
Implement green walls or roofs to lower indoor temperature and provide insulation

Climate change mitigation:

Install vertical or horizontal artificial surfaces that help with carbon storage and cooling

Main beneficiaries

Private sector/Corporate/Company
Citizens or community groups

Governance

Management set-up

Co-governance with government and non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

Local government/municipality
Non-government organisation/civil society

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

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

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The programme "Kletterfix" is administered by the charitable organization Ökolöwe and the Office for Urban Greenery and Waters of the City of Leipzig. They manage incoming requests from citizens, send out seeds and offer advice concerning the selection of the plants best suited to the local conditions and further maintenance and also assist in the implementation. Furthermore, as PR measures, they offer guided tours in Leipzig to showcase best practice examples of greened facades that have been implemented so far in the framework of the project and introduce the benefits of greening facades (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Unknown

... a national policy or strategy? Unknown

... a local policy or strategy? Yes (The project is a measure of the Urban Clean Air Plan of Leipzig(5, 6))

Financing

Total cost

€10,000 - €50,000

Source(s) of funding

Public local authority budget
Funds provided by non-governmental organization (NGO)

Type of funding

Earmarked public budget
Donations

Non-financial contribution

Type of non-financial contribution

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
Enhanced carbon sequestration
Environmental quality
Improved air quality
Reduced noise exposure
Green space and habitat
Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
Increased green space area
Increased number of species present

Economic impacts

Other

Socio-cultural impacts

Education
Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits

Type of reported impacts

Expected impacts, Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Unknown

Presence of indicators used in reporting

No evidence in public records

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

References

1. Ökolöwe – Umweltbund Leipzig e.V. (2017). Kletterfix - Grüne Wände für Leipzig. Website not available.
2. Ökolöwe Umweltbund Leipzig e.V. (2015). Source link on October 13, 2020, Source link
3. Ökolöwe Umweltbund Leipzig e.V. (2017). Kletterfix. Projekt. Accessed on October 13, 2020, Source link
4. Stadt Leipzig. (2017). Kletterfix - Grüne Wände für Leipzig. Accessed on October 13, 2020, Source link
5. Stadt Leipzig. (2017). Rundgang zu grünen Fassaden im Leipziger Westen. Accessed on October 13, 2020, Source link
6. Stadt Leipzig Amt für Umweltschutz. (2009). Luftreinhalteplan Stadt Leipzig. Accessed on October 13, 2020, Source link
7. Ökolöwe Umweltbund Leipzig e.V. (2016). 2016: Grüne Stadtgestaltung. Accessed on October 13, 2020, Source link (Accessed: 19 July 2017).
8. Ökolöwe Umweltbund Leipzig e.V. (2017). Warum Fassadenbegrünung. Accessed on October 13, 2020, Source link
9. Kommunen für biologische Vielfalt e.V. (n/a). Kommunen für biologische Vielfalt. Accessed on October 13, 2020, Source link
10. Ökolöwe Umweltbund Leipzig e.V. (2017). Leipziger beispiele für Fassadengrün. Accessed on October 13, 2020, Source link
11. Leipziger Internet Zeitung. (2019). Vertikales Grün als natürliche Klimaanlage: Ökolöwen werten mit Kletterfix-Projekt graue Wände auf. Accessed on October 13, 2020, Source link

A Green Facade of a Family House in Leipzig Südvorstadt

Alexandra Schmidt, retrieved 08/22/2018

Source: https://www.oekoloewe.de/mitmachen-bei-kletterfix.html