Welcome to the Atlas

The Green Kindergarten aims to build a pre-school educational establishment in responding to the city’s social, cultural and educational, and ecological needs. The building will include a vegetated roof, which will not only fulfil an aesthetic aspect, but also other important ecological and environmental features and functions related to the operation and maintenance of the building. (8, 12)

18 km southwest of Karachi City (Sandspit area), the World Wildlife Fund Wetland Center (an NGO subsidiary of the WWF) started a project in 2011 called Nurturing Young Sapling with a grant from the Mangrove for the Future organization. The project aimed to increase the mangrove forest cover near Karachi as to restore the ecosystem and improve the habitat for local and migratory birds, crabs and other fauna. In this way, the project sought to improve biodiversity and therefore the availability of livelihood resources to the local community, as well as to enable ecotourism. It also focused to enhance the awareness of school children on the importance of a mangrove ecosystem and advocating for its sustainable use (1).
The project benefited local fishing communities, school children and their families as well as local and international visitors to the Sandspit area. The project resulted in the mangrove plantation at 4.5 hectares area, the establishment of a mangrove (Avicennia Marina) nursery, the plantation of 5000 mangrove saplings, awareness raising of 200 school children, two-day awareness conference, the celebration of significant environmental days at the Wetland Centre to promote conservation awareness among school children (1, 2, 3).
After the successful completion of the project in 2012, WWF Pakistan has been actively involved in the management and plantation of mangroves in the Sandspit area. Multiple campaigns and awareness-raising programs for coastal protection are conducted by WWF in their Sandspit office with multiple partnerships to plant and educate students and communities about the importance of mangrove trees. (5)

The creation of Nyandungu Wetland Eco-Tourism Park is part of Rwanda’s efforts to restore and conserve ecosystems while promoting social-economic development. The Rwandese capital, Kigali, experiences regular flooding during rainstorms, due to the runoff from the surrounding urbanized hills, with the stormwater concentrating at the valley bottom in former wetlands. These floods cause disruption to traffic, preventing all travel between hillside communities. In order to address stringent issues, the focus turned on the wetlands surrounding the capital of the country. One of these wetlands is the Nyandungu wetland, which has suffered a lot of land use changes over the years, including agricultural activities, pasturing, cattle farms, sand mining, and wetland reclamation. From a climate change point of view, the project aims to address problems related with flooding and sustained base-flows in rivers. From a biodiversity point of view, the project aims to enhance biodiversity conservation. The main goal is the reconstruction of the Nyandungu Wetland Eco-Park with green infrastructure and services strategies for green energy, saving and recycling water, use of local and natural materials as well as architectural designs that maximize natural lighting and ventilation. (1,4)

The Nyashishi wetland is located on the western side of Lake Victoria some 15 km from Mwanza, a port city of the lake. The area is characterized by a double maxima rainfall, with heavy rains occurring during October to December. The wetland is traversed by the Nyashishi River, which is an intermittent river draining stormy waters and domestic waste water into Lake Victoria. Increased human socio-economic activities in Mwanza, such as horticulture, overgrazing and discharge of industrial effluents, have degraded the Nyashishi wetland. As a result, vegetation specifically elephantiasis and papyrus that used to flourish in the wetland and provide fish breeding grounds have disappeared. The crocodiles, large lizards and a host of other creatures that used to populate those areas cannot be seen today. Since the wetland and the river are part of the Lake Victoria Basin, both have been subjected to floods and droughts, impacting livelihoods, public health and the environment. The root causes of floods are irregular seasonal and year to year variability in rainfall patterns, combined with mismanagement of land and water resources, leading to soil erosion and increased run-off. Therefore restoration efforts in the area are much needed. (1, 5)

Nygård Park is an old, large park in central Bergen that has been undergoing transformation since 2014, as the park had degraded over the years and had been heavily used by drug users (Ref. 6). The restored park serves to act as a natural meeting place in the city, consisting of green areas, a pond, playgrounds, flower beds, an amphitheater, walkways and much more. The restored park retains its traditional British design, and also includes a more universal character allowing for more users of the park and facilitating access to the different parts of the park. (Ref. 1, 2).

The "Oasis for Children" project, implemented in Zagreb, is based on the experience of implementing non-institutional education in 5 primary schools in Zagreb. The main objective of the project is to promote the principles of healthy lifestyles, environmental protection, sustainable development and volunteering among pupils of partner primary schools. Throughout the year, students will be educated outdoors in school gardens, on environmental protection, sustainable development, healthy lifestyles and volunteerism. Students will also work on the garden for the opportunity of practising the knowledge gained from the regular education system. Every academic year, new primary schools are added to the project with the increased popularity of the school gardens [Ref 1]

Odom Garden is a unique temporary pop-up public garden developed as a part of an ongoing real estate project (Ref 1). The garden was developed in 2020 to provide a green public space for people to connect with nature and with other citizens in a prime real-estate planned area for further construction in 2023 (Ref 1). Spread across 4000 sqm, the garden is developed by employing and upcycling the garden's native elements, such as large branches being converted into balancing paths and swing holders (Ref 3). The garden is a very popular green space in the city with Phnom Penh’s first dog park, a Japanese-inspired foot bath, and a central food and beverage area, as well as a children’s playground (Ref 2, 3). This green space has become a meeting place for families with opportunities for relaxation and recreation.

The park has been functioning since 2020 as a temporary site for the future Odom project. The area will be redeveloped to include a residential and commercial complex that includes a five-story layered park (Ref 1, 2). The project, when complete, is expected to increase the total green space area to 7000 sqm, i.e., 126% of the current Odom Garden. Of this, 80% of the green space will be accessible to the public. The Odom garden can thus be interpreted as a demonstration intervention, where the goal was to create s community-focused space and in which Phnom Penhers can experience the sense of community envisioned for the future completed project (Ref 1, 2). As of January of 2023, it has been announced that the Odom Garden is closing for the pre-construction of ODOM, with a "heartfelt: See You Soon" (Ref. 5).

A modern office building in Poznan and a headquarter of a large company was designed to include multiple environmentally friendly solutions like cycling facilities, energy-efficient appliances in the building, roof gardens, the use of rainwater in the sanitary facilities, waste segregation system and the overall energy-efficient design of the building façade to let in as much natural light as possible [1].

This NBS is Porto’s largest green roof, sometimes referred as the "Fifth Façade Urban Rooftop Garden", the "Olive Trees Garden" is an oasis of 50 olive trees and lush grass on top of a semi-open gallery of shops, restaurants, and cafés with an underground parking garage.
It’s an urban park escape for city workers, tourists, and university students. Located on top of "Praça de Lisboa" (Lisbon square), this is a fantastic concept of urban planning done right: green space co-existing with commerce and vehicles below street level. This project was completed in 2013 as an effort to improve an area in decline in the middle of the cultural centre of Porto by creating a green space for the community (Ref. 1, 2).

The Urban Environment Observatory Building (OMAU) was built in Malaga as part of the URB-AL 1998 project, it is a construction planned for environmental conservation and includes an ecological cover for the use of rain water in the supply to the structure's watering system. (Ref 2, 3)