Climate Quilts

Urban Quilts

In the project, a number of mini-gardens, ten by ten meters, will be established in Groningen in the Netherlands, Palermo in Italy, Viimsi in Estonia, and Stockholm in Sweden. Each garden is developed and managed as a collaboration involving municipalities, academic institutions, and social organizations.

Each mini-garden will function as a patch in a larger green quilt. Each garden patch is developed, designed, and maintained by local communities. Each quilt will serve as a micro-ecosystem that improves ecological health, promotes community engagement, and strengthens the resilience of the participating cities.

Responsibilities

RISE has two areas of responsibility in the project. The first is to contribute with qualitative research and measurement of sociocultural aspects related to Climate Quilts. RISE contributes to co-creation processes to engage local communities in the work with the quilt. The second is to carry out efforts to assess how the Swedish quilt contributes to biodiversity.

In this way, RISE can work in an interdisciplinary manner to highlight and address urban challenges related to vegetation, biodiversity, and ecosystem services, and to create sustainable and healthy environments.

Frihamnens Kulturförening has extensive experience in urban gardening and promoting biodiversity in urban environments and is responsible for the quilt’s greenhouse. They will have a person regularly on site to answer questions and engage the public and visitors. In addition, community groups, citizens, and artists inspired by the project will be able to contact Frihamnens Kulturförening to organize events or projects within the framework of Climate Quilts. FKF will be responsible for the maintenance of the quilt.

Blivande is a social enterprise with the aim of contributing to fundamental, rather than decorative, changes in society’s ongoing transition towards sustainability. It advocates the development of an experimental urban space and the creation of a neighborhood where there is plenty of room for community, participation, and art, where sustainable practices are integrated into the design process from the very beginning.

Blivande is the coordinator for the Swedish part of the quilt and is responsible for the Swedish local project and for coordination with the international consortium.

Expected Results

RISE contribution will bring participatory design methods that ensure diverse perspectives are represented. It will also deliver sociocultural and biodiversity assessments for the Swedish quilt within Climate Quilts.