Flow together with the Future!
Basic information
Project Title
Full project title
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Project Description
The project is a smart city development strategy based on creating places and initiatives bringing water and biodiversity into the city. The digital platform aims to network social activities, promote knowledge, support civil society and build databases. That can constitute attractive knowledge for residents and tourists coming to Krakow.
Geographical Scope
Project Region
Urban or rural issues
Physical or other transformations
EU Programme or fund
Which funds
Description of the project
Summary
Water scarcity is one of the most severe climate threats facing today. From this perspective, the Vistula is not only a river but also a reservoir of a rich resource, water. Water creates the urban ecosystem, occurs in various states, is associated with numerous cycles, accompanies life and chains of activity and experiences.
We live in a digital age society, where social technologies create opportunities for interpersonal communication and greater citizen involvement, thus creating intelligent and interactive cities. Networking with the inhabitants of modern cities allows you to effectively counteract problems generate greater comfort and safety in your towns. The direction of the development of the contemporary city is the introduction of various forms of production and management of shared urban resources, an example of which is water in the town. Its experience is a tool for building a community.
The project is an idea for a broad urban strategy to transform social potential into opportunities - activating residents to engage in bottom-up initiatives related to the development of water and green activities. The result is a city that, apart from building mega-projects, sees an opportunity in small local enterprises. At the same time, it is facing the challenges of the current climate crisis. It creates a framework for improving the quality of the microclimate, biodiversity, and urban space's overall aesthetics
Key objectives for sustainability
In the era of water scarcity and heat islands, it is essential to mitigate climate in the urban environment by introducing an unsealed public space for greenery and water. More extraordinary biodiversity and water in the city allow the natural circulation in the urban environment to continue. The project provides a platform that can aggregate and stimulate urban initiatives related to introducing more water places into the city. The platform aims to support activities to improve the microclimate and biodiversity of the town. Permeable parking plots, rainy squares, green outbuildings, retention reservoirs, and water gardens exemplify just a few ideas that can enrich the city's fauna and flora. Water is an essential element for the life of all organisms, so it is necessary to manage it intelligently and based on the new technologies.
Key objectives for aesthetics and quality
The variety of spatial forms of water initiatives could permanently change the aesthetics of the city's public space, building its new form of communication with residents and tourists. Rain gardens, green walls of downtown outbuildings, hydroponic gardens, wet fields, and tanks for cooperative rainwater can enrich the biodiversity qualities of the city of Kraków. The catalogue of these solutions is open. For the city, it would be an entirely new form of communication of urban policy available to new challenges. Biodiversity would make the city's standard of living and enjoyment more attractive to the inhabitants. The city would take on a new aesthetic value in the eyes of tourists who would be able to use the map of water initiatives as an alternative form of visiting the city of Krakow.
Key objectives for inclusion
Implementing the Social Network of Water Initiatives aims to activate grassroots initiatives, empower civil society, and use the local water resource management potential in the city. Moreover, the platform would also have an educational role, spreading knowledge about active relations among the youngest. Increasing the availability of understanding and awareness of the role of water in the urbanized environment would permanently contribute to the improvement of the quality of urban space. Involvement of citizens in generating ideas bottom-up forms of financing would empower the actions of citizens, putting the agency into the hands of its inhabitants. The city would gain a partner to participate in revitalizing the city's water resources.
Physical or other transformations
Innovative character
The network would allow for multi-directional cooperation between the city public institution, citizens and tourists. The natural environment, civil society, and the shared space quality constitute the core values on which the idea is based. Planting a seabird, unsealing a pavement, collecting water for a common reservoir are small initiatives that, on a large scale, can make a big difference. It is what the social network of water initiatives recommends. It enables residents to act and monitor the changes on an interactive map of the city. Tourists can learn practices examples that deal with the introduction of water into the city. Such a significant problem requires open and horizontal action by all residents. Therefore, the proposal provides for the possibility of active participation in creating a shared space for Krakow's future.
