From the 21st to the 23rd of June 2022, the PERFECT partners met in person to share experiences and visit green infrastructure sites. Bratislava Karlova Ves Municipality hosted the Town & Country Planning Association, Somogy County Government and Regional Development Agency of the Ljubljana Urban Region, Slovenia and their stakeholders.
The visit started with a Partner Steering Committee meeting led by the Lead Partner where partners provided an update of what they have achieved in their partners regions since the last PSC meeting and the LP outlined the project management aspects of the project.
Partners walked through Hlavne nam. and Hviezdoslavovo nam squares to the Bratislava Magistrate's Office where Zuzana gave a historical explanation of the area and some of the challenges protecting and reinstating trees in the Old Town. She also highlighted the importance of preserving ancient trees as new trees take a long time to grow and the crucial role of large trees to protect from sun and rain.
This was then followed by a visit to Bratislava’s Magistrate Office where one of the officers gave a presentation on the work that is being pursued in the Department of Urban Greenery. Some of the projects that were mentioned were also visited during the study tour. More detail about the projects in the study tour learning Learning Report.
After lunch, the partners visited the JAMA Sports Park (Športpark Jama) which is in the Bratislava - Nové Mesto city district. The park is a unique ecological project in terms of rainwater management. Rainwater is collected from paved and green areas into artificial lakes which then become the water source for water irrigation. The water permeable concrete ensures that, when it rains, no puddles are formed in the park making it suitable for walking even in bad weather. After JAMA Sports park, the visitors travelled to Iron Little Well (Železná studnička), part of the Bratislava Forest Park, which is one of the most famous and most popular recreational locations in Bratislava.
On the second day, the partners travelled by bike along the river to the Waterworks Garden, a well-known and attractive garden in Bratislava. The park is part of the Waterworks Museum and opened to the public in 2012. It is in the Bratislava-Karlova Ves city district, near the Karloveské Rameno arm of the river Danube, in the vicinity of which the original floodplain forests with rare species of plants and animals have been preserved. The partners received a tour of the park, the museum and the allotment by a tour guide.
The partners the stopped for refreshments at the New Karlova Ves Shipyard (Nová Karloveská lodenica). This building was built by the Bratislava-Karlova Ves municipality in 2019 and it is located by the Karlova Ves arm of the Danube River. After the shipyard visit, the partners visited a new multifunctional sports park in Karlova Ves that was opened at the beginning of May 2022. The park was built on an empty site which had no use in the past. During the Covid-19 pandemic, it became clear that Karlova Ves lacked in public green spaces, especially for young people, so the municipality invested in this new multifunctional park.
Following the visit of the multifunctional park, the partners visited the Kaskady Park, one of PERFECT’s pilot projects.The project is in a green area in a residential estate that was revitalised in 2021 to capture, slow down run off and use rainwater effectively. This was used to end up in a unified sewerage system mixed with wastewater but is now used as an irrigation system.
After lunch, the partners visited the Majernikova Sports and Recreational Area (Športovo-rekreačný areál Majerníkova) which is in the residential area Dlhé diely. This is a sports park with football, basketball, volleyball and running facilities which are lit by solar lamps. It is used by residents and the pupils from the adjacent school, Alexander Dubcek Elementary School. New plants, trees, shrubs, shelters for reptiles and hedgehogs and birdhouses have been included in the recreational area. The last site that the partners visited was Alexander Dubcek Primary School (Základná škola Alexandra Dubčeka) which is adjacent to Majernikova Sports and Recreational Area and is the largest primary school in the Bratislava-Karlova Ves municipality. The school is currently being renovated and aims to implement measures to adapt to the changing climate, mitigate climate change and promote biodiversity.
Detailed information about all the sites that partners visited can be found in the Learning Report.
