Awareness raising and engagement of local communities

At present, it is crucial to increase public participation in the process of combating climate change in order to enhance their climate resilience/safety and to promote biodiversity. This will also increase the climate security of inhabitants themselves.

What we have planned

Thanks to the DELIVER project, the public will have an opportunity to engage in creation of public space according to proposed climate change measures and thus to raise awareness of inhabitants living in local residential area about required climate change response measures. The co-responsibility for creation of public space also foresees further interest of inhabitants in the management of public spaces and their raised interest in community solutions that are necessary for addressing the climate change challenges in residential areas in a sustainable way.

In addition, a Community Climate and Biodiversity Educational Centre will be set up to raise awareness of the general and professional public about climate change threats and the existing balanced adaptation, mitigation and biodiversity solutions.

Solution process

Thanks to the DELIVER project, the public will have an opportunity to engage in creation of public space according to proposed climate change measures and thus to raise awareness of inhabitants living in local residential area about required climate change response measures. The co-responsibility for creation of public space also foresees further interest of inhabitants in the management of public spaces and their raised interest in community solutions that are necessary for addressing the climate change challenges in residential areas in a sustainable way.

The participatory process will consist of the following phases:

• information campaign,
• survey of the current use of public spaces including the identification of the group of people who use them the most,
• preliminary physical mapping of public space and its surroundings current state (ratio of greenery, maintenance of trees, surfaces and materials, used colours, lighting, ways of transport and accessibility for different target groups),
• identification of basic problems and fundamental limits (taking into account the mitigation and adaptation aspects, accessibility for community groups with special needs, crime prevention, etc.),
• participatory planning meetings – in order to create conditions for a constructive debate and to investigate public views on how the selected public space should look like. The role of the facilitator is to present public space proposals formulated by experts (adaptation and mitigation measures supporting the biodiversity) to inhabitants, to collect broad spectrum of public ideas and to gradually narrow different divergent ideas and expectations into a solution that represents the community consensus.

The Community Climate and Biodiversity Educational Centre will provide space and educational materials explaining the need and possibilities to achieve the climate resistance of the city (using synergy effects of mitigation and adaptation measures and taking into account the protection of biodiversity). The centre is supposed to serve also for counselling and educational purposes for both the professional community and municipalities. It should serve as a counselling and educational centre for the refurbishment of public and residential buildings, public spaces, etc. The centre will be set up within the property of the A. Dubcek Elementary School and its activities will be managed by the municipality Bratislava-Karlova Ves. It will consist of an indoor zone Climate Resilience – Presentation Room and an outdoor zone – Exposition. There will be one or two trained guides available in the Centre.

What we have done so far

• We have opened the Community Climate and Biodiversity Educational Centre (CoCliBEC)
• As part of consulting in the field of sustainable renovation of residential buildings in Karlova Ves, we conducted two rounds of presentations for management companies and owners’ associations on the following topics:
  1. Increasing energy efficiency in the renovation of buildings
  2. Construction modifications during the renovation of buildings, project documentation and related processes
  3. Biodiversity protection
  4. Rainwater management
  5. Building vegetation roofs, vegetation walls, greenery in common areas
  6. Financial advice in ensuring the implementation of the residential building renewal
• Preparation and evaluation of the second questionnaire survey after two years Residential area Dlhe diely and climate change – what has changed after two years: Summary in English
• Basic project plan of the Community Education Center for Climate and Biodiversity (CoCliBEC) prepared,
• Report on public participation in the preparation of the revitalization of Jurigovo Square prepared,
• The inhabitants of Karlova Ves participated in the preparation of the revitalization of Jurigovo Square by participating in a questionnaire survey (May 1-20, 2019), during event Karloveský (May 18, 2019), by participating in a planning walk (May 28, 2019), in a planning workshop in the Karlova Ves Library (June 27, 2019) and at the meeting on November 29, 2019 where the designer presented a proposal for a project for the restoration of the square before its completion,
• Presentation of the project at events for the public – a stand of the Municipality Bratislava-Karlova Ves at Karloveský majáles (May 19, 2018; May 18, 2019),
• Creation of an interactive emotional map in which the inhabitants of Karlova Ves recorded where they feel most comfortable in times of heat, which places they avoid, where the air is bad, unpleasant wind, where they see a problem with rolling water from torrential rain and where ice and intense snowfall complicates the traffic situation.
• Report on the results of the first questionnaire survey Satisfaction of the Residential Area Dlhe diely Inhabitants with Quality of Life,
• Participation in the kick-off conference dedicated to awarded LIFE projects in Brussels (October 2-3, 2018),
• Public presentation of the project – a stand of the Municipality Bratislava-Karlova Ves at the Bratislava Feast (September 29-30, 2018; September 27-29, 2019),
• Implementation of the first questionnaire survey on the perception of the effects of climate change and possible measures among the inhabitants of Karlova Ves,
• Presentation of the project to representatives of five Ukrainian cities (Brody, Dubno, Čortkiv, Novojarivsk, Žovkva) during their study visit to Slovakia (September 21, 2018),
• Project web page created and updated regularly.
• Facebook project profile created and updated regularly.
• Series of articles and other media outputs published.
• Promotional roll-up created,
• Opening project conference organized at the University Library in Bratislava (September 12, 2018),
• Project press conference organized at the Primary School A. Dubčeka (June 19, 2018),