Project lead: Florence Gilliéron
Background
The City of Zurich owns around 330 green spaces on municipal land. The largest – the Rieterpark – extends over 62,120 m² and the smallest – an unnamed little area resembling a flower bed – over a mere 14 m². These smaller and smallest green spaces are known as pocket parks.
Photo: The dwarf wool carder bee (Pseudanthidium nanum, female) is a rare wild bee which north of the Alps has been recorded only for Basel. (Photo: © André Rey).
Until now the City of Zurich has leased these small areas to third parties for use and upkeep. Grün Stadt Zürich is now moving away from this arrangement and is offering areas as they become free to IG Wilde Biene for use without lease. The condition is that such green spaces remain publicly accessible.
Outline plan
The project provides for green spaces of Grün Stadt Zürich, as they become free, to be improved for wild bees in accordance with individual plans of measures drawn up by us. The measures are to take account of local wild bee populations and support them.
IG Wilde Biene designs permanently installed boards for each site, informing park visitors and passers-by about local conditions. An attempt is made to define “site indicator species”, that is, species that can reliably be observed at the site in question.
QR codes on the boards allow more detailed information on the local flora and wild bee fauna to be called up on mobile devices. Directions (on foot, by bicycle, by public transport) to further sites are also to be offered.
Sites to which IG Wilde Biene gains access through other channels may also be included in this project (see for example “Zollhausdach” below).
What has been done so far
The pocket parks realised and planned so far can be found on this list.
Partners
The upkeep of Zurich’s pocket parks is made possible for us by Daniel Labhart of Schafisheim AG. This innovative garden contractor from the Aargau has a genuine commitment to biodiversity and supports the aims of IG Wilde Biene through the sale of his planting blocks optimised for wild bees.
Petrig AG in Volketswil is supporting us with custom-made, weather-resistant mountings for the site boards for at least the first 20 pocket parks.
And Grün Stadt Zürich makes Zurich’s small parks available to us for use without lease and bears the cost of the improvement measures.
