Overview

This project is being developed under a scientific internship in which four secondary school students were invited to map different urban green spaces - or their absence - in the city of Coimbra, evaluating and reflecting on the importance of these spaces for living in urban centres and their influence on human health. In a rapidly growing population, cities tend to become more and more the home of many people, exerting a strong pressure on biodiversity. Urban green spaces thus emerge as a solution to minimize the impact of reducing biodiversity in cities. These spaces emerge either from political decisions on land use planning or from the will of local communities. In both cases, the mobilisation and intervention of the population assume a relevant role, which largely depends on the awareness of the importance of urban green spaces.

The project “3 + 1: let's talk about green spaces” aims to create spaces for reflection on the importance and relevance of urban green spaces in building healthier home-cities. To do this, we propose organising three informal talks, conducted by internship’s supervisors (on the association between urban green spaces and health), by members of the Coimbra em Transição association (on the activities developed by this association in the city of Coimbra) and the University of Coimbra’s Herbarium (on its digital catalogue and the trees of the city of Coimbra), and a workshop for families (construction of herbariums using the ludic-didactic kits developed by the herbarium). The starting point for these four moments will be a photography exhibition documenting the students’ course during the scientific internship.

Proposal submitted to the UC’s 20th Cultural Week, running from April 7 to 27, 2018.