NBS and Hardy Plants for a Sustainable City

Topic:

Green spaces and urban regeneration

Duration:

4 lessons + 1 hour preparation

Learning objectives:

This is an interdisciplinary scenario which according to the national curriculum of Greek primary schools aims to achieve the following objectives:
• Natural Science and Biology: learn about the characteristics of plants, be able to
recognise some plants and their degree of hardiness
• Computer Science: use of Web 2.0 tools
• English Language: search for hardy plants and use of Web 2.0 tools in English

Description of the learning process and activities:

The purpose of this learning scenario is to discover and name a variety of hardy plants (plants that can survive adverse growing conditions) which can act as nature-based solutions (NBS), helping to transition towards greener cities by having an impact on urban heat, oxygen production and citizens’ wellbeing. These plants can be planted in various spots of the city to make the city sustainable.

Although this learning scenario uses a suburb of Athens as an example, it can be implemented in other cities and areas. Students will visit a green area (in this case, Nea Filadelfeia Park of Athens, a park covering 480 hectares and containing a wide variety of flora) to search for and take photographs of various plants. The plants in the park are adapted to the city microclimate, but students have to seek the plants with less maintenance needs. The photographs will be uploaded to Pl@ntNet, a citizen science project for automatic plant identification through photographs based on machine learning.

This will allow students to discover which plants are hardy, according to a Greek hardiness zone map; that is, a map with geographic areas defined to encompass a certain range of climatic conditions relevant to plant growth and survival. A Padlet with the hardy plants that students have detected will be created and communicated to the local municipality.

More information (webpage):

https://storage.eun.org/resources/upload/946/20220128_104520561_946_NBS-LS-Skiada-Lascaris.pdf

https://www.scientix.eu/resources/details?resourceId=29316