Götaplatsen and Avenyn in temporary greenery
This summer, local residents and visiting tourists will get to enjoy greenery along Kungsportavenyn, the main boulevard that is locally known as Avenyn, all the way from the Garden Society of Gothenburg (Trädgårdsföreningen) to Götaplatsen square. The main boulevard will be lined with pop-up parks that offer new angles on how greenery can contribute to the city – for us humans, for biodiversity and for the environment. So come to Green Avenyn where you are sure to find an armful of fresh ideas to bring home.
There was once a time when Kungsportavenyn was a boulevard lined with gardens in front of the buildings. In the summer of 2016 this greenery will make a temporary comeback along Avenyn. A total of 17 pop-up parks lining both sides of the main boulevard will present ways to develop the urban space. And they do so with different starting points, but with greenery and green urban development as a common theme. The exhibitors are local, national and international.
The green walk is rounded off with a pleasant meeting place around the statue of Poseidon at Götaplatsen.
“It’s important that we work with both social and ecological factors to achieve a more sustainable city,” said city gardener Helena Bjarnegård, who of course will attend the grand opening ceremony at Götaplatsen on Saturday 4 June.
Well-known garden expert Gunnel Carlsson is the conferencier for the grand opening, which includes a speech by Cecilia Dalman Eek, Chairman of the Parks and Landscape Committee, and music by 90 young people from the Fristay Orchestra and the Gothenburg Youth Orchestra.
Nature can help
Right there at Götaplatsen spaces are being created for the four ecosystem services – the services and functions that nature gives us for free:
- Provisioning
- Regulating
- Supporting
- Cultural
Garden rooms should be comfortable places with seating for many people to rest for a while. Ideally, people will be inspired and get ideas for what they can do to strengthen biodiversity. Perhaps they will take an idea or two home and apply them to their own gardens?
Because although the Green Avenyn initiative focuses on the public environment, many practical possibilities are also presented for individual visitors to administer in their own way. A variety of tours of the city will also be offered to provide help along the way. Helena Bjarnegård will personally be in charge of some of them, while others will be led by biologist Lars Arvidsson or environmental educator Emma Naqvi. Emma’s “urban salad” walks will help us to discover edible plants and herbs in the middle of downtown Gothenburg.
Götaplatsen will also serve as a base during the summer where children’s theater and a variety of musical performances will be offered. Some people may also want to bring in their own cuttings and take others home in exchange, at the recycling bar.
In another corner, urns filled with summer flowers attract insects and butterflies, contributing in their own way to thoughts related to the role of greenery for biodiversity in the city.
The Parks and Landscapes Administration built the entire environment at Götaplatsen with things that will be used elsewhere after the exhibition. Either they were borrowed from the city’s parks and will be returned, or they were newly manufactured and will have other applications in our green spaces after 7 August. Some of the planting containers, for example, come from the Garden Society of Gothenburg and the benches were borrowed from Milleniumplatsen. The boards used for the frame will be reused in Slottsskogen Park, and the trees will eventually be planted in Högsbo. Diversity and recycling on a Kungsportsaveny that is blooming as lavishly as it did in the old days. Drop by and pick up a few green ideas to take home with you.
Gröna Avenyn will continue until Sunday, 7 August.