Guide to Biodiverse Urban Design “A City - Fair or Bare?” Published
Tartu City Government Press Release
/ The practical guide to biodiverse urban design, “Green or Bare City?”, brings together five years of experience and knowledge gained from enhancing urban biodiversity in Tartu.
The guide provides a clear overview of how to begin making living environments more nature- and people-friendly, and offers examples of successful initiatives from Tartu that can be replicated in other cities. It also addresses frequently asked questions, including topics related to aesthetics, safety, and maintenance, offering science-based answers to common concerns. In addition, the guide includes practical observations and recommendations based on experiments carried out in Tartu.
The publication is intended for municipalities, landscape architects, and green space professionals, but it is equally valuable for communities and residents who wish to make urban spaces more biodiverse, resilient, and human-friendly.
Biodiversity in cities is important not only for conservation purposes. Diverse urban nature supports both mental and physical health, reduces the risk of allergies in children, improves air quality, mitigates noise, and helps reduce the impacts of flooding and heatwaves. It also increases the resilience of urban environments to climate change and creates functional habitats for pollinators and other species essential for maintaining ecological balance.
The guide is based on the experience of the Tartu 2024 project “Curated Biodiversity” and the LIFE project Tartu ROHEring. The aim of these initiatives has been to create an urban environment that supports both biodiversity and human well-being. Experimental areas established in central Tartu parks have led to a systematic approach in which various biodiversity-supporting methods have been tested and their impacts on both the natural environment and the quality of urban space use have been assessed. Such biodiversity-friendly maintenance practices are becoming a standard part of urban planning and management in Tartu.
“Over five years, valuable knowledge has been gained about which solutions work in urban environments and which require adaptation. We want to make this knowledge accessible to everyone, because major change begins with small steps,” note the authors of the guide.
The guide covers both strategic approaches and concrete practical measures tested in Tartu, including:
- reducing mowing frequency and establishing urban meadows,
- using grazing animals for maintenance,
- restoring shrub layers in parks,
- creating habitat logs and brush piles in green areas,
- designing microhabitats in collaboration with designers and architects,
- establishing wetlands,
- prioritizing native plant species,
- reducing hard surfaces and expanding green areas.
The guide “A City - Fair or Bare?” has been compiled by Merle Karro-Kalberg, Anna-Liisa Unt, and Karin Bachmann. Contributions to its content have been made by the University of Tartu’s Landscape Biodiversity Working Group, the Chair of Zoology, and several experts.
The guide is available in both Estonian and English, in print and online. Printed copies can be requested from the Tartu City Hall information desk.
The digital version is available for viewing and download. Elurikkus_rohering_A5_05-03-2026_veeb_ENG.pdf
Last changed 22.04.2026
