Green capital award 2012
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Who gave the prize?
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When was it given?
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The European Green Capital Award for 2012 has gone to Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country's capital. Vitoria-Gasteiz is the city with the most green areaper capita in Spain and the first in all Europe. And this and many other reasons have given the prize to the city. Because of the award, the city will host different events during 2012 and give conferences about the sustainable mobility, green areas... Such as the conference that gave the mayor of the city, Patxi Lazcoz, in the United Nations, UN.
History of the award
The European Environment Commission started this competition in 2010. Their objective is to reward the cities with good environmental politics, sustainable development, those which commit to reduce the CO2 and are able to act as a role model to inspire other European cities.
Before Vitoria-Gasteiz there were two more cities awarded. They were Stockholm in 2010 and Hamburg in 2011. Then came Basque's county's capital. And, finally, Nantes got the prize for 2013.
There were competing Barcelona, Malmö, Nuremberg and Reykjavik at the same time as the last two winners. At the end these just arrived to the final.
Reasons for the award
Scavenging
There are different recycling bins throughout the city. There are four: one is for plastics ( yellow ), another one is for paper and carton ( blue ), other is for the glass ( green ), and the last one is just for the remaining waste ( gray ). There is also a fifth one which is being tested. It is expected just to collect organic food in these bins ( orange ). After getting it, the objective is to make biocompost in Juniz's building. This way, the organic food can finish as fertilizer or green energy source, also known as recyclable energy.
Green Areas
One of the most important reasons for getting the award is the amount of green areas. There are three clear examples:
- Vitoria-Gasteiz has 15 natural habitats of Community interest. These are more than a quarter of the natural habitats in the whole Basque Country. This means: there is more than the %25 in one city comparing with a autonomous community.
- There is an area of 11 million of m2 of green areas. This means that it is the the city with most green areas all over Europe. If we take the number of habitants in the city in 2010, it would be more than 46m2 of green ares per capita.
- The Green Belt is a big area which surrounds all the city.
Green Belt
- The Green Belt is set of periurban parks of high ecological and landscape value. It has been an ambitious :plan carried out over the last century. Altought is was started in the early 20th century, it hasn't been until these last 15 years when :it was mainly work out.
- It has six different parks around the city:
- Park of Armentia
- Olarizu
- Zabalgana
- Salburua
- Alegría
- Zadorra rive's park
Bike Lanes
In 2010, the bike lanes consisted in 91km of lanes. Nowadays they reach places as Fernando Buesa Arena, Lasarte, Armentia... But it will be increase the kilometres of the lanes until a maximum of 148km. These could be built:
- In the roads.
- In the pavement.
Once it is built any place in the city will be in less than 250 metres of any of these lanes. It is equivalent to one minute until you arrive at any of them.
Agenda 21
Local Agenda 21 is the instrument that cities are equipped with to move towards more sustainable communities, this means: more efficient and saving, cleaner and healthier, more inclusive and supportive with other cultures and realities ... Cities which want to improve their ciztizens quality of life, through the maximum respect for the environment and resources, including human beings.
Vitoria-Gasteiz singed The Charter of European Cities towards Sustainability, also known as Aalborg's letter ( it is in Spanish ), in 1995. This way they started the Agenda 21.
Future projects
The city's Mayor, Patxi Lazcoz, and the citizens themselves promise to keep trying to get a more eco-friendly city. With that aim the City Hall has projected to improve the projects which are active now days and create new ones. Inside that first group we can find the electric car. These last one-two years the Basque Government, the Provincial Council of Alava and the city itself have been projecting the electric car. This car, called Vito E-Cell, has been one of the first electric vans. But it won't be the last one, because there are things to improve on it yet. There have also been thought to build electric gas stations. But it is just a project that won't be finish until a few years.
We can find the Sustainable Mobility and Public Space Plan too. This idea has different objetives, such as:
- Promote the public trnasport and the bike.
- Reduce the private car's travel.
- Expanad the pedestrian areas.
See also
Bibliography
- An article from El Pais newspaper
- Vitoria-Gasteiz European Green Capital website
- Naturahoy blog, everything about the nature
- Vitoria-Gasteiz official website
- Vitoria-Gasteiz´s Agenda 21
- The European Commission of Environment
- Vitoria-Gasteiz's Green Belt
- Vitoria-Gasteiz's scavenging