Community horse park
A community horse park was established in the Vuores Central Park and is managed by the local stable. The City of Tampere financed this small-scale nature-based solution through an innovation voucher worth €16 364.
The horse park represents an example of how a green space can be managed for multipurpose use. The aim of the horse park is to promote citizen engagement in a natural setting, while also enabling residents to take part of and learn about the cultural heritage of the Vuores area. The horse park also aims to increase residents’ accessibility to outdoor activities, which otherwise may not be within their reach due to financial or social reasons. Interaction with horses has also been shown to enhance peoples’ well-being and general health, which is one of the objectives of the horse park. The city is examining management effects on biodiversity in this multi-use green space.
Potential for replication and upscaling
Innovation vouchers encourage residents and other city actors than the municipality to plan and implement novel nature-based solutions in the city. The implemented nature-based solution was a simple DIY-type solution feasible for residents and local actors to create, rather than an engineered solution.
The living lab is located in a new area and, therefore, the city did not receive many applications for the innovation vouchers. In similar future initiatives it is recommended to target such funding towards older and more dense areas with less nature and resources. The inclusion of innovation vouchers in Tampere’s NBS business model proved to be a successful approach to engage citizens to a greater extent in the city’s NBS efforts. This solution can easily be replicated in other cities or contexts when small- or medium-scale nature-based solutions are implemented.
