WORLD URBAN PARKS CONGRESS 2015 REPORT

9th IBEROAMERICAN CONGRESS OF PARKS AND PUBLIC GARDENS – PARJAP

PORTUGAL 2015

Smart Parks and Gardens 26 to 30 May 2015

Registration http://congresso2015.cm-pontedelima.pt

First World Urban Parks Congress 2015, Ponte de Lima, Portugal - Report

By Digby Whyte, CEO, World Urban Parks

The congress was held in partnership with the Spanish Association for Parks and Gardens and the Ponte de Lima Municipality and involved 200 participants with over 45 speakers from around the world. The venue was the Expolima conference centre and show grounds that included a Green Spaces fair, and the conference was timed to include the 11

th International

Garden Festival of Ponte de Lima.

Although the congress organisation involved an Honorary Committee, Executive Committee and Scientific Committee, the three people closely involved in ensuring an effective World Urban Parks Congress were Dr Christy Boylan (Secretary Europe Region), Manuel Sousa (Portugal Commissioner) and Alexandra Esteves, Chief of Cabinet to the Mayor of Ponte de Lima Municipality.

World Urban Parks members numbered 52 with Emanuel Trueb undertaking many official duties as Interim Chair for the full Congress, including Chairing Commissioner, Board, and General Assembly meetings, Congress opening and closing speeches, dinner host and official tree planting.

Steve Wolter and Chris Rutherford lead the Workshop, Dr Anna Steidle and Dr Christy Boylan lead the Europe Region Meeting, Dr Christy Boylan moderated day 2 of the Congress, Steve Wolter and Dr Digby Whyte were keynote speakers, and Emanuel Maphorogo, Stephen Comben, Bradley Burger, Sissel Lerum, Toshikazu Uesugi, Takumi Hoskawa, Sten Goransson, Goran Nilsson, Kevin Halpenny, Nor Akmark Abdul Aziz, Etsuko Takahashi, and Kenzo Oguchi all presented.

The Congress was structured around a dedicated World Urban Parks workshop and meeting day on 25 May, A pre-congress tour and opening on 26 May, The congress with a theme each day from 27-29 May and a post-congress tour on 30 May.

The full program of presentations is available at:

http://congresso2015.cm-pontdelima.pt/?page_id=2463

World Urban Parks Workshop and Meetings; Palacete Villa Morais (See separate report) 25 May | Monday

The morning sessions involved a Joint Workshop of Yardstick and World Parks Academy with 30 participants.

Afternoon sessions included the Europe Region meeting, Ifpra World Commissioners and World Urban Parks Board meetings.

Board members and Commissioners dined at Restaurant Encanada in the evening

Pre-Congress 26 May | Tuesday

The day involved a visit to Portugal’s only National Park: Peneda-Gerês National Park

This included a film in the education centre, viewing natural and cultural heritage in the form of forests, lakes, peaks, burial

caves, farmland, Castelo do Lindoso, and community grain storage.

Registration opened in the late afternoon with the Congress opening at 5 pm by Mayor Victor Mendes, Emanuel Trueb, Interim

Chair World Urban Parks, Francisco Vizcarra, President of the Spanish Association of Parks and Public Gardens, and

members of the Guinea-Bissau and Portuguese governments. This was followed by a presentation by Manuel Sousa.

Later in the evening was the Opening of the Green Spaces Fair of Ponte de Lima 2015 and a Cocktail Party

Congress 27 May | Wednesday Smart Design

The morning keynote by Dr Digby Whyte outlined the origins, purpose and benefits of World Urban Parks. The second keynote was by José Arrieta (Spanish Association of Parks and Gardens) and Tatiana de la Torre (Techigral Environmental and IT consultancy) of Spain who outlined very advanced park online databases with a strong GIS component that allowed website viewers to virtually explore major parks across Spain. This could ultimately form a powerful world information base. The third keynote was Sami B of (Marchica Med SA) the Morrocan State company for the development of the Lagoon of Marchia that has been a massive undertaking of restoring the ecology and creating a tourist economy for the cities and towns on the lagoon’s margins.

In the late morning 11 ten-minute presentations were made by World Urban Parks and Iberoamerican presenters, including: -A remediation and rehabilitation strategy for Manuel Street Park, Johannesburg by Emanuel Maphorogo of Johannesburg Parks and Zoo, South Africa; -City of Whittlesea Melbourne markets storm water harvesting project by Stephen Comben, City of Wittlesea, Australia; -Smart Parks, an approach to planning public parks in Cape Town by Bradley Burger of City Parks Cape Town, South Africa; -Management plan for blue and green structures in Bergen, by Sissel Lerum of the Green Agency for the Municipality of Bergen, Norway; and -Operational management regarding disaster prevention parks in Tokyo metropolitan parks by Toshikazu Uesugi and Takumi Hosokawa of the Tokyo Metropolitan Park Association, Japan.

The coffee breaks and lunch were held in an adjacent marquee that included poster presentations. World Urban Parks provided a 3-poster presentation on the values and benefits of the association, while the World Parks Academy provided a four poster presentation on the Certified Parks Professional and Certified International Parks Professional certification. Following lunch was a commemorative tree Planting ceremony and a tour of the historic centre and the parks and gardens of Ponte de Lima.

28 May | Thursday Smart Maintenance

The first morning keynote speaker, with Dr Christy Boylan moderating, was Antonio Simao Jr, Director of Parks and Gardens for the Municipality of Maputo speaking on Sustainability and public green spaces requalification of the City of Maputo, Mozambique. This was followed by Peter Scott, Manager of Urban Planning and Landscape for Khatib and Alami of Dubai, UAE on Smart and sustainable parks and public realm design. Peter had an acronym for smart design: C - Connect (a sense of belonging, living for human beings, custodians of landscape, social spaces, safety, neighbourhoods) R - Restore (culture, understanding the legacy, create for future grandchildren) E – Enrich (create diversity, identity and character, quality) A – Activate (get rid of dead spaces, live in a ‘park’, spaces people can use) T – Transport (people need to get places, new ways of access, public transport, cycleways, walkability) E – Economy (do the principles within the budget, local economy, global position, mixed use, business opportunities) S – Sustain (health and well-being, ecology, infrastructure, leisure and recreation Peter noted that ‘collaboration is the rule’ and there was advantage in involving all stakeholders.

The third keynote was Paulo Marques, Associate Professor of the University of Porto, Portugal speaking on Wild gardens: design, diversity and maintenance. Paulo advocated local species, flowers, grasses and natural materials with minimal formal design. The open space areas associated with an illustrated apartment complex had something of the appearance of unkempt countryside with fruit trees, shrubs, wild flowers, long grass, tree stumps for seats and stepping stones to traverse narrow areas. This took some getting used to by residents, who were involved in planting and given some concessions to formality, such as mown trails and lawn segments, but the area responded naturally to seasons, required no irrigation and had a woodlands feel. During the coffee break the heads or executive members of about ten of the park associations at the Congress introduced each other and made connections. These included the Park and Recreation Foundation (Japan) and Ifpra Japan, MyParks (Malaysia), Chinese Association of Parks, Spanish Association of Parks and Public Gardens, Institute of Parks and Recreation Singapore, Swedish Association of Park Administrators, Institute of Environment and Recreation Management (South Africa), Institutes of Landscape Architecture (Ireland and Portugal). One of World Urban Parks’ roles is to be the global umbrella association and voice linking and strengthening national associations who share common issues and represent professionals in their countries.

Another 11 sessions were presented following the coffee break included: - Rosengard urban pathway, Malmo Sweden by Sten Goransson of Malmo City Streets and Parks Department - Park quality focus through Nordic green space award by Goran Nilsson of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences - Brasilia’s par maintenance and green quality, Brazil, by Marcela da Motta of the Central University of Brasilia; and - Urban forest management through the prism of smart, safe, healthier, green and biophilic cities, by Pedro Martinez of the Research Centre for Landscape Architecture, Portugal Following lunch there participants visited the protected landscape, education centre and wetland boardwalks of Lagoas de Bertiandos and S. Pedro d’Arcos, and downtown, Atlantic coast, and Monte de Santa Luzia of Viana do Castelo. That night dinner was informal.

29 May | Friday Smart Promotion

The morning saw two keynote speakers. Glória Garcia, of the School of Architecture and Design at the University Pontificia

Bolivariana, Colombia spoke on Medellin parks in five contexts. Steve Wolter, Executive Director Indiana University’s Eppley

Institute for Parks and Public Lands, USA, spoke on Innovative technology for ‘smart’ park management. Steve identified five

megatrends:

Climate change (for example requiring environmental sustainability and links)

Population growth (70 percent urban by 2050)

Technological (such as automation)

Accelerating urbanism (for example requiring whole-of-neighborhood design, user experience and engagement)

Knowledge and information availability (such as smart phone access to special data).

He also noted the US Parks Service’s development of new standards to green parks that included sustainability and technology.

Eight late morning sessions included:

- Barcelona’s master plan for road networks trees 2015-2035 by Xavier Marcet, Department of Conservation of Parks and

Gardens, Barcelona, Spain

-The Fingal smoke-free playground [national] initiative by Kevin Halpenny, Senior Superintendant Fingal County Council

-The use of recreational urban parks in Bintulu, Sarawak, Malaysia by Nor Akmar Abdul Aziz of the University Putra Malaysia

-Promotional activities using large scaled flower landscaping in a national government park by Etsuko Takahasi of the Parks and

Recreation Foundation, Japan

- Tokyo’s challenge! Shifting from park administration to park management by Kenzo Oguchi, Managing Director Parks and

Recreation Foundation, Japan

These were concluded with a presentation of new congresses and the theme of the 12th International Garden Festival of Ponte de Lima by Count Francisco de Calheiros. At the end of the sessions World Urban Parks members took the opportunity to hold a General Meeting to get updated on the workshop outcomes, including the launch of the World Urban Parks Indicators online benchmarking, the terms of reference for park regions, ambassador role of commissioners, and key outcomes of the board meeting on 25 May, including the leadership and committee structure. Later in the afternoon the 11th International Garden Festival of Ponte de Lima was opened with international garden exhibits in a dedicated garden event area adjacent to the River Lima. At 9pm the Congress Dinner was held at the ExpoLima and commenced with the announcement and presentation of the World Urban Parks Distinguished Individual Award 2015. Six nominees were featured in a Powerpoint Presentation by CEO Dr Digby Whyte (see separate feature):

Kadir Arslan, Head Parks, Gardens & Green Areas Department, Gaziantep Metropolitan Municipality, (Turkey)

Dr Christy Boylan, Chair World Parks Academy. Former President Irish Landscape Institute, President Tree Council of Ireland, President Landscape Assn of Ireland, Snr. Parks Superintendent South Dublin, (Ireland)

Cathy Kiss, President Play Australia, PLA Frank Stewart Award 2014, Senior Planner, City of Melbourne, (Australia)

Neil McCarthy, CEO NE Catchment Management Authority, Former: President Elect Ifpra, Chair Parks Forum, (Australia)

Gil Penalosa, Founder and Chair 8-80 Cities, Former Commissioner Parks, Sport & Recreation, Bogota, (Canada)

Conrad Sidego, Executive Mayor, Stellenbosch Municipality, Million Tree Project, Former Ambassador, journalist South Africa

The award was won by Dr Christy Boylan. Following this Emanuel Trueb presented World Parks Academy Certified International Parks Professional and Certified Parks Professional Certificates to about a dozen World Urban Parks members. He also presented Ifpra Gold Medals to Dr Christy Boylan and Dr Digby Whyte for “Significant and dedicated service to furthering the values and ideals of the Ifpra vision”. Dr Anna Steidle, on behalf of World Urban Parks and Ifpra, then thanked Emanuel Trueb for his significant service in leading Ifpra’s transition to World Urban Parks, and uniquely holding the Presidency of Ifpra and Interim Chair of World Urban Parks, including presiding over the First World Urban Parks Congress in Ponte de Lima with his multi-language skills including Portuguese. Emanuel responded to Anna in German. He was presented with Portuguese hand crafted silver jewelry in honor of this service culminating in Ponte de Lima.

Post-Congress 30 May | Saturday

On the Saturday following the Congress an all-day tour of Braga included visits to:

the Sanctuary of Bom Jesus do Monte

Casa dos Biscainhos

the Garden of Santa Bárbara (pictured)

the Monastery of Tibães