Urban ReLeaf is a Dundee-wide citizen-science project gathering perceptions and observations of parks in the city.
Dundee City Council
Go To WebsiteAddressed Challenges:
- Flooding & drought
- Health & wellbeing
- Air pollution
- Biodiversity loss;
- Tech & innovation
- Greater fairness/ Just transition
Action Areas:
- Biodiversity & Nature
Initiative Purpose:
- Mitigation & Adaptation
The Story
Urban ReLeaf, Dundee’s citizen-science project, invites everyone in Dundee to share their perceptions and observations of parks in the city. Dundee is Scotland’s greenest city, but the quality of greenspaces and access to them is not equal. Access to good quality greenspace is proven to support positive health and wellbeing outcomes and to help urban areas deal with the effects of climate change.
The project aims to address data gaps on perceptions of greenspace and city-wide understanding of what is happening in these areas. Data gathered in Urban ReLeaf will provide a large, citizen-generated evidence base to inform decision-making and strategy development for a greener, more livable, more resilient future. It will provide data that is needed and useful for a range of actors in the city.
Urban ReLeaf aims to engage everyone in Dundee, with a focus on those typically less likely to be represented in citizen-science projects and community engagement activities, such as people living in areas of high deprivation. Working with a broad range of stakeholders including community organizations (the Maxwell Centre, Scrapantics and many more), housing providers (Hillcrest), and colleagues from across the council, Urban ReLeaf has been designed to be inclusive and accessible to as many people as possible.
As Urban ReLeaf progresses, the project will use the data collected as a foundation to explore with communities how greening in urban areas could be used as a tool to provide positive urban environments for them and future generations.
Success & Outcomes
Initially, success will be measured by the number of people sharing their perceptions and the percentage of those living in areas of deprivation. Going forward success will be measured by the number of city-level strategies and projects using Urban ReLeaf data as evidence. In the longer-term lasting impact from the project should include improvements to the quality of greenspaces across the whole city and more people benefiting from them, as well as a clear move towards applying nature-based solutions for improved resilience throughout the city.
Advice for others looking to do something similar
Collaboration has been key to initiating Urban ReLeaf in Dundee and will be vital to its ongoing success. The project was secured in Dundee when the University of Dundee and Dundee City Council were open to working in partnership and found common ground among wider objectives. Working in a space with limited funding and where time is a scarce resource, being able to work efficiently and constructively as a wider team has been key to the project’s progress. In practice, this involves being mindful of other people's and organizations’ needs and ways of working and being open to creating a common vision of success that may differ from what one originally conceived.