In Cultivating City Burgas, (Bulgaria) an engaging focus group discussion took place last August, 2023, where a diverse group of participants, including environmental NGOs, architects, local representatives and environmentalists came together to discuss the local “Island Park” green infrastructure project.

A common theme throughout was the importance of engagement, with participants displaying a high level of enthusiasm for the initiative. Particularly, the landscape architect emerged as a passionate advocate for the "Island Park", offering valuable insights and updates on its progress.

Furthermore, current societal challenges were openly discussed as well. Public engagement emerged as a hurdle, with participants discussing the difficulty of involving the broader community in various initiatives. In particular, the complexities of engaging with the Roma community were acknowledged, highlighting the need for effective solutions.

As Burgas continues its journey toward a more sustainable and inclusive future, their involvement, passion, and dedication to the city's greening projects, along with their determination to overcome hurdles, are all encouraging indicators of their future success. The local task force behind "Island Park" is enthusiastic about bringing their vision of a livelier, greener city to life. Particularly, the Island Park offers a secure environment for children to play while serving as an area for leisure and relaxation for adults. First impressions from the Grand Opening reveal that children were particularly enjoying the yoga benches and the music elements.

After this successful intervention deploying NbS, Burgas is keen to try to implement similar ideas in other vacant plots in the city in the future. The city also wishes to adopt co-creation as a central part in their work towards ensuring diverse voices are heard and societal challenges are tackled with NbS.

Learn more about the co-creative progress in Burgas in this report.