LjubLjana Developing Ljubljana‘s BEE PATH long-term development Vision and Action Plan together with BEE PATH members amarante Sale of bee products in the Municipality market – despite the pandemic The evolution situation, we managed to market honey and bee products te at the municipal market. s ps toward bydgoszcz Changing the mentality: recognition/ acknowledgement of the a -friendly importance of bees and wild pollinators; activities of utility companies (MWiK, ZDMiKP) cityBee and municipal departments (WGK); enlargement of wild meadows, delayed mowing, plans for creating an apiary at Ostromecko Park and Palace Ensemble cesena The widening of the ULG group to the national level, involving many different entities Hegyvidék Budapest waterworks join the ULG – small activities produced huge results. Less mowing in waterworks green spaces. nea ProPontida Long term support to 2 BeePathNet The transfer journey actions – The Best Bee of the BeePathNet partnership Balcony competition and The with guidelines for the development Adopt a Green Patch are to of urban beekeeping become traditional BeePathNet team: lead partner: The city of Ljubljana, Slovenia The city of Cesena, Italy Maruška Markovčič, project coordinator and Roberto Zoffoli, project coordinator, URBACT local group coordinator, Klemen Strmšnik, Saveria Teston, URBACT local group coordinator lead expert, mag. Vesna Erhart, communication and Elena Giovannini and Mario Laghi, officer, Luka Sešel, Špela Kodre, Gorazd Maslo, communication officer Urška Stražišar, Ema Mair Šobak and Branka Trčak Hegyvidék – XII District of Budapest, Hungary The city of Amarante, Portugal Attila Varga, project coordinator, Nóra Laki, Mafalda Alves and Tiago Ferreira, project URBACT local group coordinator, Viktória Soós coordinator, Ana Lírio, URBACT local group and Miklós Kelenffy, communication officer, coordinator, Sónia Files, communication officer, Zsófia Hamza and Erzsébet Puglitsné Szamák Patricia Pereira and Adão Ribeiro The city of Nea Propontida, Greece The city of Bydgoszcz, Poland Elisavet Papoulidou, project coordinator, Natalia Majewska and Bożena Katarzyna Napierała, PhD Fani Hatjina, URBACT local group coordinator, project coordinator and communication officer, Anastasia Liourta, communication officer, Justyna Olszewska, URBACT local group PhD Leonidas Charistos, Stavros Kalpakis, coordinator, Agnieszka Kowalska and Asterios Papastergiou and Andreas Lelekas Agnieszka Kurzeja Colophon: The evolution steps toward a Bee-friendly city text: Klemen Strmšnik, Maruška Markovčič, Vesna Erhart, Ana Lírio, Attila Varga, Bożena Katarzyna Napierała, Elisavet Papoulidou, Fani Hatjina, Justyna Olszewska, Mafalda Alves, Natalia Majewska, Nóra Laki, Roberto Zoffoli, Saveria Teston and Tiago Ferreira PHotograPHs: Ákos Nagy, Alexandre Vieira, Ana Kopač, Ana Lírio, Anna Izdebska, Antonis Pashos, archive of Apiprodukt, Čebelarstvo Žerjal, archive of Being, archive of BTC d.d., archive of City of Cesena, archive of City of Ljubljana, archive of Čebelarstvo Jere, archive of Gelateria Leoni, archive of Hegyvidék – XII District of Budapest, archive of Il Campo dei Fiori, archive of Ljubljana Castle, archive of Ljubljana Tourism, archive of Municipality of Bydgoszcz, archive of Quinta da Macieira, archive of Runas Hidromel, archive of Slovene Ethnographic Museum, archive of Stay to Talk, archive of Studio Bomba, archive of the Wyższa Szkoła Gospodarki w Bydgoszczy, archive of Zavod Eneja, Asterios Papastergiou, Athina Apostoloudi, B. Kladnik, BeePathNet archive, Bożena Katarzyna Napierała, Charalambos Toumbekis, Dawid Kilon, Dolmen archive, Doris Kordić, Dunja Wedam, Elefterios Pantelakis, Elisavet Papoulidou, Evaggelia Biniou, Fani Hatjina, György Sárközy, Ioannis Sarakatsanos, István Rácz, Janko Verbič, Jože Bavcon, Jure Rus, Klemen Strmšnik, Luka Dakskobler, Maj Valerij, Marina Panagiotidou, Marko Habič, Miha Fras, Miha Špiček, Monika Wójcik-Musiał, Nikos Pashalidis, Nikos Tsaldaris, Nina Ilič, Pedro Fonseca, Péter Csontos, Urška Ilič, Vasileios Tsigganos, Vicky Fantidou, Vicky Tsigganou and Žiga Koritnik transLation and Proofreading: Jezikovna zadruga Soglasnik z.o.o. and Ema Mair Šobak s.p. design: Borut Kajbič Print: Cicero, Begunje, d.o.o. edition: 200 copies PubLisHed by: Mestna občina Ljubljana / City of Ljubljana within the project URBACT III – Transfer Network – BeePathNet Free copy Ljubljana, 2021 CIP - Kataložni zapis o publikaciji Narodna in univerzitetna knjižnica, Ljubljana 638.1:711.4 The EVOLUTION steps toward a bee-friendly city / [text Klemen Strmšnik ... [et al.] ; photographs Ákos Nagy ... [et al.] ; translation Jezikovna zadruga Soglasnik and Ema Mair Šobak]. - Ljubljana : Mestna občina Ljubljana, 2021 ISBN 978-961-6449-93-9 COBISS.SI-ID 67360771 Follow us on social media: BeePathNet E-mail: [email protected] More about the project: www.urbact.eu/beepathnet To join the Bee-friendly movement visit our webpage which has all the needed information and links (left side of the page) to: the project monography, the transfer modules guidelines “The evolution steps toward a Bee-friendly city” and the library with thematic newsletters on Biodiversity, Education, Awareness raising, Tourism, the World Bee Day celebration 2020, New Products and partner cities’ Bee paths in 7 languages. The evolution steps toward a -friendly cityBee Enriching the Urban Jungle with Bees How did an idea turn into a good practice and the good practice into a transfer journey? And how did our transfer journey become a mission of six cities. A foreword by In front of you is not only a comprehensive guide to urban beekeeping, but… Maruška Markovčič, Well, in its essence and form it is! However to me it is much more… the BeePathNet Queen Bee This is why, I would like to invite you to read it as a story about a humble idea, its awkward beginnings and all the wonderful people which recognized its’ po- tential, their efforts to make sure it grows, and a unique EU programme which finally called it what it always was – an URBACT good practice. And this was only a start, because at that moment, the story turned into a jour- ney, where the team of the City of Ljubljana suddenly found itself accompanied by five passionate and creative partner cities and supported by excellent and devoted experts. It is only at the end of this journey that I can see how fortu- nate we actually were and what a wonderful experience it was. A passionate foreword, right!? A fair warning to all of you interested in urban beekeeping, the BEE PATH good practice or its transfer to your own city, is a mix of 10% creativity, 20% hard work and operational support, 30% voluntarism, stubbornness, and will-power and 40% pure passion. A precise “cocktail” is needed to evoke mind-change in our citizens and change our urban jungles for the better. And you know what, just as you at this moment, Ljubljana started with nothing more than an idea. Relying on the above described “cocktail” and support from the city adminis- tration, in just three years, we created a network of 35 voluntary members from various backgrounds – beekeepers, educational, cultural and health institu- tions, companies, NGOs, etc. We designed the BEE PATH to become a network of stakeholders, a touristic and educational path, an educational programme, as well as a “think-tank” and an “incubator” for development of new entrepre- neurship ideas in close cooperation with the members. Bu then we came across this fantastic opportunity to transfer our BEE PATH good practice to five other EU cities within the framework of URBACT transfer networks. And so, the BeePathNet project was born. It was designed as a pilot project, aimed at confirming the transferability of the BEE PATH good practice, as well as flexibility and sustainability of its solutions. iv The evolution steps toward a Bee-friendly city At the beginning, our transfer partners were skeptical, too – stating environ- mental, cultural, operational, political and even legal differences. But two and a half years later, they all successfully transferred the BEE PATH good practice into their own cities. And not only that, they integrated their own good prac- tices into it, moulded it into their own unique Bee Paths, as well as improved Ljubljana’s BEE PATH and supported its evolution. But the transfer cities didn’t do this alone. Just as we in Ljubljana, they created voluntary citizen local groups – the “heart and soul” of any Bee Path. In Lju- bljana we were very proud of the network of 35 local group members. Today, at the end of the BeePathNet project we are even prouder of over 300 local group members in our six “Bee-friendly” cities. And we are still growing… So, how did we do it? This is for us to explain and for you to discover in these guidelines. However, there is no need to just copy – paste all presented ideas… We hope they will inspire you. So, modify them to your needs and implement them in the best way you see fit. Or even better, come up with your own ideas, reach out to us, join our network of “Bee-friendly” cities and let us learn from you! v The Evolution: from the City of I. Ljubljana’s BEE PATH to BeePathNet 1 evolution Creators of the City of Ljubljana’s BEE PATH did not stop with just a physical touristic path but evolved it into a network of different stakeholders, developed educational programs and a beekeeping steps related “THINK-TANK” … Rewarded with the URBACT’s Good Practice award, Ljubljana toward a decided to transfer its BEE PATH good practice into five EU cities covering the majority of climate