en.Wedoany.com Reported - The city of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, has officially launched the "Belo Horizonte Vibrant City" plan, which aims to reduce flooding, mitigate heat island effects, and restore green spaces through nature-based solutions. The city government announced this initiative on Tuesday (7th), with its core being the construction of a riverside agroforestry park covering over 350,000 square meters in the Venda Nova district.
According to the city hall, the park will be used to plant vegetable gardens, fruit trees, and other agroforestry species, the products of which can be sold by residents, balancing environmental protection, food security, and local development. The plan also includes nearly 13 kilometers of green routes, adding trees and shade along the way to provide quality spaces for people commuting between homes, schools, and public facilities. The courtyards of four public facilities, including two municipal elementary schools, one municipal kindergarten, and the Lagoa Social Assistance Reference Center, will be de-paved and transformed into green spaces equipped with gardens, green roofs, and rainwater harvesting systems.
The city government stated that a total of over 37,000 square meters of such structures will be built, capable of storing rainwater and helping it infiltrate the soil, reducing flooding and alleviating high temperatures. In the announcement, the city hall said these interventions will make spaces cooler, more resilient, and prepared to cope with heatwaves. The plan also includes the construction of two water-retaining soccer fields to absorb rainwater and reduce surface runoff.
Mayor Álvaro Damião stated that the launch of the project is an important day for the city, and the plan was designed precisely to remove concrete from Belo Horizonte. Also attending the launch ceremony were the city's Urban Policy Secretary, Leonardo Castro, and representatives of international partners, including Ingrid Simon, Co-Director of the C40 Cities Finance Facility, Germany's international cooperation agency, the British Consulate, the German Honorary Consulate in Belo Horizonte, as well as Brazilian and international officials. During the event, decrees establishing the plan and a memorandum of understanding between the city government and the Cities Finance Facility were signed. According to the city hall, this international cooperation has secured over 15 million reais in donations to fund studies, projects, and modeling that will guide the plan's implementation.
The Moacyr Andrade Municipal School in the Vila Santa Branca community of Venda Nova will host the first rain garden built under the plan. This structure, developed collaboratively by students, researchers, and city hall technicians, is the plan's first physical delivery. Rain gardens are nature-based solutions for collecting, storing, and allowing rainwater to directly infiltrate the soil, helping to reduce flooding while acting as natural filters, improving water quality, reducing heat island effects, expanding green spaces, and promoting urban biodiversity. The plan also includes ecological corridors on green connection roads designated in the Master Plan, riverside parks, sustainable drainage systems, bike lanes, rainwater harvesting facilities at schools and health units, spring restoration, and the transformation of school courtyards into green spaces, establishing a participatory governance model involving residents, schools, universities, and partner institutions.
