The inhabitants of Katowice sow meadows, plant trees and repair the city with officials. The KATO citizen project encourages citizens to care for the environment and provides residents with innovative tools.
Kato – that’s how the inhabitants of Katowice often refer to their city. Kato is a place where an incredible change has taken place recently, and the inhabitants are its best ambassadors. It was with them in mind that the city launched the KATO Citizen project in 2018.
– We wanted to use the energy and potential of people who live in Katowice and who care about this city. Another important thing for us was shaping civic attitudes, also in the context of environmental protection and paying attention to important problems that we must solve together – says Wioleta Niziołek-Żądło, coordinator of social projects at the City Hall in Katowice.
The project is by definition long-term, and stems from the diagnosis of problems most often stressed by the inhabitants. For two years, the residents of Katowice have been benefiting from the application: NaprawmyTo.pl and wCOP drzewo, intuitive tools that the city adopted in cooperation with the “Stocznia” Foundation and the “Gdańsk” Foundation. Thanks to the first tool, you can easily indicate defects to be solved in the city, from a damaged bench, through degraded greenery, to a wild garbage dump. Over 10 thousand out of 14.5 thousand reported “alerts” have been addressed, but what is as important as the number is the ability to track or comment on and suggest solutions as well as direct contact between residents and officials. The application has gained the reputation of being an effective tool. It forced changes in the organizational structure within the office and better cooperation between the office and municipal institutions and external entities. Similar to the wCOP drzewo tool, with which residents can indicate places to plant new trees in the city. The verification of submissions is supervised by an interdisciplinary team, which also contacts the applicants. As a result of the first edition of the project, there are already 600 trees „planted” by residents in Katowice, and the second edition has resulted in several hundred new submissions. The applicants may not only choose a place, but also take part in planting trees and become their informal carers.
– Residents are offered the opportunity to take some responsibility for their surroundings, demand the same from others but above all from themselves. That is why, for example, we invite them to sow meadows or clean up rubbish together
– says Ms Niziołek-Żądło.
The sowing of the first flower meadow in Katowice in 2018 was accompanied by sowing workshops, including also building seed bombs or houses for wild pollinators, prepared by the “Łąka” Foundation for residents. Today, there are several such meadows in the city (20,000 square meters), and the Urban Greenery Company is gradually limiting the mowing of green areas, also as suggested by residents. In the case of the SprzątaMY Dzielnice action, the residents of Katowice not only indicate littered places, but also vote on-line which ones they want to clean up. In 2019, volunteers collected 15 garbage containers, including 322 bags full of plastic. Each such action ends with a team-building barbecue meeting combined with workshops.
It is worth noting that since the very beginning cleaning has been organized by the city in cooperation with the Free Tea Association, promoting the idea of zero waste in Silesia, and the campaign has become its recognizable symbol.
In order to encourage residents, among others, to stop using disposable plastic, in 2019 Katowice and the Katowice Water Company inaugurated the social campaign ‚Kranówka Katowice – get tap water to drink’, involving local businesses, including selected cafés and restaurants.
The key to this is that the office started with itself, replacing plastic bottles with tap water and water dispensers. Also in 2019, the first parklet was created in Katowice, in cooperation with the Regional Institute of Culture and inhabitants. The “Teatralna” Parklet used three parking spaces, creating a place surrounded by greenery to rest and to organize small cultural events. It was designed by students of the Silesian University of Technology and planted with greenery by the Urban Greenery Company. The parklet has become one of the elements of sustainable transport promotion and may be an inspiration for other such solutions in the city.
The KATO Citizen project is accompanied by a website and a Facebook profile, where anyone can leave a comment, ask a question or exchange ideas.
In 2019, KATO Citizens of the Year were selected from among the most active residents in three categories: cleaning the city, repairing the city and greening the city. Among them there were a journalist, television operator and university lecturer – senior citizen.
