Multi-purpose Coppice Woodland

In the multi-purpose coppice woodland project, PAD combines ecological and social design to mitigate fuel poverty of vulnerable communities. With the involvement of local communities we establish coppice woodland plantations that will provide wood fuel as well as additional yields, such as fruits, berries or honey, and will also increase biodiversity, improve microclimates and mitigate air pollution. The first test plantation has been established in 2019 in Zsámbok, on the land of an organic vegetable producer in partnership with Cargonomia. Our research partners are the Hungarian Forest Research Institute, the Ecological and Sustainable Production Systems Department of Szent Istvan University and the Hungarian permaculture Association.

Urban multi-purpose coppice woodland

Socially inclusive post-industrial brownfield rehabilitation as a tool of just green transition in urban climate change adaptation process

There is a great amount of brownfields on the periphery of postindustrial urban areas in close proximity to segregated neighborhoods in Central Eastern Europe.

Our previous research underpins the connected regional and European analyses, which show that the socially most vulnerable communities are also the most exposed to the harmful effects of climate change and environmental degradation.

As a group of multidisciplinary experts, we are working on a post-industrial brownfield rehabilitation project, which links positive environmental change to improving the quality of life in Mésztelep, a segregated neighborhood in the urban periphery of Tatabánya (Hungary), a middle-size city with a heavy industrial and mining heritage.

During our previous connected project, which was completed in 2022, we prepared a concept plan for the rehabilitation of a brownfield site – a former quarry and its surroundings – next to Mésztelep, based on our multi-purpose coppice woodland system, with the involvement of the local residential community and the municipality.