Genesis – Building Scale: Urban Garden with Sensory Elements (Novo Sarajevo)
The Urban Garden with Sensory Elements in Novo Sarajevo represents one of the first real efforts in the City of Sarajevo to integrate nature-based solutions into everyday urban life through small-scale, inclusive design. Implemented and completed in 2023 by the City of Sarajevo, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Municipality of Novo Sarajevo, the project serves as a pilot within the broader European initiative Connecting Nature, co-implemented by the Sarajevo Economic Region Development Agency (SERDA). Its central aim was to test how public space can become both an ecological infrastructure and a tool for inclusive education, intergenerational interaction, and sensory learning.
The garden is located in the courtyard of two Schools – the Secondary School for Vocational Education and Work Training, and the Center for Education and Rehabilitation, attended primarily by students with developmental disabilities. Its location was intentionally chosen for its potential to connect vulnerable groups with the wider community: the site directly faces the Center for Healthy Aging Novo Sarajevo, making it accessible to elderly citizens, local residents, and visitors. This physical proximity between educational and social institutions helped develop a shared vision – to create a space that would support both inclusive learning and healthy aging, where children, youth, and seniors could interact through nature-based activities.
The project was conceived not only as a green area, but as a living classroom. It offers sensory experiences that engage all five senses – touch, sight, smell, hearing, and taste, through a number of thematic zones and natural materials. The design integrates tactile paths, raised planting beds, and aromatic plants, encouraging direct contact with soil, textures, and scents. An old disused well on the site was rehabilitated to supply water for the plant beds, demonstrating circular use of existing infrastructure and reducing reliance on municipal systems. All materials – wood, gravel, stone, and sand – were deliberately chosen for their natural character, low environmental impact, and sensory atractivness.
The UNDP-supported pilot initiative “Re-imagine My Street” played a key role in shaping the project’s participatory design process. Through a series of co-creation workshops and public ideation sessions, citizens, teachers, and experts collectively defined the garden’s functions and layout. UNDP provided technical assistance to translate community inputs into a digital visualization and supported the site’s physical implementation. This collaboration ensured that the project reflected both professional standards and the aspirations of those who would use it daily.
In conceptual terms, the Urban Garden with Sensory Elements marks a change in Sarajevo’s urban planning culture – from purely aesthetic landscaping to, community-oriented nature-based design. It responds to the city’s need for micro-scale interventions that can deliver immediate social and environmental benefits while remaining low-cost and replicable. The initiative shows how the principles of the Connecting Nature project – restoring the relationship between people and ecosystems – can be realized in the everyday spaces of education, rehabilitation, and care.
Perhaps most importantly, this garden was envisioned as a prototype, not an endpoint. The City of Sarajevo and its partners have since identified additional locations – particularly in cooperation with local municipalities – where similar gardens could be adapted to the specific needs of local communities: near schools, health centers, and senior homes. Through this continuous approach, Sarajevo is cultivating a network of small-scale, high-impact urban nature projects, each designed to strengthen environmental awareness, social inclusion, and the well-being of its citizens.
II. Triggers – Building Scale: Urban Garden with Sensory Elements (Novo Sarajevo)
The creation of Sarajevo’s Urban Garden with Sensory Elements was motivated by the combination of environmental necessity, social need, and institutional innovation. At a time when the city was seeking new approaches to integrate nature into the urban fabric and reconnect citizens with their environment, this project started as a prototype for how small-scale interventions can address large-scale urban challenges – from the lack of accessible green spaces to the limited opportunities for inclusive outdoor education and intergenerational interaction.
Environmental and Spatial Triggers
Sarajevo, like many post-industrial and densely built cities, faces a chronic shortage of high-quality, accessible
green areas, particularly in central municipalities such as Novo Sarajevo. The urban landscape is dominated by impermeable surfaces, limited vegetation, and fragmented public open spaces, resulting in heat accumulation, poor air circulation, and reduced biodiversity. At the same time, schoolyards and institutional courtyards – although plentiful – are often underused or designed without ecological or educational intent.
Recognizing this, the City of Sarajevo aimed to reclaim and reimagine existing micro-spaces as green learning environments. The courtyard of the Secondary School for Vocational Education and Work Training
presented a clear opportunity: a secure and familiar space that could be
transformed into a living ecosystem for daily sensory and educational
activities. The presence of an old, disused well on the site symbolized both the city’s environmental potential and its need for adaptive reuse, a symbollic reminder that resilience often begins with rediscovering forgotten resources.
By restoring the well for plant irrigation and introducing permeable surfaces and native vegetation, the garden design addressed
urban sustainability by mitigating stormwater runoff, improving local
microclimate, and demonstrating a circular, low-impact design model that can be replicated elsewhere.
Social and
Educational Triggers
The social motivation for the project was also
strong. The host school educates students with developmental disabilities, a
group often excluded from conventional urban experiences and environmental
education. Teachers and caregivers had long expressed the need for a safe,
inclusive, and stimulating outdoor environment that could serve as both a
classroom and a therapeutic space.
At the same time, the immediate neighborhood
contains the Center for Healthy Aging Novo Sarajevo, whose elderly users share
similar needs for accessible, quiet, and interactive green environments. The
proximity of these two institutions – one serving youth, the other older
citizens – created a unique opportunity for intergenerational contact through
nature. The garden was designed to promote mutual learning and empathy,
bridging generations through shared sensory experiences.
The project responded to a wider public-health
concern: the limited opportunities for outdoor recreation, especially for
vulnerable populations. As air quality and modern lifestyles became growing
urban challenges, the garden aimed to encourage gentle physical activity,
mental relaxation, and contact with natural stimus, all factors that can
contribute improving psychological and physical health.
Institutional and Policy Triggers
Through UNDP’s “Re-imagine My Street” pilot initiative, Sarajevo gained the means to test these concepts in practice. This program introduced an innovative participatory ideation process, inviting citizens, municipal departments, and experts to co-create a vision for transforming ordinary urban spaces into shared natural assets. The sensory garden emerged as one of the most successful outcomes of this approach – a small but symbolically powerful project that demonstrated how multi-level cooperation (City–Municipality–UNDP–citizens) could lead to meaningful, visible change.
The project also responded to the city’s growing need for inclusive environmental education infrastructure. Until this pilot, Sarajevo lacked purpose-designed spaces where children with disabilities could safely explore sensory experiences in natural settings. Joining environmental design and social inclusion, the Urban Garden in a way helped fill a big gap in the city’s urban and educational ecosystem.
Strategic and Replicability Drivers
Finally, the project was started from the beginning as a replicable prototype – a testbed for new ways of designing, managing, and maintaining micro public spaces. Its success would guide similar initiatives across other schools, elderly centers, and community institutions identified by the City and its partner municipalities. This strategic framing ensured that the project was a part of a systemic learning process, preparing Sarajevo for a broader initiative to imoplement of nature-based interventions in the years to come.
III. Transformational Context – Building Scale: Urban Garden with Sensory Elements (Novo Sarajevo)
The transformation that led to Sarajevo’s Urban Garden with Sensory Elements was not only physical – it represented a deeper institutional and cultural change in how the city understands public space, social inclusion, and nature-based innovation.
Institutionally, the garden was initiated during a period of strategic reorientation within the City of Sarajevo, which had begun aligning city policies with the nature-based solutions (NbS) framework promoted by the European Union. The Connecting Nature project provided both the theoretical foundation and technical guidance for integrating NbS into urban governance.
Within this context, the garden became the first fully realized pilot of the Connecting Nature framework in Sarajevo – a European research and innovation initiative focused on integrating natural processes into urban systems to enhance resilience, liveability, and social cohesion. Connecting Nature provided not only the conceptual background, but also a governance model emphasizing collaboration between sectors, stakeholder engagement, and co-production, as essential elements of successful urban innovation.
From Concept to Co-Creation
The garden’s development happened through a participatory and interdisciplinary path. After identifying the school courtyard as a potential pilot site, the City of Sarajevo partnered with the Municipality of Novo Sarajevo, the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and SERDA (Sarajevo Economic Region Development Agency) to ensure technical feasibility, stakeholder alignment, and integration with local needs.
UNDP’s “Re-imagine My Street” initiative became the operational mechanism for the project’s design process. Instead of imposing a pre-determined solution, this initiative facilitated collective ideation through a public call and workshop-based process where teachers, students, parents, and local residents were invited to envision how the space could support both education and recreation. The result was a co-created design brief that prioritized accessibility, sensory diversity, and ecological simplicity.
The participatory sessions emphasized experiential design – creating an environment that would stimulate sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch in ways that encourage curiosity and relaxation. The involvement of the school’s teaching staff ensured that the garden responded to pedagogical goals, integrating easily into the school’s curriculum for vocational education and rehabilitation.
UNDP translated the collected citizen feedback and workshop outcomes into a digital visualization and technical design, connecting community input with professional implementation. This process marked a methodological innovation in Sarajevo’s urban planning practice: it was one of the first projects to use a data-informed, participatory digital design pipeline, merging local knowledge with expert modelling and practical construction.
Nature-Based Design Philosophy
The design of the Urban Garden and Sensory Park was guided by the Connecting Nature approach that small-scale natural interventions can spark large social and ecological returns. The project’s environmental features reflect this philosophy. The reactivation of a historic well for irrigation closed a local water loop, showcasing the potential of adaptive reuse and circular design. The selection of locally available, natural materials – wood, gravel, stone, and sand – minimized embodied energy while maximizing tactile and aesthetic quality.
The garden’s layout organizes sensory experiences along a gentle walking loop, with zones for tactile exploration (pebbles, sand, bark), olfactory stimuli (herbal and aromatic plant beds), and visual diversity (flowering and seasonal species). Its topography and surfaces were designed to be accessible to persons with mobility or sensory impairments, reflecting the city’s commitment to universal design principles.
By integrating ecological thinking with inclusive design, Sarajevo demonstrated that environmental innovation and social justice can reinforce one another. The project became a model of holistic sustainability, addressing climate adaptation, inclusion, and urban culture within a single spatial micro-intervention.
Institutional Learning and Governance Transformation
The Urban Garden also served as a learning instrument for local institutions. Through collaboration between the City, Municipality, UNDP, and SERDA, the project helped clarify roles, procedures, and responsibilities for implementing nature-based solutions within Sarajevo’s governance framework. It provided a working example of how environmental, social, and urban planning departments can coordinate their jurisdictions toward shared goals.
The project also strengthened Sarajevo’s institutional capacity for citizen co-creation. It showed how participatory ideation, digital visualization, and co-financing can be successfully managed even in small-scale projects – offering a replicable model for future urban interventions. Aditionally, the involvement of local schools, NGOs, and international partners built a foundation for long-term collaboration between sectors on inclusive environmental education.
Linking Policy to Practice
At the policy level, the Urban Garden embodies the Connecting Nature Transition Framework, which encourages cities to embed NbS into their strategic planning, business models, and monitoring systems. The project allowed Sarajevo to test this framework in real conditions, showing that even small, localized interventions can spark a broader systemic change.
By framing the garden as both a pilot project and a policy experiment, the City positioned it as part of its evolving Climate and Sustainable Development agenda, connecting European innovation programmes with local situation. The garden’s success demonstrated how real, human-scale spaces can translate complex sustainability concepts into everyday experience – turning environmental policy into a reality.
The Urban Garden with Sensory Elements unfolded as a carefully structured journey – from participatory ideation to tangible construction – blending environmental innovation, social inclusion, and community ownership. Conceived as a pilot for nature-based solutions (NbS) within the Connecting Nature framework, it is a model of how Sarajevo is transforming policy ambitions into sensory, educational, and ecological every day realities.
- From Vision to Site: Establishing the Framework
The journey began in early 2023, when the City of Sarajevo identified the courtyard of the Secondary School for Vocational Education and Work Training in Novo Sarajevo as a potential site for testing small-scale NbS interventions. The space was strategically chosen due to its dual social relevance: it serves students with developmental disabilities while being directly adjacent to the Center for Healthy Aging Novo Sarajevo, frequented by elderly citizens. This spatial synergy made the location ideal for intergenerational engagement through nature.
Through collaboration with SERDA and the Municipality of Novo Sarajevo, the project was integrated into the city’s Connecting Nature pilot portfolio, emphasizing co-benefits for health, education, and community cohesion.
- Participatory Ideation and Co-Creation
To translate this vision into an actionable plan, the City partnered with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), whose “Re-imagine My Street” initiative provided a participatory framework for citizen engagement. UNDP organized open ideation workshops involving teachers, students, parents, community members, and local NGOs.
Participants were invited to co-design the sensory experience: identifying textures, sounds, scents, and natural materials that would make the garden accessible and stimulating for all. The emphasis was on inclusivity and empathy – designing with users rather than for them.
UNDP then synthesized the workshop outcomes into a digital visualization, which helped stakeholders imagine the final appearance of the garden. This visual tool allowed teachers and students to comment and refine the proposal before construction – a simple yet transformative example of how digital participation can enhance transparency and engagement in local planning.
- Implementation and Design Execution
Construction began in mid-2023, led by the City of Sarajevo’s Department for Sustainable Development, in partnership with the Municipality of Novo Sarajevo. The works included:
- Reactivation of an existing well for irrigation, reducing dependency on municipal water networks and highlighting circular use of resources.
- Installation of raised planting beds with aromatic and herbal species (lavender, rosemary, mint) chosen for their sensory richness and low maintenance.
- Creation of five sensory zones corresponding to the human senses – tactile (sand, bark, pebbles), olfactory (aromatic plants), auditory (wind chimes, rustling grasses), visual (colorful flowers), and taste (edible herbs).
- Use of natural and recycled materials – gravel, sand, wood, and stone – ensuring environmental harmony and tactile diversity.
- Addition of accessible pathways and resting areas, allowing wheelchair users and elderly visitors to navigate easily.
These elements were designed to create a safe and therapeutic outdoor classroom that promotes mental focus, social interaction, and environmental learning.
- Education, Awareness, and Community Use
Once completed in late 2023, the garden became a living educational tool. Teachers began integrating it into the school’s curriculum – using it to teach biology, sensory development, and sustainability concepts.
The space also became open to the widercommunity: residents and seniors use it as a small green retreat, while the school organizes periodic events such as planting days and sensory workshops. These activities reinforce the garden’s purpose as a shared public asset, fostering intergenerational solidarity and environmental awareness.
Cross-Cutting Themes (Sustainability & Innovation Toolbox)
- Peace and Security – Social Cohesion through Inclusion
The Urban Garden promotes social inclusion as environmental peacebuilding. By connecting students with disabilities and elderly residents in a shared natural space, it changes social barriers and cultivates empathy. The space’s openness and accessibility enhance community trust, offering a peaceful space within a dense urban neighborhood. It demonstrates how inclusive green design can reduce social isolation and strengthen collective belonging, both essential foundations for urban resilience and community stability.
- Environment and Infrastructure – Nature-Based Solutions and Urban Resilience
The project is a practical manifestation of nature-based design at the micro scale. It reuses existing natural assets – notably the old well – and integrates ecological principles into everyday life. Through permeable materials, native planting, and low-carbon construction, the garden contributes to stormwater management, microclimate regulation, and biodiversity support.
In addition to its immediate footprint, it serves as a replicable prototype for the city’s broader strategy of greening schoolyards, courtyards, and underused plots to improve environmental performance while enhancing social value.
- [Digital] Innovations – Visualization and Participatory Design
The use of digital visualization tools developed by UNDP was a key innovation in the project. It allowed diverse participants – from architects to children – to collectively shape and assess design options. This digital co-creation model strengthened transparency and accountability, bridging the gap between expert planning and community imagination. The approach aligns with the city’s continuously growing use of digital participation mechanisms to make governance more inclusive and interactive.
Institutional Coordination and Good Governance
The Urban Garden demonstrated effective cooperation between the City, Municipality, international organizations (UNDP), and local educational institutions. The success of the project confirmed the City’s developing governance model for implementing nature-based solutions through co-design. The transparent division of roles, where the City provided leadership, the Municipality facilitated logistics, and UNDP ensured technical and participatory support, was instrumental in overcoming bureaucratic obstacles and ensuring high-quality delivery.
Cultural, Therapeutic, and Symbolic Value
As Sarajevo’s first sensory park and urban garden, the project has symbolic importance. It demonstrates that sustainability and inclusion can be achieved through major infrastructure projects as well as through small, human-centered interventions. The garden has since become a point of reference for other schools and NGOs exploring environmental education and therapeutic spaces.
Outcomes
By the end of 2023, the Urban Garden with Sensory Elements stood as a functional, inclusive, and replicable model of urban transformation. It enhanced biodiversity, provided therapeutic benefits, and fostered intergenerational learning – while proving that nature-based solutions can be both affordable and socially transformative. The project’s success has inspired plans to replicate similar sensory gardens across Sarajevo’s municipalities, adapting them to each community’s social and spatial context.
- Future – Building Scale: Urban Garden with Sensory Elements (Novo Sarajevo)
Institutionalization and Replication
Following the project’s positive reception, the City has begun identifying new pilot sites for similar sensory gardens across the metropolitan area. The aim is to adapt the model to the specific needs of local communities:
- in schoolyards for experiential environmental education,
- near centers for healthy aging to promote physical activity and mental well-being among the elderly, and
- within residential neighborhoods to provide accessible green micro-oases.
These upcoming interventions will lean directly on lessons learned from the Novo Sarajevo pilot, in particularly on the value of natural materials, participatory creation, and the use of low-maintenance, climate-resilient vegetation. The City could formalize this methodology into a “Sensory and Educational Garden Framework”, a set of design and governance guidelines for future implementations led by municipalities or local institutions.
Educational Integration and Long-Term Programming
The garden’s future lies in its continuous use as a learning and therapeutic environment. Teachers at the Secondary School for Vocational Education and Work Training are integrating sensory-based outdoor lessons into the curriculum – combining biology, vocational training, and art therapy. Seasonal workshops, guided by educators and local volunteers, will maintain the site’s vitality and keep it responsive to changing needs.
The Center for Healthy Aging Novo Sarajevo has also expressed interest in organizing joint intergenerational programs, such as gardening days and nature-based therapy sessions, linking seniors and students in shared activities that strenghten mutual understanding and community resilience. These initiatives will help make sure that the garden remains an evolving, lively space.
Policy Alignment and Urban Strategy
Strategically, the Urban Garden will continue to function as a model project within Sarajevo’s broader Connecting Nature and City Development Strategy frameworks. Its replication supports the city’s transition toward climate resilience and social inclusivity, joining larger-scale strategies such as the Climate City Contract and the Green Action Plan for the Canton of Sarajevo.
The City could integrate sensory gardens into its green infrastructure mapping as recognized spaces of ecological connectivity, contributing to local cooling, stormwater retention, and biodiversity corridors. Over time, these interventions might collectively form a network of small, nature-based public spaces that link social inclusion with environmental function.
A Vision for Inclusive Green Futures
Looking forward, the Urban Garden with Sensory Elements mirrors Sarajevo’s emerging philosophy of human-scale sustainability. It demonstrates that climate action, social equity, and urban innovation can meet in spaces as small as a school courtyard, when they are designed with empathy, creativity, and partnership.
In the years to come, the sensory garden will continue to grow, not only through its vegetation, but through its replication in schools, neighborhoods, and institutions across the city. Each new garden will serve as a space in a larger network of green, inclusive, and participatory Sarajevo.
