Once they have been designed, built, and put into operation, the conservation of urban green spaces is one of the most critical activities so that they continue to fulfil the function they were designed in optimal safety conditions and respond to the original landscape principles.
Althenia Sando, Sando’s parks and gardens maintenance company, structures the work carried out in green space conservation into three lines: infrastructure conservation, efficiency in water management, and pest and disease control.
The actions carried out in the conservation of the infrastructure range from the maintenance of paths, walkways, avenues or access ramps to the preservation of all the furniture and equipment such as benches, pergolas, water fountains or ponds, recreational spaces, irrigation systems; to the maintenance of the plant species planted in the space itself: trees, shrubs and flower beds.
In addition to these infrastructure conservation tasks, all those actions are aimed at water consumption efficiency, given that water is an increasingly scarce resource.
In this sense, the company’s previous studies in green spaces are critical: orography, geographical situation, soil analysis, plant species that form or will form it and its orientation to design the most suitable and efficient irrigation systems. Activities aimed at maximising water use efficiency and sustainability of green spaces include: the design of drip irrigation systems, which allow water flow to be controlled according to the needs of the plants to be watered and minimise evaporation by being closer to the ground; the adjustment of watering times to the coolest hours of the day, to optimise plant nutrition and avoid loss through evaporation; the maintenance of substrate nutrition so that it retains moisture; and the sensorisation of irrigation systems to ensure that the substrate retains its moisture; maintaining the nutrition of the substrate so that it retains moisture; or sensorisation of the irrigation systems, to automate the system remotely and in real-time, to reprogramme it in its entirety or by phases.
Other vital tasks Althenia Sando carried out in green space conservation are pest, disease, and bird control. In many cases, vegetation is attacked by fungi, aphids or specific insects that threaten the survival of the plant and its neighbours. It is increasingly important to look for non-chemical control agents for these pests, e.g. other non-harmful insects that contribute to the biological balance, both for human health and for medium to long-term sustainability. In addition, controlling colonies of birds that nest in green spaces and become a problem increasingly requires using less aggressive methods than those traditionally used.
In line with the company’s commitment to innovation and developing new environmentally responsible solutions, Althenia Sando develops R&D&i projects focused on efficiency in conserving green spaces and protecting ecosystems.
Among the research projects related to the conservation of green spaces, the SERVECO project is worth mentioning. This project, aimed at public authorities, employs remote sensing techniques and their integration with field sensors to develop an integrated methodology for the valuation and promotion of the ecosystem services of urban trees. In this way, new technologies will be applied to promote that urban trees can create better environmental conditions that increase the quality of life in a city.
