Urban environment and green spaces of Geneva, Switzerland

Geneva is a green city with renowned parks. The municipal administration leaves nothing to chance in its management of the urban environment. The City of Geneva has been committed to sustainable development since 1995. Geneva is renowned for its numerous quality green spaces, which constitute nearly 20% of the municipal territory. They are managed by competent staff. Discover the richness of Geneva’s wooded heritage and the important work that is being done to manage, protect and inventory it. Finally, discover the Bois-de-la-Bâtie animal park: initially intended to familiarize the urban population with the region’s fauna, it now participates in the conservation of heritage species.

Numerous parks covering 310 hectares (nearly 20% of the territory) form large spaces for leisure and relaxation scattered throughout the various districts. Most of them, located by the lake, are home to mansions and have high quality trees. Some of these parks were previously large private properties bought or offered to the City of Geneva over time. They are maintained by the Green Spaces and Environment Department.

The Rousseau island, formerly the “Île aux Barques”, named in homage to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, is located on the Rhône (between the Mont-Blanc bridge and the Bergues bridge ) and welcomes many birds. The City of Geneva offers a coherent and quality urban environment to the inhabitants. In particular, it makes services such as public toilets and numerous free Wi-Fi access points available to passers-by.

Numerous parks covering 310 hectares (nearly 20% of the territory) form large spaces for leisure and relaxation scattered throughout the various districts. Most of them, located by the lake, are home to mansions and have high quality trees. Some of these parks were previously large private properties bought or offered to the City of Geneva over time. They are maintained by the Green Spaces and Environment Department. The Rousseau island, formerly the “Île aux Barques”, named in homage to Jean-Jacques Rousseau, is located on the Rhône (between the Mont-Blanc bridge and the Bergues bridge ) and welcomes many birds.

Green Space
Geneva, city of parks, is one of the greenest cities in Europe. 20% of the municipal territory is made up of greenery. The great diversity of green spaces in Geneva, their uses and the behaviors recommended therein. You can also discover the important work of maintenance and horticultural production. Both a sports ground, a tourist attraction, a place for walks or picnic areas, green spaces in the city have a wide variety of uses. For the well-being of all, it is important to adopt a suitable behavior in the parks.

Geneva is proud of its 310 hectares of parks and its 428,000 plants, including 40,000 roses and 40,000 trees in the public domain. In Geneva, there is not a district without green spaces. There are no less than fifty who offer peace and greenery in the city. The city’s many parks are adorned with trees, lawns and flowers very popular with users.

The City of Geneva cultivates flowering plants and trees visible in the public space within the Vessy horticultural production center and the Bornaches nursery. These centers ensure the supply of quality plants, the training of apprentices and management that respects the environment.

In order to provide everyone with a pleasant environment, the horticulturalists of the Green Space Service promote the diversity of green spaces. Their method consists of treating spaces according to their use, their character and their own aesthetic. This type of management respects nature, promotes biodiversity and increases the types of facilities offered to the public.

The differentiated management of green spaces is a fine example of sustainable development. Indeed, it responds to concerns about the environment and social cohesion and respects financial constraints. This management helps to preserve biodiversity by allowing a variety of flora and fauna to survive in an urban environment. An original method of controlling pests and diseases also helps to preserve the environment. Instead of pesticides, hundreds of ladybird larvae or small wasps are released against aphids that parasitize flowers.

Parks and Garden
With its some 310 hectares of green spaces representing 20% of the municipal territory, Geneva deserves its name of “City of parks”. The public parks of Geneva are often of former private estates bequeathed to the City of Geneva. Personalities like de Candolle, Boissier or Saussure have created invaluable collections of native or exotic species, often bequeathed to the City of Geneva at the same time as their richly tree-bearing properties.

Cité-Center
The promenade de la Treille and the promenade Saint-Antoine are two important green spaces in the old town of Geneva.

Left bank
The English Garden is a public park located by the lake, between the Mont-Blanc bridge and the Gustave-Ador quay, where the National Monument (celebrating the union with the Confederation in 1815) and the Flower Clock is located;
the Bastions park, located at the foot of the fortifications of the Treille, hosts one of the buildings of the University of Geneva as well as the Reformers’ wall, where Jean Calvin, Guillaume Farel, Théodore de Bèze and John Knox are sculpted;
the Bertrand park, located in the district of Champel, includes beautiful specimens including a large pine in the Himalayas, the beech purple, two very large plane trees and three redwood giants;
the Eaux-Vives park, one of the most beautiful lakeside sites, is home to very old trees and a hotel-restaurant;
the park of La Grange, adjacent to the Eaux-Vives park, home to a large rose garden, a house of the xviii th century and Roman relics attesting to the presence of a large property in this area at the beginning of the Christian era. In summer, in July and August, free concerts are organized on the Ella-Fitzgerald stage;
the Baud-Bovy park, located in the Plainpalais district;
the greenway, intended for cyclists and pedestrians, which links the Geneva-Eaux-Vives station over nearly 5 kilometers to the Annemasse station.

Between the English Garden and La Grange Park, a lakeside promenade takes you about four kilometers before reaching the headquarters of the Société nautique de Genève et Genève-Plage.

Right bank
the Trembley park;
the Ariana Park houses the museum of ceramics and glass, and the Palace of Nations;
the Barton park includes a magnificent stand of giant sequoias;
the botanical garden;
the Parc des Délices houses the Voltaire museum;
the Mon Repos park;
the Moynier park;
the Pearl of the Lake houses the history of science museum.

Biodiversity on old walls
Old walls, built and maintained with natural materials, shelter a particular flora and fauna. Eight of them have been identified as “sanctuary walls” in order to protect them with their inhabitants: the bastion of Saint-Antoine, the rampe de la Treille, the rue de la Croix-Rouge, the bastion of Saint-Léger, the Plainpalais cemetery, the Perle du Lac, the Petit-Saconnex cemetery and the rue de Montbrillant. In particular, we can observe mosses (some rare and endangered), lichens and a wide variety of other plants.

Walks and squares
In Geneva, many walks and squares offer islands of greenery in the city. Numerous small green spaces make it possible to avoid major traffic arteries and offer welcome rest areas.

Cemeteries of the city
Geneva has four cemeteries managed by the municipal administration. These quiet spaces conducive to contemplation are also open to the public. They are part of the historical and natural heritage of Geneva. Like the cemetery known as “of the Kings” of Plainpalais, also called “the Geneva pantheon”, they bear witness to the history of the City.

Forest
Renowned for its parks, Geneva also offers walkers some beautiful forest walks. The City of Geneva is doing everything it can to manage these wooded areas in an optimal and ecological way. The City of Geneva has around 70 hectares of forests located mainly in the following sites: Bois des Frères; Le Bois-de-la-Bâtie; Nant-de-Châtillon.

Flowering
Several types of floral decorations decorate and brighten up the green spaces of the city of Geneva. Thanks to the long-term work of the gardeners and planters of the green spaces service (SEVE), nearly 250,000 flowering plants are planted annually in the city. Here are the main types of flower arrangements that the public can find in Geneva.

Mosaiculture
A team of gardeners from the City is specialized in mosaiculture, even the art of creating colored shapes by associations of plants. It is thanks to his work of goldsmiths that the famous flower clock of the English Garden is renewed five times a year, with a large quantity of flowers and plants.

Rose beds
No less than 20,000 roses bloom each year in the city of Geneva. The rose beds, concentrated in the rose garden of La Grange park, are the pride of the City. Geneva is also known to lovers of roses for having hosted, since 1949, the Geneva International New Roses Competition, which crowns new varieties of garden roses.

Flower boxes
Adorning the harbor, certain fountains or squares, the flower-filled bins offer the population more friendly and less gray spaces in the heart of the city. Some of them were installed as part of Urbanature, such as at the Bergues bridge.

Flower beds
The beds of tulips and other seasonal decorative plants are part of the flower beds, especially used on the docks. Composed of annual or biennial plants, they are changed twice a year. A selection of plants used in the city’s massifs is presented in the educational garden of Parc Beaulieu.

Annual or perennial meadows
Arranged in peripheral spaces, sometimes on old concrete places, and composed of annual or perennial native flowers, the flowery meadows offer a little piece of countryside in the heart of the city. They are home to a large number of animal species, such as butterflies and orthoptera, thus reflecting the City’s desire to encourage biodiversity in the city center.

Local horticultural production
The 255,000 plants that adorn the beds, fountains and other flower boxes have been produced since 2008, in the SEVE horticultural center in Vessy.

Respect
For the well-being of all, it is important to adopt a behavior that respects others and places in parks, walks, public gardens, docks, lawns and other green spaces. These green spaces are used for rest, relaxation and recreation of the population. The pleasure provided by these places comes from respect for others.

Horticultural
The City of Geneva cultivates flowering plants and trees visible in the public space within the Vessy horticultural production center and the Bornaches nursery. These centers ensure the supply of quality plants, the training of apprentices and management that respects the environment.

The flowering plants and trees intended for planting in the streets, parks and other public spaces of Geneva are produced by the service of green spaces of the City of Geneva (SEVE) within two horticultural and arboricultural centers:

The Vessy horticultural production center, where more than 250,000 flowering plants are cultivated, intended to adorn the flower beds, fountains and other flower boxes of the City each year. It also produces mosaiculture plants for the famous flower clock.
The “Les Bornaches” nursery, which produces almost all of the trees, shrubs and perennials planted each year in the streets or parks of Geneva over 4 hectares.

Sustainable management of resources
The production of plants in the horticultural centers of the City of Geneva takes care to respect the environment. The SEVE has therefore implemented various actions, such as waste recovery, sustainable water management or the limitation of peat-based substrates. The integrated production label, certifying the Bornaches nursery since 2007, as well as the Geneva region land future (GRTA) label awarded to the two production sites reward these efforts.