Balcony oases: How to promote biodiversity in the city!

Balcony oases: How to promote biodiversity in the city!

On July 16, 2025, Environmental Advice Vienna published helpful tips on promoting biodiversity on balconies. In an urban environment, a green balcony can not only be an oasis for humans, but also offer a living space for many animals. On the website of the environmental advice, interested parties will find comprehensive information and individual advice on ecological gardening at the hotline 01 803 32 32. A green environment supports the well -being and reduces the heating of urban spaces, while it provides food and protection for different animal species.

domestic plants are particularly advantageous because they offer food, hiding place and nesting places for wild animals. Suitable plants for balconies include red hedge cherry and woolly snowball. Creating an overgrown pergola can also provide shade and cool the walls. Balcons thus contribute to the creation of habitats for butterflies, wild bees and songbirds, which is all the more important in times of decline in biodiversity. According to wwf since 1989 has lost almost 80 percent of its insect population, a development that above all on intensive care and the loss of Habitats is due.

tips for more diversity

In order to actively contribute to biodiversity, environmental advice recommends, go to plant trees such as league berries or dirndl bushes to create a source of food for birds. Planting nettles can help the butterfly caterpillars such as the daily cake eye and admiral. It should also be ensured that suitable measures such as closing roller blinds and curtains create darkness for nocturnal animals such as bats.

Provide
• insect potions (e.g. a bowl of water and stones).
Create
• hibernation places for insects (blossomed perennials, plant remains).
• Local wildflowers plants that bloom from spring to autumn.

The planning and implementation of ecological gardens requires well -founded information that is spread on social media such as Instagram and Pinterest, among other things. Environmental counseling also offers a poster entitled "Flowering Gardens despite climate change", which presents suitable plants for gardens, balconies and terraces.

The context of urban biodiversity

Urban biodiversity is an important topic that is increasingly paying attention in Germany. Although the importance of the city nature has been scientifically researched since the 1970s, it is often seen as a contrast to urban development. Historically speaking, the relation human-nature in cities was shaped by a separation, which led to the neglect of urban green spaces. This development is questionable, especially in the face of the current decline in biodiversity, as well as BPB

Current concepts such as the biotope network system aim to maintain biotopes in a networked system in order to meet both the ecological needs and the requirements of urban life. Urban nature and species protection is not only understood as a preservation of existing biotopes, but also as an active design and networking of these areas. Innovative approaches such as the Animal-Amed Design pursue the goal of systematically integrating animal-friendly habitats into urban planning, which is of central importance for the restoration of urban biodiversity.