Cities for Bees
87 of the world's 115 leading food crops depend on animal pollination. A 27-year study in Germany recorded a 75% decline in flying insect biomass. Cities can be part of the answer — one balcony, one rooftop, one unmowed lawn at a time.
The flowers that feed us
Of the world’s 115 leading food crops, 87 depend on animal pollination1 — bees, bumblebees, hoverflies and butterflies visiting flowers. That covers most of the fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds we eat. Without these insects, our diet would narrow dramatically.
A 27-year monitoring programme in Germany documented a 75% decline in total flying insect biomass2 in protected natural areas. Similar trends have been recorded across northern and central Europe. The cause is not mysterious: lost habitat, too much pavement, too much pesticide, and too many lawns mowed to perfection with nothing left to feed anything.
Cities are part of this problem. But cities can also become part of the solution — faster, more visibly, and more powerfully than almost anything else.
Cities for Bees
Cities for Bees is a simple name for a practical idea: bringing more flowers, more life and more food for insects back into our cities and towns.
It is not only about honey bees. Every bumblebee, butterfly and wild bee depends on the same thing: flowers in the right place at the right time. And cities — with their millions of balconies, rooftops, courtyards, facades and lawns — have more of that space than most people realise.
Research in the United Kingdom found that urban sites — gardens, parks, road verges — supported higher bee abundance and more diverse pollinator communities than the surrounding intensively farmed countryside.3 A rooftop meadow in the middle of a city is not a romantic gesture — it is ecology.
What you can do — today
The entry level is one pot of flowers on a balcony. The ceiling is a rooftop meadow on a hospital, a flowering facade on a school, a grazing flock in a city park.
Every step counts. Here is where to start:
- Plant nectar- and pollen-rich species on balconies, window ledges, rooftops, courtyards, gardens and vertical facades.
- Choose plants that bloom from spring to autumn, so insects are fed throughout the whole season.
- Combine flowers with shrubs, herbs and trees so planting is not only beautiful, but ecologically useful.
- Leave parts of the landscape more natural: some bare soil, dead wood, water and less sterile greenery.
Even a small balcony can feed a bumblebee. One roof can carry a meadow. One facade can bloom instead of only radiating heat.
Gentler maintenance matters more than a perfect lawn
Do not mow lawns too frequently. Insects need flowering plants, not a short green carpet. A flowering lawn or urban meadow has far greater value for pollinators than grass cut down again and again.
Where it is practical, managed grazing can be one of the gentlest forms of maintenance. In Norway, this can include sheep with virtual fencing systems such as NoFence. For larger and more varied grazing mosaics, other animals may also have a role depending on the site, including goats, horses or deer. And in some enclosed urban plots, rabbits can play a smaller part.
This is not about one brand or one single method. It is about the principle: living maintenance instead of constant machine mowing everywhere, all the time.
How I can help
I can contribute to projects for municipalities, schools, developers, institutions and neighbourhood initiatives:
- framing the topic clearly for the public
- pollinator-focused planting guidance
- educational signs and understandable public communication
- connecting traditional hives, urban greenery and pollinator care into one coherent story
- consultation on gentler land management and pilot projects
Join the movement
Cities around the world are waking up. Oslo, Berlin, London, Paris, Copenhagen, São Paulo — from rooftop gardens to unmowed roadside verges to urban meadow networks, something is changing.
The Balcony Challenge: plant one pollinator-friendly flowering plant this week. Put it where a bee or bumblebee can find it. Share it. Tell someone why.
One balcony. One flower. One summer.
Then it spreads.
Tag your part of it: #CitiesForBees · #ByerForBier
This is not only about protecting one species. It is about helping cities and communities bloom, live and hum again.
Display the badge
Is your city, school, building or neighbourhood part of the Cities for Bees movement? Show it on your website.
Copy this code and paste it on your website:
<a href="https://wenzl.no/en/CitiesForBees/">
<img src="https://wenzl.no/images/CitiesForBees.png" alt="Cities for Bees" width="300">
</a>
If your municipality, school, or neighbourhood initiative would like to explore a project together, I would be glad to hear from you.
Email: info@wenzl.no
Phone: +47 926 20569
Location: Bergen, Norway
Open to collaboration and local projects
Call +47 926 20569 for a quick appointment.
Klein, A. M. et al. (2007). Importance of pollinators in changing landscapes for world crops. Proc. R. Soc. B, 274, 303–313. doi:10.1098/rspb.2006.3721 ↩︎
Hallmann, C. A. et al. (2017). More than 75 percent decline over 27 years in total flying insect biomass in protected areas. PLOS ONE 12(10): e0185809. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0185809 ↩︎
Baldock, K. C. R. et al. (2015). Where is the UK’s pollinator biodiversity? The importance of urban areas for flower-visiting insects. Proc. R. Soc. B, 282, 20142849. doi:10.1098/rspb.2014.2849 ↩︎