EkoPulz

Slovakia · Ema Dudadíková, Miriam Pilátová, Terézia Haňová, Peter Fedor · UCM and ED, Trnava - Mentors: Monika Honaramiz (ED), Stela Olejarova (UCM)

EkoPulz started as a walk past an unused strip of land in front of the UCM Faculty building in Trnava four university students who kept noticing the same overlooked patch and decided it could become something the whole student community would actually use. Their pitch, developed and presented through the project's canvas and workshop process, set out a clear vision: turn the space into a small biodiversity garden that doubles as a place to sit down between lectures.

However, due to some complications with permits the location changed. Behind European Dialogue's office lies a gazebo created by another local community NGO, Lifestarter. Unfortunately, over time it had been forgotten. So, in true sustainable fashion, we decided to remove the wood flooring that had rot, we recycled it in the Trnava Recycle Center and we purchased enviromentally friendly flooring and reused as as we could.

The finished garden centres on pallet benches and raised flower beds built largely from reclaimed pallets sourced secondhand or free from local warehouses, a free-standing book-swap box, and an insect hotel built from reused wood and salvaged materials. Around them, the team planted a wildflower meadow chosen specifically for pollinators, alongside planting beds lined with geotextile. Everything on the €1,500 budget was built with reuse in mind — even the money set aside as contingency was treated as part of the plan, not an afterthought.

EkoPulz was designed around four goals the team wrote into their own pitch: strengthening community life by giving students an informal place to rest and talk, supporting biodiversity through the meadow and insect hotel, demonstrating circular economy in practice through the reused materials, and quietly supporting informal education through the book swap. It also lines up with Trnava's own environmental priorities — the city already commits to biodiversity, climate adaptation, and community participation — and it was built to need very little upkeep: the meadow is mown once or twice a year by the city's own grounds crew, with occasional replanting and basic litter clearing the only regular maintenance.