• Helping Cities go Carbon Neutral

      one Tiny Forest at a Time

    • ABOUT

      A Piece of Lemon Cake started in December 2019 as a side project of our founder's, Laura Lorenzo. Its goal was to reduce food waste in cities, by making sure that the fruits grown in private gardens didn't rot on the ground but was collected, transformed and sold using circular economy business models. Then COVID-19 came along.

       

      As challenging as the lockdown was, it also gave us the opportunity to press the "pause button" and figure out how A Piece of Lemon Cake could have a bigger impact. As a result, the scope evolved from reducing food waste one backyard at a time, to helping cities become carbon neutral with a simple and scalable model, one tiny forest at a time.

       

      A Piece of Lemon Cake will kick off early next year with two pilot projects in Lisbon. Additionally, we are already in conversations with other institutions to implement our approach in other cities in Portugal and across Europe.

    • PILLARS

      The methodology developed by A Piece of Lemon Cake pivots around four main pillars

    • Urban Voids

      THE KEY INGREDIENT TO MAKING A SUSTAINABLE IMPACT

      Urban voids, also called obsolete urban spaces, terrain vague or non-places, are spaces of transition or transformation.

       

      Urban voids is the name for certain types of urban phenomena. It is generally accepted that urban voids are empty spaces for use, but not for value or existence of buildings and/or facilities.

      Kids

      THE KEY FOR REAL CHANGE TODAY & TOMORROW

      Children are the key to a better tomorrow and a better future for us all.

       

      That is why A Piece of Lemon cake's approach and methodology for helping cities going carbon neutral is determined by its vision of a place where children can grow up more healthy and happy.

      Tiny Forest

      THE TOOL TO TRANSFORMING CITIES

      The tiny forests concept is based on the work of the Japanese botanist Akira Miyawaki.

       

      It is a dense, fast-growing native woodland that is around the size of a tennis court. It grows 10x faster and becomes 30x denser and 100x more biodiverse than those planted by conventional methods.

      Circular Economy

      OUR APPROACH FOR GOOD

      GROWTH

      Every partnership we establish reflects the triple win: the planet and the children win, the city wins, and the partner wins.

       

      We make this ambition possible by designing business models based on the circular economy principles. 

    • KEY STAKEHOLDERS

      To implement its methodology A Piece of Lemon Cake partners with the following key stakeholders

    • City Halls & Parishes

      KEY TO MAKING A PIECE OF LEMON CAKE A REALITY

      They benefit from this partnership as our methodology allows them to become carbon neutral and transform urban voids into spaces of belonging, social cohesion, and economic activity.

      If you are a Parish or a City Hall and you are interested in learning more about how to implement our methodology, please contact us by filling out the form in the Contact section

      Primary & Secondary Schools

      KEY TO MAKING THE CHANGE VISIBLE TODAY BUT ALSO TOMORROW

      Schools are one way to reach out to families and, more importantly, to the grownups of the future: our children.

      There are a number of ways Schools can collaborate with different levels of involvement. Contact us by filling out the form in the Contact section

      Corporations

      PLAY AN ACTIVE ROLE IN YOUR CITY AND IN YOUR COMMUNITY

      There are many ways to get involved as a corporation and play a leading role in helping your city go carbon neutral. Contact us and we will share with you all the details.

    • FAQ

      Here is where we give some answers to the most frequently asked questions about our project.

      If you think that there is one missing, let us know by filling out the form in the Contact section

    • Why A Piece of Lemon Cake?

      Our name brings together three core beliefs that are dear to us:

      1. Making things simple for others. So they realize that what at first seemed too challenging is, in fact, reality,  a piece of cake!
      2. ​Doing everything we do with a smile. Serious & hard work can go hand in hand with a sense of humour, so we played a little bit with words adapting the English expression "A piece of cake" to reflect what inspired us in the beginning: the lemon trees in the city backyards.
      3. If life gives you lemons, make lemonade. It's in our nature to try to figure out how we can transform what others look at as waste or a problem into a resource or a solution and,  of course, we love lemons!

      Why Families?

      Because families are key to a better tomorrow, and kids are key to a better future, for us all.

       

      Climate change is not something that falls just on the shoulders of big public and private institutions. If anyone still has any doubt, just remember how far we are from achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement, or the fact that 2020 has been the hottest year ever despite lockdowns. These facts make it abundantly clear how it's up to us also to find a solution to this challenge. The trick is how to make people feel they are capable and can make a difference.

       

      We, at A Piece of Lemon Cake, believe that the answer to this is through engaging with families, particularly parents and their children, as they begin to sense that the future doesn't look as good as they would like it to be. We are counting on that energy. We want to transform that concern, frustration, and even fear into action. One tiny forest at a time.

      Are all Tiny Forest the same?

      Absolutely not. In fact, each Tiny Forest is one of a kind as the characteristics of the urban void define what can grow.

       

      Factors such as hours of exposure to sunlight, soil profile, depth, fertility, and gradient. The existence of buried pipes, or other elements above ground such as advertising billboards, will strongly influence the diversity of species composition and planning of the Tiny Forest.

      What are the main benefits that A Piece of Lemon Cake brings to Cities?

      These are the main benefits of applying A Piece of Lemon Cake model to any city in the world:

      1. Transforming spaces of conflict into spaces of social cohesion.
      2. Maximizing the carbon sequestration capacity of cities.
      3.  Revitalising the local economy with new business models based on circular economic principles
      4. Adding value to the real estate market and that of nearby buildings.
      5. Reducing the heating and cooling needs of nearby buildings.
      6. Improving biodiversity.
      7. Reducing the impact of urban heat islands.
      8. Reducing air and noise pollution. 
      9. Fighting the war on sedentary lifestyles.
      10. Reducing food waste and increasing food security.

      What makes A Piece of Lemon Cake unique compared to other initiatives that also use Tiny Forests?

      We use Tiny Forests to repurpose urban voids that oftentimes become spaces of conflict, social exclusion, and economic inactivity, by transforming them into spaces that improve social cohesion, activating the potential of cities to sequestrate carbon, become biodiversity hubs, and circular economy business labs.

       

      The other models that we have seen around the world pivot primarily around biodiversity and, in developing countries, food security.

    • CONTACT

       

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    A Piece of Lemon Cake © 2020

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