This article has been redacted by the RU:RBAN partners of the City of A Coruña and published on the City’s website.
Last May, the city council of A Coruña, through the European Project RU:RBAN, participated in the international meeting promoted by the city of Rome, to discuss and exchange ideas on the creation of urban gardens with the city of Barranquilla ( Colombia).
This meeting takes place in the context of the promotion of collaboration between cities sponsored by the European Program International Urban Cooperation (IUC) and the European Project RU:RBAN - URBACT NETWORK led by Rome and of which A Coruña is a partner.
The social situation caused by the Covid 19 pandemic has strengthened the already existing worldwide motivation to promote initiatives aimed at creating resources related to sustainable food based on healthy and accessible products. In this sense, the city of Barranquilla wants to create urban gardens for its citizens, for which it has requested the advice of Rome.
Rome has a long history and accumulated knowledge in the creation of urban gardens. 65% of its territory is made up of green areas, of which half are used for agricultural activities. That is why Rome is the largest agricultural municipality in Europe, currently with more than 200 community gardens scattered throughout its territory. The characteristics of the good management of urban gardens reside in the "community gardens" and in the "active citizenship" of Rome, formed by associations of citizens to whom the City Council of Rome assigns the management of the gardens. All this made possible the recognition of Rome as "city of good practices in the management of urban gardens" by the European Joint Secretariat of URBACT and the consequent launch of the European project RU:RBAN, whose objective is the transfer of these good practices .
During the meeting, ideas were discussed and exchanged on the necessary actions to implement urban gardens, the work methodology in their design taking into account social and technical aspects, as well as the steps to follow to create and maintain them. In this sense, A Coruña contributed to the first draft of the document "Vademecum for the creation of Urban Gardens", under completion by the team of the RU:RBAN project, which was very useful to focus on the process of creating urban gardens from its initial approach with the conception of the garden as its own ecosystem, formed by the soil, the climate, the temporary vegetation (seasonal crops), the permanent vegetation throughout the year (perennial crops and aromatic plants) and the fauna, which is managed in a community and responsible way for the group of users in collaboration with the municipal authority.
The document will detail the steps to be followed in the initial phase, the areas of municipal government that it affects, the importance of the management model of the urban garden and the regulations that govern its operation, the role of the figure of " Garden Dynamizer ", the inclusion of school gardens and technical aspects of an agricultural nature that must be taken into account.
