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BARCELONA 18—22 OCTOBER 2012

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CONTENTS

About Nexes ................................................................................................ 3

Staff membres of EU’GO project + Participants 4

State of the Art 9

Programme 17

Detailed programme 18

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NEXES

Nexes Interculturals is a youth association working social transformation and

active participation through intercultural and local experiences of young peo-

ple. Since 10 years, Nexes has been using European programmes to enhance

active participation of young people, help them to set up projects, train

them, give them resources and opportunities to grow up professionally and

personally. To achieve the goals and mission of Nexes, we promote:

Intercultural experiences and empowerment of young people: European

Voluntary Service, vocational training projects of the Leonardo da Vinci

Programme (hosting and sending), youth exchanges, Grundtvig projects,

leisure and cultural local activities, and many other activities for young

people and for adults.

Training and counselling: information sessions and guidance, workshops,

training courses, counselling for youth mobility.

Cooperation: youth cooperation projects, projects to increase awareness,

participation in international networks.

To carry out this Project we collaborate with several institutions, NGOs and

we participate in several local and international networks.

Nexes has been working with the topic of sustainable development since 3

years as a way to change the society and educate people through youth pro-

jects. Nexes has participated in Otesha Youth Exchange organised by Pistes

Solidaires in 2009 on this topic and then created a local group to keep on

working at local and international level. In 2009, a local project called "Junts

fem mes" proposed to train some youth leaders on these topics to be able to

do workshops in schools and institutions of the city. One of the training was

based on urban gardens work for social transformation. On 2010, Nexes was

also partner of Pistes Solidaires in the project Global Impact where young

people with fewer opportunities has been working at local and international

level to raise awareness on education for sustainable development. The

group created a Theatre Play, organised local events and dissemination

events.

On the other hand, Nexes has always been a link (as "nexes" means "links" in

Catalan) between people and organisations and when it decided to be part of

this project, the idea was also to contact many gardens and organisations

working on that topic.

Nexes Interculturals de Joves per Europa

C/ Josep Anselm Clavé, 6, 1-1 08002 BARCELONA SPAIN

www.nexescat.org info@nexescat.org

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PARTICIPANTS

Julie Paucot

Catalunya/Spain

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Nexes

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Staff member in EU’GO project

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: General and theoric since I’m in EU GO. I am very interested in the learning process of gardeners and the social impact on society WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? To make gardens meet, share, exchange, and think about good practices of urban gardens

Ilenia Zuccaro Italy

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): CEMEA del Mezzogiorno ONLUS

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Staff member in EU’GO project

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: Not really in gardening but thanks to EU’GO project I started to analyze form a social-culture point of view urban gardens as a new and original educative tool. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? To see the Spanish realities about urban gardens and go deeper in the sense of having a garden in the city. Discover new practices in order to transfer them to the Italian EU’GO gardens.

Vivianne Cronier France

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Les Jardins de l’Espérance and RJSM ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Staff member in EU’GO project In my garden I’m a staff member, I’m dealing mainly

with environmental education for children, adults, and

disabled persons, I’m also responsible for planning the

work in the vegetable garden.

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: Gardening, training, environment and sustainable development

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? Meet gardeners from spain, to learn more

about how the gardens are existing and why. I would like to share my knowledge of the different kind of gardens that exist in France, and especially of my garden and hope to bring my stone to the construction of a world with more gardens and gardening in it

Marlene Benzler France

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): PISTES

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Staff member in EU’GO project

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: Not much but lots of interests.

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? Identify good practices, discover the reality of ur-ban gardens in Barcelona, exchange with the oth-ers, get ideas for the experimentation

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PARTICIPANTS

Helen Parker UK

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Shared children's and young people's centre garden, Kingsand, Cornwall.

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Pre-school leader and forest school leader also on the committee that organises the children and young people's centre KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: Lots of enthusiasm and interest, but really only a beginner

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? To be inspired! To gain ideas about how to involve different sectors of the public in respecting, developing and managing a shared outdoor space. To gain some creative ideas about how to develop a garden suitable for a range of age groups.

Olivier Brunetto France

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): ARBRE (NGO) / Soli-darity Garden of Super Rimiez (Potager solidaire de Super Rimiez)

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Manager of an environment workshop for young people on probation between 16 to 25 years old. KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: We teach workshops of vegetable garden, bee-keeping, olive oil production, heritage workshop… for 12 trainees.

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? To meet organic gardeners, to find different approach of educational projects, to visit Spanish social and insertion gardens. To strengthen European garden network.

Monika Koch Germany

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Projekthaus Potsdam. (from 2013 also: Himmelbeet)

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Gardener

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: Cultivation of vegetables and flowers. Construction of different types of raised beds.

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? Getting to know as many projects as possible. Finding answers to: Which plants grow under specific climatic conditions? How do gardens ensure the water supply? In the last century the boom of Urban Gardening was usually connected with a social crisis (hunger, rebellious population groups). Which influence has the actual economic crisis on Spanish Urban Gardening projects?

Paola Turroni Italy

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Lavangaquadra

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Gardener with a didactic purpose, I run gardening laboratories in a secondary school. I’m one of the fundraiser for the Lavangaquadra organization and I’m responsible of a school garden. KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: Autodidact gardener, I experiment gardening ac-tivities in the school garden. I’m a support teacher for pupils with special needs and gardening is one of the activity that I proposed to the school. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? Exchange of knowledge among ur-ban gardeners to improve my knowledge, input for new experimentation and new cultivation.

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PARTICIPANTS

Elise Aracil France, Corsica

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Association CAP VERT. ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Development executive KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: Trained in urban gardens management and imple-mentation of urban garden in Nice. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? To meet different profiles of gardens and garden-ers and share ours experiences.

Chantal Diart

France

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): cosmos kolej

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S):

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: garden drawing, trimming, aromatic plants

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? Meeting and exchanging ideas with other gardeners and improving my knowledge in permaculture.

Sheila Taylor

UK

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): POINT EUROPA UK ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): volunteer, general gardening KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: NVQ IN HORTICULTURE

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? To find out how volunteers work in other countries.

Sezgi Uygur

Italy

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Ortofficina in CSOA ExSNIA.

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Co-founder, responsible of composting & blog & networking

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: Thesis in Ethics of Philosophy of Ecology

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? Finding out about other good practices, networking

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PARTICIPANTS

Laurence Malcolm Watkins

UK

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Mount Edgcumbe Country Park, Cornwall.

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Volunteer Gardener in 30 acre Formal Gardens within the Country Park, assisting with all aspects of garden maintenance. KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: Requirements of Plant Health. Soil management. Shrub Pruning/Trimming. Lawn Care. Seasonal task planning. Vegetable types and their soil requirements. Watering and irrigation systems. WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? Opportunity to understand the ‘Urban Garden’ issues and approaches of a different culture, climate and country.

Serge Franc

France

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): cosmos kolej

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): gardener

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: do it yourself ; beginner in land art ; plumbing

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? Meeting European gardeners and discover the dif-ferent ways of gardening in urban areas.

Lory Dell'Anna

Germany

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Ton Steine Gärten

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): Responsable for the community bed of green squash

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: seedbombs, raised beds

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? Learning more about gardening (permaculture, composting), getting to know other organized community gardens and gardeners

Christin Zschoge-Meile

Germany

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): InWoLe eV

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S):

Coordinator, Staff member

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: I have theoretical and practical knowledge about gardening and subsistence.

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? Exchange of experiences: The management of gardens within a city with a high density of buildings and high population density. The political aspects of urban gardening in the city (squattering of gardens and the reaction of the government)

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PARTICIPANTS

Aline Grosjean France

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S):

Association Accueil et rencontres – Jardin des

Aures (Marseille) ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S): animator – organizer

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING: To introduce people to discover natural and gar-den ecosystem's through adapted (for different ages) ludical, scientifical, artistical, practical, etc activities – to organize events to make people meet in the garden WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA? To discover other urban gardening functioning : to exchange about practices, tools, activities in garden

Heidi Games Germany

ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S):

ROLE IN THE ORGANIZATION/GARDEN(S):

KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS ABOUT URBAN GARDENING:

WHAT DO YOU EXPECT FROM THE VISIT TO BARCELONA?

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STATE OF THE ART

Local context in Spain, Catalonia

Nexes is situated in Barcelona, Catalo-

nia, Spain. Catalonia is the north-east

region of Spain with autonomic status

and proper language. Second region

for population, Catalonia is one of the

strongest region of Spain

Population and territory

Catalonia has 7,364,078 inhabitants,

according to the population census of

2008, after some years of constant

growth particularly as a result of foreign im-

migration. It represents 15.9% of the total

population of Spain and makes Catalonia the

second region of Spain for population. At

present, a little over 60% of Catalans were

born in Catalonia, 20% were born in other

communities in the State and approximately

15% are of foreign origin. One out of three

Catalans is between 20 and 39 years of age,

the largest population group.

Catalunya has 946 municipalities but very few

rural population as 95% of the population is currently living in 300 municipalities of

more than 2000 inhabitants. The Urban Region of Barcelona includes 5,416,447 (2008)

people and covers an area of 2.268 km² and about 1.7 million people live in a radius of

15 km from Barcelona. That represents 74% of the population of Catalonia and 11.8%

of Spain Population.

With a surface area of 32,107 m², Catalonia has a very diverse and divided orography,

with extensive mountain ranges mirroring the coastline, inland depressions, mountain

peaks reaching 3,000 meters high in the Pyrenees, and just 240 meters to the south is

a delta that collects the sediments from one of the most abundant rivers of the Iberian

peninsula: the Ebre. The orography itself is notably responsible for the climate. While

it can be said that the winters are mild and the summers are hot and dry, the tempera-

tures themselves vary considerably between the coastline and the inland plains and

the Pyrenees.

90% of the population of Catalonia is living in a third part of the territory, called

"franja costera" (coast border) in about 9.235 km². This part of the territory has a high

density of population. If the average of Catalunya is 234.8 inhabitants for square me-

ters, the Barcelonese area (Barcelona, Hospitalet, Santa Coloma and Sant Adrià) has a

density of 15.412 inhabitants for square meters!

Sources and references:

General government of Catalonia www.gencat.cat/catalunya/eng

Statistical Institute of Catalonia www.idescat.cat

Culture and Language

Catalan culture has developed its own unique and universal identity over the

centuries. The innovative flair, creativity, capacity to absorb different influ-

ences, co-existence and tolerance values have shaped a culture that is both

national and cosmopolitan.

Traditionally, art and thought trends seep into Catalonia as a result of the

country's geographic location, open to the Mediterranean and European coun-

tries, and also due to the leading spirit and attraction created by Barcelona.

Catalonia has always been an intersection of cultures and influences.

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STATE OF THE ART

The most modern trends coexist in harmony with the most deeply-rooted traditions,

some of which have been declared intangible heritage of humanity by UNESCO. The

popular festivals are a good reflection on how the people of Catalonia have preserved

their cultural heritage: the traditional national dance called the 'Sardana' is always

present and activities that seemed incredible such as the 'castells' or human towers

have been perfected, a tradition of the districts of Tarragona that has spread to other

parts of the country.

Catalan is the common language used at school and its use is standardising the me-

dia, financial world and cultural productions. Catalan was established between the

8th and 10th Centuries as an evolution of Latin, as were Spanish, French, Italian and

the other Romance languages.

With regard to Spanish, nearly most citizens understand and speak it. It is official lan-

guage as well as Spanish in Catalonia and it is the only official language in Andorra. As

a result, it is calculated that there are a total of nine million people that speak Catalan

and 11 million that understand it. It is therefore situated ahead of 14 official lan-

guages of the European Union and it is the ninth most spoken language. But the high

increase of immigrated population led the government to establish laws and meas-

ures in order to protect Catalan language and keep it alive.

Even though bilingualism should be seen as a richness, the use of the Catalan lan-

guage also causes misunderstandings and tensions between Catalan speakers and

non Catalan speakers (Spanish, foreigners, etc.).

Politics and Economy

Catalonia is an autonomous community and exercises its self-government in the Spa-

nish State in accordance with the Constitution of 1978 and the new Statute of Auto-

nomy, approved in 2006. The Generalitat is the institutional system around which

Catalonia's self-government is politically organised and it dates from 1359.

The Generalitat has extensive com-

petencies in matters such as educa-

tion, health, citizen security and civil

protection, culture, linguistic policy,

industry, urban development, hou-

sing, regional politics, transport and

the environment, among others.

Catalonia has its own police force,

the Mossos d'Esquadra, which has

been covering the full territory since

November 1st, 2008. Catalan civil law is applied in legal matters, of historical tradi-

tion, the modification of which is the exclusive competence of the Generalitat.

Industrial activity is very important for the overall economy of Catalonia, particu-

larly in the chemical, food, energy, metal and transport material sectors. Neverthe-

less, in recent years, special attention has been paid to logistics and the knowledge

economy, an activity that is growing all over Europe. The commitment to new tech-

nologies and the audio-visual industry is already giving a distinct personality to the

Catalan economy.

Another field for which is Barcelona is noted is its business schools, a point of refer-

ence all over the world. In recent years, tourism has increased in such as way that it

has become one of the most notable economic activities of Catalonia. This phe-

nomenon has had a particular impact on the consolidation and expansion of com-

mercial activity.

However, the crisis affected strongly the economy of the whole country since 2008

and today, the rate for unemployment for young Spanish people is over 50%. In

Spain, the crisis was generated by long term loans (commonly issued for 40 years),

the building market crash which included the bankruptcy of major companies, and a

particularly severe increase in unemployment, which rose to 22.9% by December

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STATE OF THE ART

2011. Among these, according to the Financial Times, there was Spain's huge trade

deficit, the "loss of competitiveness against its main trading partners" and, also, as a

part of the latter, an inflation rate which had been traditionally higher than those of

its European partners, back then especially affected by house price increases of

150% from 1998 and a growing family indebtedness (115%) chiefly related to the

Spanish Real Estate boom and rocketing oil prices. House ownership in Spain is

above 80%. The desire to own one's own home was encouraged by governments in

the 1960s and 70s, and has thus become part of the Spanish psyche. As feared,

when the speculative bubble popped Spain became one of the worst affected coun-

tries. According to eurostat, over the June 2007-June 2008 period, Spain has been

the European country with the sharpest plunge in construction rates. Actual sales

over the July 2007-June 2008 period were down an average 25.3%. So far, some

regions have been more affected than others: Catalonia was ahead in this regard

with a 42.2% sales plunge while sparsely populated regions like Extremadura were

down a mere 1.7% over the same period.

Sources and references

www.elpais.es www.gencat.cat/catalunya/eng

www.ft.com(Financial Times) www.eurostat.eu

Barcelona

Barcelona became modern in 1992, when the Olympic Games put the city on the

world map and fomented the major urban transformation from when Cerdà's Eix-

ample was built. Barcelona was discovered to be a city that was full of social and

cultural vitality, open to the world and all cultures. Since then, it has been ranked as

one of the favorite cities among tourists and a huge number of tourists come every

year. The city lies on a coastal plain constrained by the Collserola hills and the rivers

Llobregat and Besos. These topographic constraints have produced urban conges-

tion and high residential densities.

Barcelona has a large tertiary sector, its traditional manufacturing industries

have been declining, and multinational investment has become increasingly impor-

tant. The rapid development of Technical Parks for high-tech industry is a modern

feature associated with the growth of what is becoming known as the European 'sun

-rise' belt, along the Mediterranean coast between Valencia and Northern Italy. Bar-

celona suffers from serious traffic congestion and has the unenviable reputation as

being the second most noisy city in Europe after Sofia.

In the last twenty years, two major events, the 1992 Olympic Games and the

Universal Forum of Cultures 2004 have enabled the city to undergo a transformation

more radical than perhaps any other city in western Europe. The City authorities

have been able to invest in major infrastructure projects and tackle serious inner

city problems.

Urban renewal has followed a 'culture-led' approach, with planned gentrification

based around high-quality architecture, new museums and hotels. Changes have

been most dramatic in the medieval city, where the striking Contemporary Arts Mu-

seum has helped transform one of the city's most rundown districts, El Raval. Gentri-

fication has seen the arrival of many trendy bars and restaurants in the vicinity of the

museum, but elsewhere sizeable immigrant communities have taken over apart-

ments no longer wanted by Spaniards.

Thus Barcelona provides an excellent example of urban growth, from the middle

ages to the present. Barcelona underlines the way in which modern cities combine

major international trends (eg. high-rise housing, gated communities and Japanese

investment) with distinctive and local characteristics (eg. Gaudi's architecture and

the Catalan dimension).

Source: http://geographyfieldwork.com/BarcelonaUrbanDetail.htm

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STATE OF THE ART

Green areas in Barcelona

Barcelona is a very dense city with 5.060 inhabit/km² in the metropolitan area. The

city is developping from south to north because of the sea on one hand and Coll-

serola metropolitan park from another hand. The park is around 1795 hectares and

green areas in Barcelona cities represents 17.7m2 per inhabitant (between urban

green areas and forest areas inside the city). It has around 560 hectares of urban

parks.

Education to sustainable development is one of the priority of Barcelona policies

since its commitment through Agenda 21 to promote sustainable development to-

gether with many local actors (schools, NGO’s, stakeholders, etc.). In this way, the

Environment department of the municipality also have a network of 12 urban gar-

dens distributed in different districts.

However, the extension of green areas is not a priority for the municipality and since

2006, green areas have decreased a bit (the city have lost 150 000 urban trees in 4

years).

Context of urban gardens in Barcelona and Catalonia

The project EU'GO is taking place in a highly urbanised area where modernity and

tradition are closely linked as we described in the previous chapters. Urban and com-

munitarian gardens have been growing up very fast these last years due to several

characteristics and Barcelona is strongly connected with horticulture.

History

Although gardening has always existed in the cities as private gardens, vegetable gar-

dens and nurseries, public green space does not appear as such until after the indus-

trial revolution. The increasing need of workers for industrial centres in the city led to

the progressive lack of living space. This mass was accompanied by an inadequate

health care, the total lack of hygiene and pollution from the factories. The concept of

"public park", understood as a space created and funded by the city government was

born by the need to oxygenate the city to make it healthier and create recreational

and leisure.

In Barcelona, the creation of public green spaces starts with the growth of the city

walls were demolished, in 1854. However, the first public green space of Barcelona

dates from 1816: The General's Garden, created by Francis Brown, Captain General of

the Principality.

In 1872, the Barcelonese council approved the project of Josep Fontserè i Mestre to

construct the “parc de la ciutadella” (citadel park) and at the beginning of XXth cen-

tury, green parks and areas start to increase in Barcelona. In 1929, another interna-

tional exhibition allowed the gardening of another famous place of Barcelona: the

mountain of Montjuich were the abundance of vegetation and natural sources had

stimulated a large number of familiar and communitarian orchards and vegetable

gardens.

The Civil War was a period of transition in the creation of new parks in Barcelona.

After this and until the advent of democratic councils, the development of public

areas went up especially in the arrangement of the existing green areas, which were

equipped with infrastructure and equipment necessary for their use as a park. Be-

longs to the first decade of this period the Park Hill Monterols (1947). With the ad-

vent of democracy (80’) a policy of creating green spaces have been starting. Many

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STATE OF THE ART

areas occupied by obsolete equipment were turned into parks, such as Joan Miró

Park, built in 1983 on the grounds of the old slaughterhouse in central Barcelona.

The urban renewal that took place in Barcelona following the 1992 Olympics allowed,

as it had done the Universal Exhibitions of 1888 and 1929, rearrange those parts of

the city that had more deficiencies, both urban and green spaces .

Urban renewal, alternative movements and gardens

Despite of the policy to develop green areas, Barcelona city has always runned also a

strong policy of urban renewal to attract tourists and inversors. 1992 Olimpics games

is the bigest example: even if this event brought Barcelona into a modern and attrac-

tive city, it also had many social consequences for the population: evictions, destruc-

tion of entire districts, property speculation of the city, displacement of immigrants

and old people outside the city, etc.

In this period, most urban gardens were held by old people, families and neighbour-

hood in a non formal way and were located in “no man’s lands”. Most of them have

disappeared in the urban renewal processes. Paradoxically, what led Barcelona into

an attractive and rich city also led to the current civil unrest.

As an alternative answer to the current crisis, unemployment, society of consume-

rism and capitalism, many young people find alternative ways of creating social links,

promoting sustainable development and social economy. The urban gardens are one

possible atrractive answer for many people.

Following the catalan tradition of strong civil citizenship and solidarity, many nei-

ghbours oreganised themselves to have a small garden. The main aim is less feeding

than cultural (recover the link with nature), for leisure (spending free time in gar-

dens), idealistic (participate to the responsible consumption and sustainable develo-

pment) and is an opposition to the massive consumption society (new way of eating,

small areas, comunitarian gardens, ecological food, consumption cooperatives and

groups, etc.) and against individualism and globalisation. The main topic is to find a

place for that: urban gardens needs space to be developed in the city and nowadays,

they find their places in privates balconies and gardens, public plots, comunitarian

terraces, abandonned lands, school playgrounds, squatted buildings, forgeted spa-

ces, etc. If many gardens are set up on legal properties, many others are squatting a

piece of land which is being ignored, accepted or tolerated by municipality or owners

waiting for a possible eviction.

Sources and references:

www.bcn.cat/mediambient

www.paufaus.net (la ciutat jubiliada)

http://huertos urbanosbarcelona.wordpress.com

Investigació Addaia Araguay Esmerats: Els horts urbans a la ciutat de Barcelona

Networks and types of urban gardens in Barcelona

The only official network is the one from the municipality at the moment. In 2009

and 2010, young people started a network of communitarian gardens of Barcelona

and organized several meetings. It has been abandoned for lack of time and re-

sources but is now starting again from the initiative of several communitarian gar-

dens.

Anyway, a common network between all types of gardens would be difficult due to

some different objectives. There are many ways to divide types of gardens and we

choose the approach based on the type of organisation:

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STATE OF THE ART

Private gardens

Private gardens are being developed in houses, balconies, terraces and gardens by

individuals, families, neighbourhood or friends. They are generally very small plots

(sometimes only some plants in flowerpots) with self management and self resources

(many books of self gardening have been sold lately). The main objective is leisure

and contact with nature.

Precarious gardens

They are managed by poor people

(old people, immigrants) generally

in illegal areas and abandoned pub-

lic spaces (railways, riversides…).

There are gardens with some small

greenhouses with few resources

and with main aim to feed the fami-

lies and also for economic reasons.

It use to represent a big area

(around 8000 gardens of more than

50m2 in the eighties) but the municipality has been recovering the places during 20

years and nowadays, it represents much less even if we are not able to quantify it

exactly.

http://paufaus.net : La ciutat Jubilada

Public gardens

The Barcelona Urban Gardens network is a programme by Environment Department

that was designed to encourage the participation of people over the age of 65 in acti-

vities that improve the environment by looking after gardens that employ organic

farming methods. This programme began in the Can Mestres gardens in 1997, al-

though it is not the first vegetable garden in Barcelona. The first one, called Hort de

l'Avi (Grandfather vegetable garden), was opened in the Gràcia district in 1986 due

to requests from a local group of neighbours. These gardens are small plots between

25 and 40 sqm where vegetables, aromatic plants and seasonal flowers are cultiva-

ted.

This programme is aimed at those over the age of 65 who are registered in the di-

strict where the community garden is located.

These individuals must be in proper physical condition to carry out gardening tasks

and may not live with someone who already has a plot within the same community.

It represents around 12 gardens divided in around 250 plots of 25-40m2.

www.bcn.cat/parcsijardins

School gardens

They have been developed very quickly

these last year in child care centres, pri-

mary and secondary schools thanks to

the motivation and interest of some

teachers and parents association (AMPA) and also to the development of pro-

grammes such as "Agenda 21" and "Green schools" in the education. During the

2009-2010 course, 30schools were qualified as green schools in Barcelonese area

and about 270 schools in Agenda 21. The municipality is editing resources to help

education centres to develop school gardens. The objectives are diverse: education

to sustainable development, leisure, contact with nature, food and consumption

education, peer learning, outside activity, social link, etc.

INDIVIDUAL USE COMMUNITARIAN USE

SELF MANAGED Private gardens

Precarious gardens

Communitarian gardens

Associative gardens

SUPERVISED

MANAGEMENT

Public gardens School gardens

Associative gardens

Communitarian gardens

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STATE OF THE ART

Communitarian gardens

They are increasing every day, mostly organised and self managed by young people or

neighbours in some legal or occupied places. The objectives are strongly linked with

social transformation searching for responsible consumption, a sustainable develop-

ment, local production, social link, non-hierarchical organisation, etc. Plots used to be

quite small (between 150-200m2). Some of them are in public or private areas lend to

their users (neighbours in cultural

centres, students in universities,

etc.). Many others are in squatted

abandoned areas and part of the

"Okupa" movement to claim against

real estate speculation and to pro-

pose an alternative way of living.

Urban gardens are playing an active

role in these movements to en-

hance intergenerational and

neighbourhood connections, social

cohesion and active and communi-

tarian participation. Can Masdeu is the most famous and bigger communitarian gar-

den: an old leper hospital in the forest of Collserola in Barcelona, abandoned by Sant

Pau hospital and squatted by young people since 2000. In 2002, the movement pro-

pose to work with seniors and old people of the district and set up gardens. In this

way, they have created more than 30 plots on a 2800m2 area.

http://urbangardensbarcelona.wordpress.com

Associative gardens

The associative gardens are also increasing very fast: They are settled mostly by

young people and adults interested in developing projects around gardening, sustain-

able education, responsible consumption, etc. The gardens are generally rented

(agreements with old people who can't manage the garden anymore) or owned

(family gardens) lands and the idea is to go further than the private garden: organise

social activities, train people on gardening, educate and raise awareness on sustain-

able development and responsible consumption.

They generally have difficulties to get founds and find them through public grants,

trainings, renting plots, giving advices and other activities. Some of them also can

convert themselves in company. The aims are diverse: manage plots and gardens,

education to sustainable development, social and agriculture projects, etc. Some as-

sociation are also working on transversal support such as seeds bank association.

This classification is not exhaustive and some gardens are difficult to classify. There

should have other types of gardens not represented yet but this first selection give an

overview of the situation.

References: investigació Addaia Araguay Esmerats: Els horts urbans a la ciutat de Bar-

celona

Our local network

Even if the association NEXES has been working with sustainable development pro-

jects, it is directly related with a garden and the idea was to work in network with

interested gardens. We did some dissemination of the project and organised several

information meetings to inform gardens about the project and detect interests.

We detected the gardens and associations interested in exchanging good practices,

learning from others, discovering practices of other countries and having also some-

thing to bring and teach to the others. Our network is open and all the garden can

participate in the project for all the activities or only one or two. It means that

the network is not closed and is in constant moving but at the moment, we can de-

tect a very diverse network:

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STATE OF THE ART

4 associative gardens from Cardedeu (a city a 45mn from Barcelona) which de-

velop gardens to train adults, to supply responsible consumption cooperatives,

organise activities, raise awareness on this topic of families from Barcelona and

surroundings: EsBiosfera and Phoenicurus. Also in Vallès orientals, the associa-

tion Llavors orientals is a bank seed that conserve seeds and exchange them to

promote heritage and culture. The association Benallar with the project Llavor is

also working on professional integration of migrants through the garden.

4 communitarian gardens: l'Hort del Xino is based in raval, a multicultural district

in the centre of Barcelona and is a self managed and communitarian garden in a

squatted abandoned "solar" (when buildings are being destroyed from inside

and left only the walls: it makes a closed area and piece of land). Also "Hortet del

Forat" has a big history and background. In the middle of a multicultural and

poor district of the centre of Barcelona, the municipality decided to destroy old

houses, evict their inhabitants and create new modern buildings. The

neighbourhood react very strongly to the speculation and ask for public places

with gardens and for public consultation of local population. They occupied the

place for weeks and finally succeed : the municipality abandoned the project and

transformed the place in a public place and "gave" to the neighbours the urban

garden of the famous place called today "the hole of the shame". Can Masdeu is

also part of the project and has a big history of social fighting and citizenship.

Their communitarian gardens with neighbourhood is a good example of active

citizenship. Conreu Sereny work also for the integration of migrants and ex-

cluded people through the methodology of agriculture.

A school garden of an immigrated district of a suburb of Barcelona: INS terraroja

is a school garden for secondary school introduced and managed by a motivated

teacher.

A neighborhood communitarian garden in a cultural centre: The Guinardo is a

district of Barcelona where lived many old people and Spanish immigration. The

centre of organisations is a public space of the municipality which offers many

activities and represents a welcoming place in local life.

More information in: http://hortsurbanseugobcn.wordpress.com

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Thursday 18 Friday 19 Saturday 20 Sunday 21 Monday 22 Breakfast 8:00

9:00

Arrivals

Breakfast at the Hostel Breakfast at the Hostel Breakfast at the Hostel Breakfast at the Hostel

Morning 9:30 Presentation of urban gardens in the hotel

Work on good practices, tool fair and local imple-

mentation

10h: Visit to garden Can Masdeu (nº18)

Visit of the project and exchange with garden-

ers

9:30 Train to Cardedeu and visit of Cardedeu autosuficient and Phoe-nicurus (nº25) and Lla-vors orientals (nº21)

9:15 Evaluation

Lunch 14:00 Lunch in the city

Paella in Can Masdeu cooked by gardeners

Solar cooking workshop and lunch

Departures

Afternoon 16:00 16h: Visit to “Fàbrica

del sol”

Arrivals

16h Visit to garden CONREU SERENY Badalona (nº23)

19h Visit to garden MAS

GUINARDO (nº17)

Napping Visiting Barcelona Pre-

paring Tool fair

15:00 Visit and presen-tation of EsBiosfera school (nº22) Return to Barcelona 19h: Visit to Garden Xino (nº19)

Evening 20:30 Dinner at the hotel

Dinner at Mas Guinardo centre

20h: Tool Fair party in Nexes with guests and

pica pica

Dinner at restaurant

Night 21:30

Presentation of par-ticipants

Free time Free time

PROGRAMME

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1/ THURSDAY AFTERNOON: Arrivals

As you all arrive to different points and hours, we will meet at 20h in the ho-tel, except for Italians and German people who will arrive later.

During the afternoon, you have several choices:

Fàbrica del Sol http://www.mcrit.com/crbs/

It is a municipal centre on Education on sustainable development. They or-ganise activities, exhibitions and events related with sustainability. We will go there with the participants who already arrived.

Parc del Laberint www.barcelonaturisme.com/Parc-del-Laberint

A very nice park next to the hotel in the upper part of the city. We could go there for a walk between 17h and 19h if it’s not rainy!!

21h-22h: Presentations round at the working room of the hotel. A small activ-ity to present the group and the programme in order to be able to start work-ing on Friday.

2/ FRIDAY MORNING: Working session

We will present our gardens and then work on good practices, on the concept of learning and skills in the gardens. We will also work on the good practices of Eu’Go.

3/ FRIDAY AFTERNOON: Visit to gardens

After lunch, we will visit the garden of Sant Jeroni de la Murtra (GP nº23), which develops several projects of social integration in Badalona

CONREU SERENY

Our association was born in April 2010 in order to recover rural lands for la-bour insertion of migrants and citizenship through the pedagogy of the love for Nature. The gardens are situated around the old monastery of Sant Jeroni de la Murtra (Badalona) in a “quiet space” very near from a big suburban area (Badalona).

Good practice: Sowing the seed: introduction to Ecological agriculture for migrants in a situation of social exclusion. The idea of this course were to pro-vide to the participants basic skills to manage their professional and life pro-jects in the rural area with a concept of self-estimation, love and respect for nature.

Contact: Dolors Clotas

HORT DEL CASAL D’ENTITATS DEL MAS GUINARDO

The Casal d’Entitats Mas Guinardó is a municipality equipment that acts to promote the associative and social life of the district. The aim is to give sup-port to the organisations and stables groups, informal or not, and to the neighbours of the district.

Practice: The organisation has a shared garden run by the neighbourhood: Once a month, they organize an agroecological cineforum where they screen documentaries in the community centre, generating reflexion and debate about agroecological culture.

Contact: Anna Suñé

Place: Casal d'Entitats Mas Guinardó Plaça Salvador Riera 2 08041, Barcelona Metro L4 Guinardó / Hospital de Sant Pau

Dinner at the Casal in their restaurant!

DETAILED PROGRAMME

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4/ SATURDAY: Visit to Can Masdeu (grid nº18)

It’s a big garden but also a project, a house and many more things: http://www.canmasdeu.net/ They have many years of experience, set up many pro-jects and surely will have a lot to exchange. They will make a complete visit of the project (house, energy, gardens, organization, etc.) and we prepare a meal for you.

Practice: social and intergenerational ecology.

The group that squatted the farm of Can Masdeu opened some gardens for their own consumption, in which people of the house as well as anyone who wanted to learn and help could participate every Thursday. Apart from the gardens of “the house” they have a project of community gardens and a pro-ject for a total of 40 individual and shared plots and a community plot opened for all participants of the community gardens.

Both in the gardens of “the house” and in the community gardens ran by the neighbours the management is based on active participation assembly-based and counts with work commissions. Through this participative system of as-semblies, the participants can develop skills of social dialogue, understand-ing, conflict resolution and sharing concepts.

The neighbours will prepare a meal for you.

Contact: Can Masdeu Claudio Cattaneo Laura Ciudad

5/ SATURDAY AFERNOON: Free time and TOOL FAIR at Nexes

On Saturday, we will meet at 19h at Nexes to prepare the last staff for the Tool fair.

There, some local people will see the practices, information about the project and could speak with you about your projects.

Place: Nexes www.nexescat.org C/ Josep Anselm Clave, 6 Metro L3 Drassanes

6/ SUNDAY: Visit to gardens from Cardedeu

Cardedeu is a small city 1 hour away from Barcelona in a peri urban area where different gardens have been set up:

PHOENICURUS AND CARDEDEU AUTOSUFICIENT (11h-13h)

The project was unintentionally initiated by the sowing of a small patch of broad beans in the autumn of 2009, in the corner of a former dairy farm. Since then it has evolved into an abundant garden providing year-round, fresh, local, organic and seasonal produce to a group of 30 families.

Practice: “Growing together” – how to combine small-scale organic food pro-duction and responsible consumption.

The consumer cooperative “cardedeu autosuficient” burst into life in the au-tumn of 2010, with the express desire from the outset to source food as lo-cally and organically as possible, and to seek to support small producers and innovative projects, and to establish strong, direct contacts between the con-sumers and producers.

As founding members of the group – we ourselves are, after all, consumers too – we had the great fortune to be able to offer our organic produce for the weekly vegetable boxes. Only a couple of months previously we had decided to expand our garden with a view to commercialising, and making a small, but sustainable, living.

Contact: Hort Phoenicurus Cardedeu http://phoenicurus.wordpress.com/ Mark I Gisela

INFO...

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LLAVORS ORIENTALS AND ES BIOSFERA

Llavors orientals is a Seed bank with the aim of recovering of cultural patri-mony and of seeds genetic resources. The gardeners of the region grow seeds and observe all the cycle, put the seeds in the bank and exchange them with other gardeners. Simultaneously, documentation about the characteris-tics of the seeds is elaborated.

Contact: http://productesdelvalles.wordpress.com Josep Maria Pi

Es Biosfera is a organic horticulture school with gardens. The school has its own garden of 1500 square metres where beginners’ courses in organic horti-culture are carried out. The course participants (this year 9 people or familiar unit) are able to cultivate a 50m2 plot for one year (February 2012 to Febru-ary 2013). We also have another group of 10 people doing the same course, who already have a garden at home, and therefore share one big plot for the practical sessions.

Contact: http://www.esbiosfera.cat/ Gemma and Jordi

7/ SUNDAY AFTERNOON: Hort del Xino

We will meet at 18h30 at the end of the Ramblas, next to Colon Statue. From there, we will go to visit a communitarian garden.

Hort del Xino:

Initiated in 2009. There was a squat in its place. The people living there were evicted and the building was pulled down. The people from the neighbour-hood decided to keep occupying the land and they created the garden as a symbol for political fight. It is situated in the heart of the Raval, the multicul-tural neighbourhood of the centre of Barcelona.

It has an horizontal organization. There are several “commandos” (commissions): Diffusion/Land/Kids/Bioconstruction

Practice: Communitarian Bread oven with documentary

The practice that I am currently documenting is the construction of a bread oven in the community Garden “Hort del Xino” in the Ravel neighborhood. This project involves volunteers from the neighborhood who have come to-gether to help Renan to construct a wood oven to be able to bake bread for common meals and gatherings. We have edited a video that shows the com-munitarian process, the active participation of the neighborhood and the learning process from a technical point of view but also from the active par-ticipation and communitarian learning.

Contact: Hort del Xino http://hortdelxino.wordpress.com/ Klaus Jack, videographer

Dinner in the city!

8/ MONDAY (9h-11h): Evaluation and individual meetings

We will do the evaluation of the stay in the meeting room. After the evalua-tion, people would be able to work on their own implementation and stay with the “expert” from the other country or speak with topic-related persons.

Departures and good bye!!

INFO...