the laugargardur cultivating collective
DESCRIPTION
Reasearch bookTRANSCRIPT
1
THE
LAUGARGARÐUR
CULTIVATING
COLLECTIVECollectively transforming misconcep-
tions into conceptions
The Lupinus plant is widely used in Iceland to re-vive barren land. It is considered extremely useful to build up fertile soil to enable the native vegetation
to reclaim the land.
The Lupinus process requires patience and per-sistence, just as new ideas take time to cultivate,
sprout and to eventually blossom.
[ CONTENT ]
Team members and team mentors
Preface
Ideology Why cultivating collectively
Location Laugargarður, Laugardalur The History of the area Topography Urban Farming within the Municipal Plan Where are possible future areas for city farms and other smaller cultivation areas? How can cultivating collectively be made possible in your neighborhood? What is temporary place making? How does it work as a tool to increase urban cultivation? The process of applying for the plot in Laugardalur Why this location
Planing of the Garden How did you go about planning the garden and how did that go ? How did you go about building the different elements of the garden ? Material
Plants Seeking knowledge Plans Plants Design of the planting area Cultivating according to our climate Soil
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3. A.
4. A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J. K.
5. A. B. C.
6. A. B. C. D E. F.
Food Experiments Food waste Food Experiments
Social Approach The importance of community involvement Media Advertisements within the local community Participatory events Events reflecting the philosophy of the garden Contacting local activities Reaching to broader community Upcoming activities Evaluation
Case Study 2000m2 Cuban cultivation system Prinzessinnengarten Collective cultivation Floresta Learnings from existing gardens in Iceland Does cultivating collectively applies here
Summary
Appendix Survey Interview with Lara Rodriges Bibliography
7. A. B.
8. A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I.
9. A. B. C. D. E. F.
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11. A. B. C.
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[ TEAM MEMBERS AND TEAM MENTORS ]
We are five students who have been working on the project over a three month period.
Laugargarður is about promoting urban agriculture and create a platform for various activities and education related to sustainability and food cul-ture.
Brynja Þóra Guðnadóttir, Master student of Design at the Icelandic Acad-emy of the Arts. Brynja was the Project Manager and responsible for the social aspects relating to the Project.
Auður Inez Sellgren, Bachelor student of Product Design at the Iceland Academy of the Arts. Auður was in charge of plant research and the plan-ning of a social area for the garden.
Jiaoni Jiao (Niki ) , Master student of Design at the Iceland Academy of the Arts. Niki was in charge of visual communications, having joined the group in the last two months of the Project.
Hjalti Gunnlaugsson, Bachelor student of Architecture at the Iceland Academy of the Arts. Hjalti was in charge of designing of the garden and finding recycled materials but left after one month.
Andri Þór Andrésson, Master student of Urban Planning at the Agricultur-al University of Iceland. Andri was in charge of environmental and field studies and urban solutions. He worked closely with Hjalti and took over his responsibilities when Hjalti left the project.
The Project supervisors of the project were three teachers at the Ice-land Academy of the Arts; Massimo Santanicchia, Sigrún Birgisdóttir and Thomas Pausz.
Andri’s approach in the project is from the perspective of an urban plan-ner weighing and evaluating environmental and historical facts, laws, regulations and urban planning. In this context he concentrates on urban agricultural ideas in Reykjavík and speculates how we can strengthen urban farming with the above in mind. Also he observes the topography and what can be found there to strengthen cultivation in the Laugar-garður area.
Audur places her emphasis on how to cultivate an urban garden in har-mony with nature. She also tackles issues like food waste and how we can make a better use of our resources.
Brynja looks into the social aspects of the project and how sustainability relies on the participation of the local community. Also, how connecting sustainable projects with experts in the field can enrich a community like Laugargarður – which will in turn promote learning and understanding within the community at large.
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[ PREFACE ]
Our experiment and research is about exploring new ways of implement-ing urban farming in Reykjavík with the focus on cultivating collectively in an allotment. In our work we are also challenging our way of living and what it means to live together in a society.
The beginning
We started the project on May 19th without access to a plot of land which meant we had to work around that. We applied to the Reykjavik Gardening Department for a garden plot in Laugardalur. On June 5th the application was approved and the project evolved from an idea into reality.
It was early June when we finally took charge of the plot. We had to act fast because the growing season in Iceland is short and it had already started. We got the word out that we were about to create a community garden in Laugardalur, creating a Facebook page (facebook/laugargar-dur.com), a website ( laugargardur.com), and contacted the media. We organized two seeding days on June 14th and 25th and invited people to participate. At the same time we planned the day-to-day tasks, we col-lected materials for the beds, some soil, seeds and plants, and designed the garden.
Starting this late in the season required an extra effort by the team mem-bers who had to support each other in their roles and in organizing the initial research. However, after the second seeding day our roles in the project became more defined and we could focus as a team.
When the team came together we asked ourselves questions like; what is the underlying reason for us to create such a garden, - and by doing so, what is the message we want to send to the community?
The answers were: The garden is an example how we can strengthen our food culture by providing diversity as an option - and it is an example of an obtainable level of self-sufficiency in our local food production.
The philosopher Páll Skúlason defines culture as an “approach for hu-mans to systematically work together with their life projects and thereby create conditions for continued human existence. Non culture is every-thing that destroys the humans, reduces their power to lead a good life and corrupts their living conditions”. (page 11, Menning og Sjálfstæði)
Contributing to food diversity
Culture, of which food culture is an integral part, binds us together as a society and bonds us with our natural environment. Lack of diversity and negligence of our food cultivation options creates a disconnection to nature and a non-food culture, which will eventually undermine not only
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our values but our own existence.
Contributing to diversity utilizes local resources and promotes the bene-fits of seasonal growth. We can incorporate traditional knowledge with new technology to reinforce sustainability and make our life easier.
Our society tends to measure diversity by how much access we have to food from all over the world. For us diversity includes having access to our local food and the ability to make the most use of it. We can promote diversity in seasonal products by fusing together traditional knowledge and new technology under the rules of environmental sustainability. In the Brundtland report written for the United Nations sustainability is about combining economic, social and natural growth and finding the balance between these three. (Our common future, 1987)
In our research we looked at case studies on gardening, cultivation, ur-ban farming, social aspects, municipal plans, rules and regulations. We researched food waste and experimented with cooking herbs from our garden. Herbs that are common to cultivate in Iceland but have only been a marginal part of the local diet.
Brynja and Auður went to a permaculture workshop early in the sum-mer. We visited local agents who are specialists in different fields and observed garden vegetation, organized some events and activities in the neighborhood, and advertised the garden wherever possible. In the end of the summer we interviewed people who came to the garden and also the other gardeners in the community gardens.
In the end of the summer we posted a survey on various cultivating and neighborhood Facebook pages. We also asked collaborators, friends and family to forward it to colleagues at work who might be interested in garden cultivation. The results are based on the responses received from 120 participants. We do acknowledge the methods we used to get people to participate in the survey are not a recognized methodology for doing a survey and present the survey results only as an indicator of current trends.
In the research chapter we explain the ideology of the garden project. One of the reasons we decided to work collectively on the cultivation Project is to explore something new which until now has been almost nonexistent in Iceland.
How do the urban community gardens in Reykjavík operate?
To answer this question we go into the field to do an environmental study and look at rules and regulations regarding urban planning.
How did we plan the garden?
What urban solution did we come up with?
What plants did we put down and why?
The last chapter of the research is about social approach. There we are looking into the outreach to the society. How do we reach to the locals and involve the broader society.
In the end of the research we contemplate how we see the next steps for the continuing of the garden.
The report is mainly built on interviews with various people and our-selves. By building it up mainly like a self-questionnaire reflects the con-stant self-questioning of doing such a project and making choices on a daily basis.
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We would like to express our greatest gratitude for all the good will and positive attitude we have received while working on this project.
To realize this project there were many people involved.
We would like to thank the City of Reykjavík and the Art Academy of Iceland for the collaboration and for supporting us with allotment and facilities.
We would like to thank the head of the Gardening Department Þórólfur Jónsson for allocating us the plot.
We also would like to thank Axel Knútsson the foreman in Laugardalur for a good cooperation.
Special thanks go to Jóhanna at Dalsá for her good advices and her generous plant donations.
We would like to thank Jón Guðmundsson, Hildi Hákonardóttur and Mörð Ot-tesen for welcoming us at their homes and sharing their wisdom with us.
We received a very positive attitude when working on getting sponsors. Without them it would have been hard to put up a garden with such a short notice.
Thanks to Blómaval, Gæðamold, Gámaþjónustan, Málning, Printing company Guðjón Ó and Oddi for sponsoring us.
Thank you to FabLab for your supportive help and for being there for all the cre-ative people.
To our supervisors in this project Massimo Santanicchia, Thomas Pausz and Sig-rún Birgisdóttir we would like to thank for their involvement in the project and supportive attitude throughout the summer.
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[ IDEOLOGY ]
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Wh
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Laugargarður is an experimental project to promote urban agriculture and create a platform for various activities and education in connection with sustainability and food culture.
To imitate nature’s own process by designing an area of cultivation and to find ways to facilitate the plant growth in harmony with man and nature.
To enhance people´s participation and cooperation by sharing knowledge and promoting communication between neighbors.
To encourage people to rethink their roles in shaping their environment.
In short – the ideology is about restoring our relationship to the founda-tion of our existence, which is the soil that ultimately feeds and nurtures us all.
Why are you putting emphasis on cultivating collectively?
Br: City farming as it is practiced widely has many creative. In Iceland there are community gardens that are renting out plots to individuals. With our experiment we wanted to add diversity into our urban cultiva-tion and explore something new that does not exist in Iceland.
The community gardens are a part of a larger operation by The Horti -cultural Society of Iceland (Garðyrkjufélag Íslands), an association com-mitted to gardening and horticulture in Iceland. They offer education courses throughout the year and operate local gardening clubs. They also
run a seed bank where people can donate and buy seeds. The society op-erates three community gardens, one in a residential area and two in the city outskirts. The gardeners have access to water and a shed with tools.
The plots are rented out to members for a low price and to nonmem-bers with a small markup. Members enjoy priority to rent the same plot year after year. Therefore many of them grow perennial plants and take responsibility for the soil in their patch. Each gardener selects a supervi-sor. The association provides the gardeners with animal manure for fer-tilizing purposes. Once a month there are meetings in the garden where people help out with communal matters like cleaning the garbage, etc.
City of Reykjavík also rents out garden patches at a low price in most neighborhoods. These are all in residential areas except the one in Skam-midalur.
The city service is very basic. They provide the gardeners with a plowed plot and access to water. Every year people have to apply for a new plot and which are randomly distributed so it is unlikely they are given the same plot again. Access to water varies between gardens, the worst of which is in Skammidalur. The gardeners have to bring their own tools and there is no communal tool shed.
Neither the city nor the association has rules about organic cultivation. They do not issue instructions on how to use fertilizers. They do not object to the use of chemicals although that will influence undoubtedly have an impact on the surrounding patches.
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[ LOCATION ]
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has only one inhabitant per he. but then again Laugarnes only has three houses, it does have the biggest average of apartment size in the district though or 186 square meters per average. Two museums are located in the district, Ásmundarsafn and the museum of Sigurjón Ólafsson. Both museums are located in their former residences, that is, houses that they lived and worked in. The district has a few elementary schools, Langholtsskóli, Laugarnesskóli, Laugarlækjaskóli and Vogaskóli. Three churches are located within the district, Laugarneskirkja, Áskirkja and Langholtskirkja. The district boundaries are defined as such; to the west they are defined by Snorrabraut and by Elliðaá river basin to the east. To the south by a line drawn trough these streets: Hverfisgata, Laugarve-gur, Suðurlandsbraut, Grensásvegur and Miklabraut. To the north its de-fined by the coast line which contains the last piece of natural coast line in Reykjavík, this natural coast line is at Laugartangi the remaining coast line in Reykjavík is man-made.
Laugargarður, Laugardalur
Laugargarður is located in Laugardalur which is referred to as district 04 in the newly published Municipal Plan for Reykjavík (City of Reykjavík Department of Environment and Planning. 2013). Its territory spans over 6,4 square kilometers and includes several smaller neighborhoods that are called Tún, Teigar, Lækir, Sund, Heimar, Fen Langholt, Laugarnes and Skeifa. The district mostly consists of mixed residential zones with two exceptions, Skeifan is mostly a commercial zone and then Sund which is mostly related to harbour activities and low-polluting industry. The population of Laugardalur is 15.613 inhabitants which makes it the fourth largest district in Reykjavík after Breiðholt, Grafarvogur and Vesturbær. What sets Laugardalur apart from other districts statistically is the high percentage of elders, about 17% of its inhabitants are over 67 years old as opposed to an 10% average in the rest of the city. Lækir and Heimar have the most population density in this district, 64 and 68 inhabitants per he. and not surprisingly Sundahöfn and Skeifan have the least densi-ty since no one lives in those commercial and industrial areas. Laugarnes
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The location of the area within the city.
<20 inhabitants/he<20 - 40 inh./he<40-60 inh./he<60 - 80 inh./he
>80 inh./he
Laugardalur
Laugarás
Tún
Lækir
Laugarnes
Teigar
Heimar
Seifan
Markir
Vogar
Laugargarður766
1534
164
1900
727
1160
1467
1554
991
786 1140
1396
1157
999 1278
Local naighborhood stores
Holtagarðar Supermarket
District Retail clustersLaugargarður
Population density by neighborhoods: To attract as much people as possible it would be a good idea to position a garden like Laugargarður near the most densely neighborhood with-in the district. In Laugardalur´s instance that would be the Heimar and Lækir neighborhoods. Laugargarður is infact located very close to Hei-mar and before the location was selected there was an idea to locate the garden in Lækir next to the facilities of the Icelandic academy of the arts.
Retail services in Laugardalur: It could serve a project like Laugargarður well to see what retailers and other shops and services are available in the neighborhood both for sup-plies and to get in touch with some local agents with collaboration in mind. Laugargarður did get in touch with some local agents from the neighborhood such as Frú Lauga, Gló and many others with good results.
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Laugardalur
Laugarás
Tún
Lækir
Laugarnes
Teigar
Heimar
Seifan
Markir
Vogar
30-39 y.o.40-49 y.o.50-59 y.o.
60-69 y.o.
20-29 years oldLaugargarður
Average age of inhabitants by neighborhoods:Does Laugargarður want to attract a certain age group? No we do not have a specific age group in mind and cultivating has no age limit, in the contrary it unifies generations. Although, it is our perception that older people are more interested in cultivation in general and might therefore show a bit more interest in the project then other generations. The aver-age age map shows the wide range of age in the nearby neighborhood of Laugargarður and that the age of participants in Laugargarður should be quite mixed.
550m
350m
580m
570m
Laugargarður
Public transport in Laugardalur and nearest bus stops: One of many goals for a project like this is to have a garden like Laugar-garður in every district for many reasons. One of which is so that partic-ipants don´t have to travel by car to their cultivation plot. In this respect Laugargarður had to be close to bus stops so participants who don´t live in Laugardalur can use public transport to get there if they choose to do so. It has been said that the average distance a person is willing to walk to a bus stop is 400m with the maximum distance being 800m. The nearest bus stop to Laugargarður is 350m away and three others are within 800m away.
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Langholtsskóli
Vogaskóli
Laugalækjarskóli
Laugarnesskóli
Kindergardens
Elementary SchoolsLaugargarður
Hof
Laugasól / Laugaborg
Langholt / HoltaborgLangholt / Sunnuborg
Brákarborg
Sunnuás / HlíðarendiSunnuás / Ásborg
Laugasól / Lækjarborg
Steinahlíð
Elementary schools and kindergartens in Laugardalur: It can be helpful to locate schools and kindergartens in the district for the possibility of cooperation of some kind. Laugargarður did get in touch with some kindergartens in the district and organized a visit to the gar-den from 3 of them, Sunnuás, Langholt and Brákarborg. Laugargarður is also looking into a possible cooperation with Langholtsskóli elementary for the upcoming winter.
Norðurbrún 1
Dalbraut 18-20
Dalbraut 21-27
Austurbrún 6
Dalbraut 23
Holtavegur
Housing for the mentaly disabled
Kleppur
Kleppur Asylum
Service appartments for the elderly
Laugargarður
Social services in Laugardalur: Accsess to and from Laugargarður along with equality is importan within the philosophy of Laugargarður so we wanted to invite local inhabitants with disabilities to come for a visit to Laugargarður and do some cultivat-ing but in the end those plans did not materialize this summer. Laugar-garður also has ideas about inviting residents of Kleppur mental hospital to visit the garden, cultivating could prove to have very therapeutical effects for the residents.
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LaugargarðurNeighborhood gardens
City gardens
Other types of garden areas within Laugardalur: The District Plan shows two main categories of gardens, city gardens and neighborhood gardens. The practical use of gardens in these two categories vary from garden to garden, some have more practical use then others. Laugargarður certainly has much practical use and a few more gardens like it within the district would give new dimensions to the practical use of the garden flora of Laugardalur.
Laugargarður
Sæviðarsund
Hólmasund
Drekavogur
Barðavogur
Ljósheimar
KambsvegurKleifarvegur
Rauðalækur
Kleppsvegur 40
Bugðulækur 11
Otrateigur
Hofteigur 6
Nóa- og miðtúnSkúlagata 62
Open playground areas in Laugardalur, possibilities in use: We have identified future development areas as displayed in the Munici-pal Plan as ideal areas for urban agriculture (See map on page 33) but we also see a possibility in using open urban playground areas for cultiva-tion. These are public areas that spread evenly across the whole district and are often under-utilized. Kids would this way get used to cultivation environment from an early age and are therefore more likely to take part in cultivation as they get older.
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The History of the area
In the Reykjavík botanical garden there is a sculpture of a man holding a small plant that says “This is where Eiríkur Hjartarson started tree-plant-ing and cultivation in 1929” , Eiríkur and his wife Valgerður built a house in Laugamýri swamp area and named it Laugardalur after a farm in Bisk-upstungur where Valgerður´s family comes from. The sports arena that was built nearby around 1960 then got its name from this small house, than people just started to use the Laugardalur name for the nearest surroundings and later for the whole area. Like it says on the sculpture Eiríkur and his wife began cultivation in in the area around their home which later became the foundation of the Reykjavík botanical garden.
Sigurður “the painter” Guðmundsson was the first individual to put forth the idea of making Laugardalur a sports- and recreational area for the inhabitants of Reykjavík, this was in 1871, before Eiríkur moved to the area. Sigurður showed much interest in the planning of Reykjavík and put forth many other ideas concerning the planning of the city. This particu-lar idea has as we now know become a reality and most of the national sport venues are located in Laugardalur along with a botanical garden, a small petting zoo, and a small amusement park. It has also become one of the most frequently used recreational areas due to the city investing a lot in bike- and running paths.
Topography
Sveinn Pálsson which formerly held a position in Iceland called „National doctor“ or and used to travel the land a lot through his position, gave a very accurate and thorough description on the areas topography in his travel journal which says: not far south of the farm (Laugardalur) is a vast swamp/wetland. Northwest of the swampland is quite a tall sandbank that the waves break on (Kirkjusandur, where the Íslandsbanki HQ is located now). In the middle of the swamps about a 1000 steps from the sea is a cold water source, Sveinn says that the cold water source has burrowed through the peat until it reveals a boulder. It is on this boulder that the statue Þvottakonan (the washing lady) by sculptor Ásmundur Sveinsson, stands now. About 86 steps below there is a hot spring and just there beside it little boiling hot water sources emerge from a smooth boulder. That water then ran into a small pond that was used to wash people´s clothes and was the workplace of several washing ladies. Just west of that pond, about half way to the sea, the water began to cool down becoming just about warm enough for bathing, “every single one that comes there takes a bath“ says Sveinn Pálsson.
Laugardalur used to be a farming area and the swamp area that Sveinn talks about has been dried up since 1948 using a method were channels or ditches are dug into the wetland and the water from the soil accu-mulates in the ditches. The area became a farming- and cultivating area after 1948 but as more and more residential areas have been introduced the remaining small pieces of cultivating land has become wet again. That is at least the opinion of those who rent cultivating plots in Laugar-dalur from the city. Evidence of the area being a farming- and cultivating area since 1948 can be found in peoples reminiscences of the area col-lected by the city archive:
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Gunnar Björnsson (born in 1964): “Me and my friends used to go to Gunnar at the Laugarból farm and buy eggs from him. We always got a warm welcome when we went to buy eggs and he often invited us in for a chat. Laugardalur was more remote than it is today and more like a countryside within the city. Then I attended the “school gardens” that were located just by the farm. There I would grow potatoes, all kinds and kale, carrots, radishes and more. In memory Laugardalur is a more quiet part of the city.”
Gíslína Vigdís Guðnadóttir (born in 1940): ”From 1948/49 there were ditches being dug all over Laugardalur to dry up the land. There were huge excavators that did the job and the ditches all had water at the bot-tom. The land wasn´t ideal for cultivation in the beginning when it was nothing but wetlands. There were lots of pastures in Laugardalur, from the Lækir neighborhood all the way to Laugarnes where grass was then collected in the fall for wintertime. We also went out to the creek (foul creek) and chatted, than we used to steal beets from the potato gardens, wiped the dirt of and eat it on the spot, the best beets I´ve ever tasted in my whole life.”
Bogi Helgason (born in 1939): “My father used to have a potato garden in Laugardalur from ca 1947 and I used to go with him. The garden was opposite Kirkjuteigur and Hraunteigur on the other side of Reykjavíkur-vegur. I used to play by myself while my parents were working in the garden. Laugardalur was an adventure land. There used to be a mud pond with eels crawling through the mud, on dry land, I´ve never seen such a thing. It was warm and lovely there.” (Bogadóttir, S. 2010)
Urban Farming within the Municipal Plan
When we look at and try to point out areas that we consider ideal for cultivation and mark them onto a map along with the areas identified in the Municipal Plan as development areas, you can see that every pos-sible cultivation area is overlapping the development areas. In map A Development areas are shown in purple and possible cultivation areas in green. E.g. plots alongside Suðurlandsbraut and Köllunarklettsvegur, by Kirkjusandur at Skeifan and Vogabyggð and the old Blómaval plot.
Where are possible future areas for city farms and other smaller cul-tivation areas?
According to the current Municipal Plan it is expected that about 2.200 apartments housing 4.500 additional residents can be built within this district in the period 2010-30 along with about 60.000 square meters of new housing for commerce and low-pollution industry. (City of Reykjavík Department of Environment and Planning. 2013). In the newly adopted District Plan that is in the making the city will be looking more closely at possibilities in creating a more dense residential area but in the Munici-pal plan you can only find a binding policy for residential plots containing more than 50 apartments but no binding policy for other plots. In the
Blómaval Plot
Köllunarklettsvegur Plot
Suðurlandsvegur Plot
Kleppur
Kirkjusandur
LHÍ
Skeifan
Vogahver�
Laugargarður
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Municipal Plan you can find a general directory ( isl.stefnumörkun) for the development plots in Laugardalur. A general orientation is given for development areas, older residential areas and open spaces. The general directory for development areas in Laugardalur only revolves around the possibility of using those plots/areas to make the city more compact, no mention of gardens or cultivating areas.” E.g. Þ45 Blómavalsreitur (The old Blómaval plot beside Grand Hotel). Residential area. On this plot are plans for a residential area with the possibility of retail - and services on the ground floor. Emphasis on 3-5 stories houses containing 100 apart-ments.” (City of Reykjavík Department of Environment and Planning. 2013)
This does not exclude the possibility of cultivating areas within the plot, it could still be introduced in the next planning phase ( isl. deiliskipulag) but why not talk about it in the general directory for the development plots in the Municipal plan so that there is at least more possibility that it will be introduced in the next planning phase, even by putting in restric-tions forcing planners to put in space for cultivation and roof gardens.
In chapter 8 The Green city, in the Municipal Plan for Reykjavík 2010-2030 the current situation is and the cities future vision on urban- farming and agriculture are reflected upon. About the current situation it says :
„„The School Gardens“ (cultivating gardens for schoolchildren over the summer) started in 1948 in Reykjavík but were abolished in 2010 and replaced by leasing out socalled „Family Gardens“ in the fall of 2011, in he same locations as the „School Gardens“ were located. These are about 6000 plots in 8 locations within the city along with about 200 plots in Skammidalur. Plots called „Grendar-garðar“ have also been available for rent through The icelandic Gerdeners Society at 2 locations since 2009. The icelandic Gerden-ers Society only rents plots to its members (where there is an anual membership fee).“
(City of Reykjavík Department of Environment and Planning. 2013)
Like it says in the text these are 10 locations in a city that is generally considered to be quite decentralized or „spread“ with only about 277 inhabitants per square kilometer comparing to Copenhagens 1850 inhab-itants per square kilometer. One of the cities objectives in the Municipal Plans „green chapter“ as it is called is to create an „environment“ to re-inforce urban cultivation(see picture 5 (pic. In icelandic) ). It is clear that the city has to take the initiative by setting and impementing an agenda for urban agriculture as it says in the chapter, Green city:
„The city of Reykjavík are looking into shape an agenda before 2016, an agenda for the future for open areas where the basic em-phasis is good access to diverse and different types of open areas and gardens glose to homes of citizens.“ and also...“ it is time to that an agenda is made for the Municipal Plan for what is called
„urban farming“.“
(City of Reykjavík Department of Environment and Planning.2013)
The following are the goals that the city wants to meet in order to in-crease urban agriculture:
Gert er ráð fyrir að í hverju hverfi /borgarhluta
verði aðstaða fyrir sameiginlega matjurtagarða. Í
rammahlutum aðalskipulags/hverfisskipulögum
og deiliskipulögum verður gerð nánari grein fyrir
svæðum til matjurtaræktar.
• Við deiliskipulagsgerð verður jafnframt
athugað hvort innan deiliskipulagsreita séu
svæði sem hentað geta sem almennir garðar til
matjurtaræktar.
• Leitað verði samstarfs við OR um nýtingu
affallsvatns til að ylja jarðveg og flýta fyrir sprettu
matjurta á fyrrnefndum svæðum.
• Samvinnu verði komið á milli umhverfis-og
skipulagssviðs og Sorpu um uppsetningu
móttökustöðva fyrir líffrænan úrgang til
moltugerðar í tengslum við matjurtagarða í öllum
borgarhlutum/hverfum.
(City of Reykjavík Department of Environment and Planning.2013.Page 125)
How can cultivating collectively be made possible in your neighborhood?
It´s clear that according to the new Municipal Plan the focus is on in-creasing residential density in all districts over the next 20 years and so most of the useable cultivation areas that also fall into the development category will be used first and foremost under buildings or at least build-ings will be in the forefront when planning these areas and they will be planned as densely as possible. What about combining those two objec-tives, that is the densification of residential areas and increased urban farming? Possibly by making roof gardens and cultivation spaces as part of public space obligatory for plans within these development areas? An-other way is to build up a centralized city farm in every district (E.g.one in Laugardalur, one in Breiðholt, one in Grafarvogur etch.) and then also
Wh
ere a
re po
ssible fu
ture a
rea
s for city fa
rms a
nd
oth
er sm
alle
r cultiva
tion
are
as?
Ho
w ca
n cu
ltivatin
g colle
ctively b
e ma
de p
ossib
le in yo
ur n
eig
hb
orh
oo
d?
36 37
implement a system that allows people to utilize plots for urban agricul-ture for a specific period of time (e.g. 6 months up to 3 years), plots that aren´t being used at that particular time, plots that are perhaps awaiting further development.
To increase urban agriculture an agenda is needed like the green chapter of the Municipal Plan does mention. For a new agenda you either need a new ideology or you need to adopt an existing ideology that´s already in place in other cities, that then makes it possible for the city to create more chances for cultivations. Citizens could work alongside the city by developing a system that uses Temporary placemaking to increase cultivation in the city and use underutilized spaces or lots for a spezified period of time.
What is temporary place making?
Temporary place making: can be for any activity including the one of creating an urban cultivation like Laugargarður. Of course it would be ideal to have one bigger plot for a proper urban farm as a kind of a hub, but trough temporary placement making there could be many smaller gardens popping up all over the city. It´s all about using space that has no function or specific purpose and change its function into something fun and useful but only temporary, that is for a specific period of time.
How does it work as a tool to increase urban cultivation?
There have to be some incentives for the landowners to let people use the land for cultivating for a period of time, that could be in the form of lowered property taxes or other taxes such as road making taxes or sewer taxes or even a discount on the building permit needed for further development. The city also owns land that isn´t in use, this land could be used for the permanent urban farms and be “loaned“ out to people that would like to use our edible public space model to build up a community garden and then return the land when construction on the site is about to start or when a decisions have been made concerning the future land use and sale and/or construction is imminent, the same goes for private-ly owned land that has given the green light for a specified period of time for a price of lowered taxes. As it is now the city isn´t very keen on giv-ing land away for urban farms but could be interested in “loaning“ land to citizens for a pre-agreed period of time. This place making structure could be partially based on an annual event in Montreal, Canada called the Ephemeral Village and partially on the Torg í biðstöðu project the City of Reykjavík has which is also an annual thing (Sustainable Cities Collective. 2014.).
Tell me about the process of applying for a plot?
Br.The head of the Reykjavik Gardening Department allocates the plots – which make it a good start by introducing the project to the gardener manager. To have a well -conceived plan will be helpful, both to make the process quicker and increase the likelihood of getting a good plot.
A formal application was sent to the city Council and it took 1 ½ month to get it approved. Two weeks after the approval Borgarbýli received confirmation for a plot in Breiðholt.
On May 26th we made a proposal to the head of the Reykjavik Gardening Department for the temporary use of a plot at Holtagata in Laugardalur which was allocated to us on June 5th.
Why did you apply for this area?
Br: We found this area an ideal place for a farm in the city - which was the original idea for the Laugargarður project. It is situated in a residen-tial area next to schools and other activities. It is a spacious place in a very green area next to the Botanical garden. The City rents out vegeta-ble gardens in the same area and both communities could benefit from the proximity to of each other by sharing facilities and socialize.
There was also another reason for us applying for this plot. The city was really willing to accommodate us in finding plot but on the other hand they were skeptical about our performance as this has not been done before. We felt that we might have a good chance to get this plot. Having access to water was also important fact. One disadvantage with this location is that many people found it hard to locate when they were coming to events.
Wh
at is te
mp
ora
ry pla
ce ma
kin
g?
Ho
w d
oe
s it wo
rk as a to
ol to in
crea
se urb
an
cultiva
tion
?
Th
e pro
cess o
f ap
plyin
g for th
e plo
t in L
au
ga
rda
lur
Wh
y this lo
catio
n
38 39
[ PLANING OF THE GARDEN ]
40 41
How did you go about planning the garden and how did that go ?
The project started rather late concerning cultivating periods, which the project definitely has to take into account. An application was sent to the Head of the Gardening department for a plot in Laugardalur and it became clear that we could use that plot and the project could start and a garden where people cultivated collectively could become a reality, yet with a condition that the plot would be returned at the end of the sum-mer but that isn´t a final verdict and there is still a chance of an “afterlife” for the garden once this summer has passed. This condition meant that the planning of the garden had to take that into consideration for the time being. In picture 6 & 7 you can see the areas we applied for, which are in fact on a piece of land reserved for the cities “family gardens” that lie right beside Laugargarður. The garden is sheltered from the winds by dense tree lines that have been planted around the “family gardens” cultivation area so the area isn´t very windy. As can be seen in pictures 6 & 7 we basically applied for two plots within the same area. On one hand a plot, let´s call it plot A that stretched along the north side of the area and is about 609 square meters (See pic. 8 ) and on the other hand a plot, let´s call it plot B which stretches from north to south along the western side of the area, that plot is considerably larger or about 1100 square meters but we were only asking to use 717 square meters of that plot (See pic.9 )
Picture 6 : plot A. 609 m2 Picture 7 : plot B. 1100 m2
Picture 8 : Rough plan for plot A. Picture 9 : Rough plan for plot B.
In the end we actually got both plots for the Laugargarður project with a condition to not build anything on a strip of land next to the tree line west of the area, which was already allocated for a Frisbee-golf course that was planned to be installed in the area over the summer. We had quite a lot of space for our collective cultivation but we decided to start on plot A along the northern tree line and then move south to plot B if needed. It was clear that construction had to begin right away since the cultivating period had already begun and we had to be quick about building up the garden if we were to utilize the rest of the cultivating season the best we could, this had a big influence in the overall planning and structure of the garden. The garden also took shape from the material we had accu-mulated, given to us by businesses from within the area and a few from outside the area. The first ideas of a plan for the garden was a very rough plan of 10 different types of areas (See pics. 8 & 9 ), each one dedicated to a specific function but the ideas for these areas came from a sketch we did to identify what it was that kind of different areas the garden would need (See pic.10 ). Something that was important in the planning process was that access wouldn´t be in any way restricted, that is, ev-eryone would have equal access to the garden including handicapped people, both in and out of the garden and within it. Three main access ways are to the garden, two from the north and one from the south, the garden is quite open in relation to access and you can´t really talk about any specific entryways or exits. However there is a wide walkway in the middle of the garden from east to west, which is an attempt to direct the flow of people through the garden from east to west and wise versa.
Ho
w d
id yo
u g
o ab
ou
t pla
nn
ing th
e ga
rde
n a
nd
ho
w d
id th
at g
o ?
Ho
w d
id yo
u g
o ab
ou
t pla
nn
ing th
e ga
rde
n a
nd
ho
w d
id th
at g
o ?
42 43
Ho
w d
id yo
u g
o ab
ou
t pla
nn
ing th
e ga
rde
n a
nd
ho
w d
id th
at g
o ?
Picture 10 :Part of needs analysis and first sketch of garden
Because of how quick the building of the garden had to be, we thought it would be best if we focus the planning on having just few basic areas that are essential to the project and there wasn´t any need for a detailed plan showing every little detail. This was also done so people that wanted to join the collective cultivation could be free to bring in their ideas of how the garden should be planned and built. We did however draw up a map that would keep tabs on how much cultivating space we had (See pic. 12).
picture 12
How did you go about building the different elements of the garden ?
When the time came to actually start with the building and setup of the garden it was given what part of the garden we needed to be dealt with first. The cultivation season had already started so the first thing we needed to address was creating cultivation space for people to use. It was not an option for us to plant straight into the soil since our plot was a field of grass so a solution had to be found for uplifted growing beds out of the material we had accumulated that would provide us with the maximum amount of cultivating space possible from the material we had to work with, and the product from that work was the foundation for cultivation in this garden, long uplifted growing beds which length was determined by the length of the material we had (See pic. 14). When enough cultivation space had been secured for the garden to hold its first seeding day we turned our attention towards setting up a recreational area that we like to call “the seating” area. Wooden pallets where staked three and three together and used as benches but also as foundations for a work table (work station or prep station). The seating area was later updated with unsold chairs that were on the way to a landfill from Góði Hirðirinn (a shop that sells used items where the proceeds go towards charity) along with about 40cm high wooden stumps (spruce tree) from The Reykjavík Forestry. They were used as small tables in the seating area and as the foundations of benches we built and set up by a bbq pit that we made at the edge of the garden.
Next on the agenda was to build a couple of units that would show different urban solutions in relation to cultivation, the aim was to show different variations of solutions to people participating in the collective cultivation and to passersby. These urban solutions all have one thing in common, they are all suited toward cultivation in small spaces and they illustrate to people that you don´t really need a lot of space or a big budget to start cultivating at your own home or even put up a collective cultivation like Laugargarður near to their homes that would use Laugar-garður as a blueprint or just take elements from Laugargarður like these urban solutions and set up a small version of Laugargarður that takes next to no space at all. These urban solutions are as follows:
Here are bucketswith spices
4x Potato Barrels 3 x Potato Beds
Sitting area with chairs and tables
Mulch Mount
Storage Area
Work Table
Entrence
Ho
w d
id yo
u g
o ab
ou
t bu
ildin
g the d
iffere
nt e
lem
en
ts of th
e ga
rde
n?
44 45
Uplifted growing beds
Version 1: Two types of long growing beds which are equally long (326cm) but one is 120cm wide and the other is 90cm wide and is built from wood from Húsasmiðjan which was deemed to lack the quality needed for it to be sold to costumers. These solutions are about 20cm high and one gives you about 3 square meters of growing space. Big coffee import bags are stabled to the bottom of the bed to prevent grass from coming through. In some cases we used plastic instead of coffee bags from a cut-up plastic tent we got from the petting zoo next door Fjölskyldu- og húsdýragarðurinn. Holes were then drilled into the plastic before it was stabled to the bottom of the beds so that water could be drained from the dirt. The coffee bags we got from Kaffitár that imports coffee beans for their operation and these bags are available for the public from coffee importers if they are needed.
Ho
w d
id yo
u g
o ab
ou
t bu
ildin
g the d
iffere
nt e
lem
en
ts of th
e ga
rde
n?
Version 2: This version is quite a bit higher that version 1. and that is the main difference between them. This version is designed for the disabled with the aim that access and “working-height” is suitable for a person in a wheelchair. This version is built by using 6 pallets which are raised ver-tically two and two facing each other and then one pallet ant each end. The pallets are then fastened together on the inside and then a “false bottom”, a frame made from wood, is put in place on the inside of this growing bed 20cm from the top making the depth of the growing bed 20cm. A plastic cover than goes on top of the wooden frame (blue layer in illustration) and holes drilled into it for drainage.
90cm20cm
326cm
KAFFI KAFFI
Ho
w d
id yo
u g
o ab
ou
t bu
ildin
g the d
iffere
nt e
lem
en
ts of th
e ga
rde
n?
46 47
Pla
nn
ing a
nd
po
ssible cu
ltivatio
n a
rea
s
Top
og
rap
hy
Vertical growing beds:
Version 1: In Laugargarður the vertical growing-beds were primarily used for growing spices but some kale as well. These vertical solutions are ideal for small spaces since the cultivation area is vertical it takes much less space than other more traditional growing tactics. For this particular solution we used a pallet (120*80cm), raise it up vertically ( longer side facing the ground) and make foundations out of wood to keep it upright. This way the bottom of the pallet becomes the back of the growing-bed, coffee bags are then stabled to the back of the pallet to keep the soil inside. Then you simply plant seeds between the wooden boards of the pallet and also on top of the pallet, be mindful of facing that side south.
Version 2: For this version we began by removing two wooden boards from a pallet and “growing pockets” fashioned from coffee bags and stabled to the inside of the pallets foundations. Like in version 1. new foundations are made and fastened to each side to keep it upright and stable. Last but not least you put some soil into these “coffee-bag grow-ing-pockets” and seeds of course as well.
Bottletowers: The main idea behind the bottletower is that the plants all utilize the same water. Start by cutting of the bottoms of plastic bottles ( In Laugargarður we recycled some 2L plastic bottles) and then you arrange them on top of each other forming a tower and remove the caps so the water can go from one bottle to the next. Than you cut an opening on the side of each bottle and face it forward (south towards the sun), each bottle contains soil. Then you fasten the bottletower to a vertical surface. We fastened ours to a pallet by drilling holes into it and using some special plastic fastenings.
Potato barrels: One of the objectives in this project was to test out and bring attention to unconventional urban cultivation solutions, in particular solutions/units that are useful for small spaces and even for balcony use. The vertical solutions are an example of that and so is the potato barrel. First of all you need to get a hold of some barrel and then you drill big holes (about 8 -10cm in diameter) into the side of the barrel, one side or all round. Potatoes are then planted inside the barrel and positioned so the potato grass will follow the light and grow out of the holes, one po-tato per hole. This technique makes it possible to grow the same amount of potatoes in much less space that with traditional techniques. In order for the potatoes at the bottom of the barrel to get some water we used a French draining system that is basically a pile of stones in a hole that goes through the soil in the middle of the barrel making it possible for water to travel along the stones to the bottom of the barrel. All excess water then goes out small holes that were drilled to the bottom of the barrel. Using the French draining system all of the plants or potatoes in this instance that go into the barrel get the same amount of water. These barrels can also be a good solution for growing strawberries or other plants.
KAFFI KAFFI
KAFFI
Ho
w d
id yo
u g
o ab
ou
t bu
ildin
g the d
iffere
nt e
lem
en
ts of th
e ga
rde
n?
Ho
w d
id yo
u g
o ab
ou
t bu
ildin
g the d
iffere
nt e
lem
en
ts of th
e ga
rde
n?
Ho
w d
id yo
u a
pp
ly for a p
lot
48 49
Potato Beds: We had heard that if soil was put up against a growing pota-to grass it would produce more potatoes. We wanted to test that out and made an experimental growing-bed (a growing growing-bed, pun intend-ed) that would grow in height as the potato grass grew in height. So each time a potato grass would grow 10cm a new piece of wood would be added to each side of the uplifted growing bed and soil added that would cover the potato grass almost all the way to the top. We used 120cm long 10cm wide two by fours as a base and then fastened three 120cm long 10cm wide wooden boards to the bottom of the two by fours mak-ing it a 4x120cm rectangle. The starting depth of the soil was 30cm but then we added 10cm each time the grass would grow that same length.
Where did you get the material for the garden?
Br. We went to various companies in and around the metropolitan area and asked for trimmings of material. From these companies we got bar-rels, wood, buckets, canvas bags, plastic fabrics, euro pallets and fish-ing net to work with.
20-30cm
Recycled Materials:
1. Istex2. Kaffitár, Keflavík3. Te og Kaffi4. Forestry Association of Reykjavík, (Skógræktarfélag Reykjavíkur)6. Gámaþjónustan7. Umbúðarmiðlun8. Aðföng9. Vesturbæjarskóli10. Háskóli Íslands 11. Elliheimilið Grund12. Landspítalinn13. Húsasmiðjan17. Málning18. Domestic Zoo20. Hampiðjan
1
2
3
4
6
8
1320
119
10 7
12 18
17
7
Ho
w d
id yo
u g
o ab
ou
t bu
ildin
g the d
iffere
nt e
lem
en
ts of th
e ga
rde
n?
Ma
teria
l
50 51
[ PLANTS ]
52 53
Au: To prepare the garden for the summer we sought knowledge from different people. We visited Jóhanna B. Magnúsdóttir. She runs the Cul-tivating and Education-center in Dalsá and her focus is on cultivating using biodynamic ideology. She was very important to us as we were getting started and taught us how to take care of plants. To kick start the project me and Brynja went to a permaculture workshop with Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir and Anja Gandelman in May. There we got our first impression of permaculture and learned the importance of growing or-ganically. Permaculture´s ideology is simulating nature in cultivation. Na-ture knows what works best and has been developing its ways for much longer than we have. We also visited and talked to Jón Guðmundsson, Hildur Hákonardóttir, Mörður Ottesen and Þórður G. Halldórsson.
Tell me roughly what ideas about cultivating you had for this summer?
Au: Our aim was to have simple gardening; specifically gardening in Ice-landic conditions.
Did you have precise plan for what to put in the garden?
Au: The budget to start the project was not a lot, so we used what we got for free. Blómaval agreed to sponsor us with plants and tools. We asked for plants that grow easily and can prosper even though they are
planted in mid-June for example; salad and pre-seeded plants. We also asked for flowers that are more known for their decorative purpose in gardens e.g. calendula and nasturtium.
How did the garden look like after the planting and seeding?
Au: There were, for example, potatoes, root vegetables, strawberries, salad, kale, herbs and flowers as mentioned before. The nasturtium is known for its colorful flowers, fewer people know of its culinary poten-tial. Next to it was the mint, which we found out grows in excess. The nasturtium and the mint grew as if they were in a competition with each other. In between them were peas which, as we later discovered, are extremely helpful in nurturing the ground and helping other plants.
People we have been seeking advise from：
1. Mörður Ottesen, Töfrastaðir, Community Organization, Torfastaðir 1 Selfoss
2. Hildur Hákonardóttir, Artist and an writer, Ölfusi
3. Jón Guðmundsson, Gardener, Akranesi
4. Jóhanna B. Magnúsdót-tir, Cultivating-and Educational Center Dalsá, Mosfellsdal
5. Þórður G. Halldórsson, Organic farmer of Akur, Laugarás
6. Anja Gandelman, Kristín Vala Ragnarsdóttir, Permaculture Workshop, at kindergarden Vesturborg
Capital
1
2
3
46
5
Se
ek
ing k
no
wle
dg
eP
lan
s
Pla
nts
54 55
We got a bit interested in weed. Weeds are plants that grow easily and can be nutritious. Why don’t we think of it with a more positive attitude? We put up a bed where only Chickweed grew out on the sides. Niki men-tioned that the Chinese have utilized the flowers of the chickweed in the culinary arts. This was a fun experiment but bizarrely enough that the weed did not blossom. Obviously something went wrong there.
We managed to get our hands on Common Scurvy grass. That is a weed speci-men that only grows in salty sand by the sea. It was planted in mid-July and had a good life until the end of August. We used sand and stones from the sea and therefore managed to recreate its natural habitat.
On our trips around the country we found creeping thyme, yellow bed-straw and sorrel. The sorrel lived a long and good life. The other two died shortly after being planted but since they are perennial plants time will tell if their roots died as well or not.
This was all quite spontaneous. Most of the beds were what would be defined as monoculture, which is the opposite of permaculture, the same plants in the same bed. But we had one “fusion” bed; there we had the previously mentioned nasturtium, peas, mint and herbs. They grew well though it might be better to have these aggressive plants in different spaces. The peas might have helped these two aggressive plants to grow even more.
There were also Icelandic strawberries. Jón from Akranes told us that we have cut away the new sprouts so the plant will focus on blossoming flowers and fruit. We didn’t do that but that might mean a better harvest next year.
Pla
nts
Pla
nts
56 57
How did you plan the planting area?
We made a social area in the middle and wanted our herbs close to it along with salad and flowers. The idea was to have a cooking area mixed in with the social area so people could easily reach the fresh food. The vegetable that grows slowly and might only give a harvest was kept fur-ther away.
Why did you emphasize plants that grow without much hassle?
Au: As a nation we have lost a lot of knowledge with time and this gar-den is a tool to reclaim and share that knowledge. It is good to start slowly and easy because if it gets to complicated or if the harvest fails it is easy to give up. We are beginners in cultivating and we do not want to make it too difficult for us since we are aiming for a good harvest.
Here our idea of growing according to Icelandic conditions applies as well. By that we mean there are a lot of plants that we know of that pros-per well in Icelandic conditions but there are others that we don’t know of, those we want to discover. Jón from Akranes is an experimentalist and an innovator. He introduced us to an onion, Tree onion, that grows easily and fast even in our conditions. In the garden this kind of knowl-edge can be shared.
One might call Hildur Hákonardóttir an advocate for foraging in Iceland. She uses wild Icelandic herbs and plants for cooking and talks of the im-portance of easy growing. Plants should not have to be difficult. Iceland does have good conditions and we should cultivate according to them.
In the ideology of Laugargarður you talk of the importance of under-standing the soil through cultivating how it works. Were there any discoveries on your journey?
Au: In Permaculture the soil is everything. Nothing happens if the soil is wrong. The plants get all of it nutrition from the soil. In that sense it is very logical to take good care of the soil so the soil will take good care of the plants.
We do not have a lot of knowledge in that area so we blindly followed wrong instructions of mixing the soil and the compost 50/50. But a vol-unteer on our First Seeding Day pointed out that the roots of the plants will then burn if the compost is too strong. After that we used the soil and compost 70/30. Plants thrive in different conditions and require var-ious sorts of nutrition from the soil. The soil is a world of its own, which one can read about and experiment with abundantly.
This summer was a rainy one. We noticed that the soil became unusually compressed. That might be because it can’t be avoided in raised beds, so Mörður Ottosen from Töfrastaðir advised us to cover the ground with straws or something similar. In nature the ground is never naked; there is always something there to cover it, leaves, weed etc. Nature knows
De
sign
of th
e pla
ntin
g are
aC
ultiva
ting a
ccord
ing to o
ur clim
ate
Cu
ltivatin
g acco
rdin
g to ou
r clima
teS
oil
58 59
best and we should simulate nature. This keeps the soil both warm and takes the fall from the rain.
Another permaculturist pointed out that everything needs to be adapted to different climates. Perhaps covering the soil with straws would not be ideal since they keep the ground moist which could create a perfect condition for snails to thrive.
We tried to tackle the rain this summer with one experiment using a draining system in one bed. We can’t say for sure how it worked, howev-er the plants in that bed looked grew well.
How do you see the next steps in cultivating?
Au: Next Saturday there will be a market, selling the rest of the harvest. We will have to prepare the garden for the winter, pick out the weed and cover the ground with compost and garden plastic.
The most important step for next summer is to design the beds and the order of the plants. By having the cultivation organized it will be easi-er and also fun to experiment with sister planting. Sister planting is a known method in cultivation where plants of different species benefit each other. Example of that is placing plants next to each other that attract and fend of the same undesirable insects. Since the garden has many separate beds making various experiments in cultivation are ideal.
To complete our vision of designing a holistic system we need a compost bin is essential.
Lastly there are many ideas floating around to try out and to maximize the harvest, e.g. heating the beds, building small greenhouses, self- wa-tering systems etc.
So
il
Ne
xt S
tep
60 61
[ FOOD EXPERIMENT ]
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Experiments:
Radish greens have a strange texture when uncooked but are tasty and good cooked. We tried them in an omelet with pan-fried Radish greens. We mixed radish greens pan-fried with rice and vinegar and onion. Pan-fried radish greens, onion and garlic with fresh radish and olive oil.
We have mentioned the nasturtium a few times earlier. We found it has an interesting taste and made great experiments. We tried to make nas-turtium pesto and butter. Then we oven baked potatoes with the butter and cheese. Lastly we tried the flowers in a garden salad.
Broccoli is more than just the flower we eat. The leaves become big and thick and good for cooking. We pan-fried broccoli greens in an omelet. And tried to used them in an garden salad.
Improving food culture is one of the motivations for this project. How did you tackle that part in connection to cultivating?
Au: The ideology of The Slow Food Movement emphasizes the impor-tance of food culture, knowledge, traditions and local food and cuisine. It is important that we learn to appreciate local food. The food is fresh, new, has not been transported over the half of the globe. It is important that people see and understand the value of eating locally.
Food waste is a global issue and food waste in Iceland has gained a lot of attention from the media recently. The Slow Food Movement is one of those that have been pointing it out. It appears that while variety ex-pands within the global community we have been losing knowledge of our local resources.
Eating locally is a statement. This was one of the roles of the garden; un-derstanding the value in growing your own food and promoting self-suf-ficiency.
We wanted to open up a discussion of what is food and what is consti-tutes as food. It seems in Iceland there is a profound lack of knowledge of how to make good use of our food. Why is some part of the vegetable considered food and the rest trash? The whole plant contains nutrition - not just the colorful part. Therefore we wanted to point out that just because the store does not sell radish with the radish greens it doesn’t mean it is not edible. You are able to cook it - and even enjoy the meal.
By looking to other food cultures one can learn a lot. Niki pointed out to us that in China they use every part of some vegetables that we are used to throwing away. She mentioned the roots of spinach, radish greens and calendula etc.
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[ SOCIAL APPROACH ]
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How did it effect the social aspect of the project to start so late to work on this ?
Br: There are many things that you can start to do before you get the plot among those are looking at connections with other activities in the city. Different parties from inside and outside of the neighborhood can be involved. It is always about working with the local community and having them involved in planning the garden. Bringing in experts will make the planning easier and more of a learning process.
Of course these experts can be found within the local community, and there is no one right way of doing this. We had not made these connec-tions when we started on the 19th of May and therefore we never had the opportunity to start like that. Actual dialogue with the local communi-ty will not start until you have the plot to work with and we only got that confirmed on the 4th of June.
We had no other choice than to create the garden and invite people to come to the Seeding Day where further decisions could be made involv-ing those who participated.
Basically we were creating the garden and advertising it at the same time which is a process that takes time. Therefore we look at our work this summer as a preparation for the next season. Now more people know about the garden and what it stands for which will probably make it easier to get people involved next summer.
What was your expectation at the beginning and how did the respons-es affect your research?
Br:We did not know at all what to expect at first. We had heard from the organizers of the annual flea market in Laugardalur that their first year’s participation was very low. It was like people were a bit shy to participate in something new. The second year more people participated and now 12 years later it has become a huge event.
Next year we should be able to estimate if this will also be the case with our experiment.
We decided to put emphasis on visibility and organized events to re-flect the ideology of the garden by collaborating with the people in the neighborhood. Our mission was to be representatives for a healthy food supply and to reach to people who do constructive things around the city. We also contacted various groups in the neighborhood to see if they would participate in a project like Laugargarður.
How did you let people know about the project?
Br:Well we did that in various ways. At the start we put a lot of effort in contacting the media. They, in turn, showed a lot of interest from the beginning which increased throughout the summer. There were news articles about us in almost all the newspapers. We were interviewed on Ras 2 radio, and Stöð 2 TV News and on Internet TV channels. We were also featured in several newspapers; Fréttatíminn, Fréttablaðið, Morgun-blaðið, Bændablaðið, Hverfisblaðið.
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How did you advertise within the neighbourhood?
Br. We did both conventional and unconventional advertisement. We distributed booklets to 3000 thousand homes where we advertised the garden and the Seeding Days.
In the beginning, before we got the plot we placed canvas bags with soil and vegetables in well visited areas in Laugardalur and we made signs with our Facebook ID.
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During the summer we advertised all our events with posters in and around Laugardalur.
We took the advantage of more established activities in the neighbor-hood by putting up a stand in the neighborhood flea market. There we gave seed envelopes to people stamped with the logo that Niki made for the garden.
Lautarferð í Laugargarði, LaugardalSáningardagur II / Seeding Day II25. Júní kl. 16.00 - 21.00
facebook.com/laugargardurwww.laugargardur.com
Gló býður upp á veitingar Boðið verður upp á kaffi
Gerum okkur glaðan dag í LaugargarðiMold og fræ á staðnum
Þeir sem luma á fræjum, forsáðum plöntum, ílátum eða öðru sem gæti nýst í garðinn mega þeir endilega taka með sér.
Laugargarður
Prentgripur
Prentgripur
Prentgripur Prentsmiðja
Prentgripur Prentsmiðja
TAKTU GRÆNU
SKREFIN
MEÐ OKKUR!
LaugargarðurSamfélagsrekinn matjurtargarður í Laugardal
MA nemar og BA nemar úr Listhaháskóla Íslands og Landbúnaðarháskólanum ætla í sumar að setja upp og hafa umsjón með samfélagsreknum hverrsgarði í Laugardalnum.
VVerkefnið verður unnið í samstarr við Reykjavíkurborg og verða ýmsar uppákomur sem tengjast sjállærni, eins og bændamarkaður og skiptimarkaður hluti af starfsemi garðsins.
Íbúar eru hvaair til að mæta og hjálpa til við að setja mold í beð og sá en fræ verða á staðnum fyrir þá sem mæta.
SÁNINGADAGUR / SEEDING DAY14. júní kl. 11:00-16:00
Frú Lauga og Matarkista Reykjavíkur munu bjóða gestum upp á súpu.
í LaugargarðiSunnudagur 24. ágúst
11:00 - 17:00
H A R V E S T C E L E B R A T I O N & F A R M E R S M A R K E T
w w w . l a u g a r g a r d u r . c o m
Scan the QR code to get the map in your mobile!
Laugargarður
Langholtsvegur
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Grasagarður Reykjavikur
Langholtsskóli
SuðurlandsbrautLaugarásvegur
Sunnuvegur
SæbrautFjölskyldugarðar
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Öllum er velkomið að taka þátt og ekki þarf að borga fyrir þátttöku. Við viljum hafa þetta �ölbreytt og vonumst til að sjá sem �esta bændur og heimaræktendur. Nánari upplýsingar eru á vefsíðu garðsins og á Facebooksíðu okkar. Endilega sendið okkur fyrirspurnir ef það er eitthvað sem er óljóst. Ef fyrirtæki vilja taka þátt þurfa þau að setja sig í samband við okkur fyrir 15. ágúst.
Everyone is welcome to participate and the entrance is free. We want farmers from the countryside to come and also people who are cultivating at home. For more detailed information please go to our website or Facebook page. If you have any questions please contact us. If companies are interested in participating they have to contact us before the 15th of August.
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When we were asking people after the summer where they heard about Laugargarður the answers were various and included all of the promo-tional methods we used this summer.
What kind of events did you have in the garden to get people to participate?
Br. With all our events we were advertising the garden but some were more directed towards getting people involved.
On June 14th we had Seeding Day I and on the 25th Seeding day II.
We figured if people took part in seeding they would be more likely to follow up on the rest of the process. We provided seeds and plants and encouraged people to bring their own plants if they had a surplus. It was nice to see how many brought plants from their garden. These plants were mostly perennial crops.
It would be ideas to have the plots defined were people bring their sur-plus plants for others to enjoy. Most people just brought plants and donated them because they really liked the project. Very few actually participated with the seeding and most of those who did were our own family members. The others that did participate were from other areas of Reykjavík.
In-between the seeding days we had a workshop on how to build uplift-ed beds. When we were designing the garden we thought of solutions to maximize the crop in small spaces. We wanted to share our findings and get people involved.
The workshop was held in pouring rain on June 17th which is our national day. We did not get any new participants which was no surprise. It is hard to advertise something in advance when you don’t know what the weather will be like.
We did not repeat this because the next thing on our agenda was Seed-ing Day II. We had to get the plants into the soil if we were going to have a harvest in the end of the summer.
Did you make other attempts to get people involved?
Br.We gave out a very clear message on Facebook that this was a peo-ple’s project and everyone could participate.
On August 4th we held a meeting to decide how to encourage people to join the project, even though the growing season was reaching its end. We listed projects that needed to be done like building up a seating area, putting up a cold greenhouse, etc. This was also a learning process for us. People said the main obstacle was that we were so long into the growing season and people didn´t know how to enter the project this late.
We decided we would always be in the garden every Thursday for a few hours and advertised it on Facebook. Only a couple of people came by on those Thursdays.
Did you learn something from these events?
Br.After the summer we talked to people that came to the garden and we learned there was one important thing that we neglected in the project. This was to tell people on Facebook when we were in the garden and what needed to be done there.
One woman that came on Seeding Day wanted to participate but wasn’t sure how to. She was also expecting to find more established commu-nity where she could learn about cultivation in general. Another woman who came with her child found it to be the opposite. She participated because she was looking for something she could do with her son, a six year old enthusiastic gardener. Both of them live in another neigh-borhood and they said that it was an obstacle from becoming an active member. I personally can agree with both of these ladies. I live in an-other neighborhood and we did not have any facilities to do our research near the garden. I would have been there more often if I lived nearby.
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Auður that was doing the plant research lives just next street to the gar-den and she was the one that went there most frequently. Sometimes when I went to the garden I took my son with me and we could spend ours there without realizing the passing of the time.
Tell me about the plant exchange day and where the idea comes from?
Br. On the 13th of July we had a plant exchange day. People did appreci-ate this and it was our best attended event up to that time.
The Horticultural Association has plant exchange day once a year for their members which is also quite popular. We wanted to have it open for everyone. To get more variation of plants the best time is probably from middle of May to the end of June. Although we did this a bit late it was fun and people brought mostly indoor plants and flowers to the event.
We were fond of the idea of exchanging plants which is a real value that continues to grow. Exchanging plants encourages communication be-tween citizens and it is in the spirit of Laugargarður.017
In our work we try to live according to our ideology which means you have to be mindful that what you receive is also to be given away. With Jóhanna in Dalsá we worked in her garden a part of a day to learn and to receive plants. 016
Than you ended the summer with a harvest celebration and a farmers market. Can you tell me about that?
Br.In the end of August we did a harvest celebration and farmers market. We wanted to demonstrate one of the practicalities of the project by bringing farmers market into the neighborhood. We believe the farmers market should be a part of neighborhood life to bring harmony and hu-manity into our daily lives. A farmers market is also often associated with urban farming which is perhaps a new approach to bring the corner shop back to the neighborhood.
We sold vegetables directly from the flower beds and sold products from organic farmers and individuals who sold vegetables from their private garden. Café Kigali was selling fair trade café and samosas. People came with food related products and even fabrics, jewelry and other things to sell.
We wanted everyone to enjoy the harvest so we made soup with ingre-dients from café Flóran, vegetables from the garden and fishbone ( left-overs) from the shops in the neighborhood.
To make this possible Café Flóran donated their work and cooked meals for 300 people. Many people attended this event which did not surprise us as we advertised it well and got good publicity. Farmers markets are popular and this one was no exception.
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What did you do to contact the locals directly?
Br. We contacted different entities in the neighborhood. The schools, kindergarten, after school programs, the local church, symbiotic for the disabled, and other organizations we could find.
Where people interested in the project?
Br. Almost everyone we contacted showed interested but many were starting their summer holidays or were already on vacation. For example we did not contact the elementary schools because they were already on vacation. We plan to contact those in the future and have someone in the community manage that if possible.
Who showed interest in the garden?
Br. There were some who were interested but had planned their vaca-tion. Those were mainly people from the church and the after school program.
We contacted all the kindergartens in Laugardalur and invited them to come to the garden. The kindergarten teachers close to the garden were interested but the others did not respond. We got three groups of kids from Brákaborg and Sunnuás on an organized visit to the garden. We explained to them how potatoes grow from the mother potato and that we were doing different kinds of experiments with the potato-beds, like
growing from the sides of the barrels and in canvas bags. The kids and us put soil into the vegetable beds, planted potatoes and watered the vegetable beds.
The kids enjoyed it and the preschool teachers were very positive about having Laugargarður in the neighbourhood. They were going to follow up the growing of the vegetation by visiting it over the summer. Before frost sets in, we will harvest the potatoes with the kids. We plan to cook them in collaboration with their teacher, either in the garden or they bring the potato harvest to the kindergarten.
At the end of summer I spoke to the teachers and asked them if they were able to enjoy the garden over the summer, or in August when they came back from holiday.
I also asked them if they would be interested in participating in daily chores by taking care of few small beds, bring organics for the compost or something like that. Due to summer vacation they were not able to visit the garden as it was shortly before the summer holiday. They want to be more involved next summer and start earlier so that the kids can follow more effectively. The same applies for the after school that. For this age group it could be helpful to have small assignments to take care of on a regular basis and for that a system must be designed that enables them to participate.
The same applies for the afterschool who are interested but the summer vacation makes it more difficult. It would facilitate the participation of the schools if the cultivation time was extended.
Local Connections:
5) Áskirkja (church)7) Laugarneskirkja (church)6) Langholtskirkja (church)8)Hólmasund, symbiotic for disabled9)Kleppsvegur 90, symbiotic for autism3) Holtavegur, symbiotic for disabled1) The Botanic Garden2) Domestic Zoo10) Warehouse for Summerschool for teenager19) Dalsheimar, afterschool for kids11) Sunnuás, kindergarden12) Brákaborg, kindergarden13) Laugasól, Lækjaborg, kindergarden14) Langholt, Sunnuborg, kindergarden15) Farmers Market Frú Lauga, grocery store 16) Gló, restaurant17) Café Flóran18) Summer working school
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Did you have more groups coming to the garden?
Br. We were thinking of contacting the summer working school who pro-vide gardening work for teenagers - but they beat us to it and contacted us first. They were curious about the garden and wanted to bring in a few groups of teenagers who were graduating elementary school. It turned out to be a large group of about 40 kids.
We explained to them the philosophy of the garden. We had prepared different assignments for them and we also wanted to show them vari-ous bed solutions they could make themselves.
The guides were pleased with the visits and said that it was important for the kids to know what was happening in their neighborhood. If we wanted, we could have another group of teenagers visit the garden later.
We thought of how we would do it differently if we would get another group from the Working School. We all agreed that if we would get another group the approach had to be different at this phase. The group would have to be smaller and secondly the teenager should be more involved in forming the idea of selected task. At that time we had not de-signed any social area nor set up the neighborhood kitchen. We wanted to have everything set up right from the beginning so we thought about doing the setup with them. They would then be a part of creating some-thing they could use themselves.
At this stage the garden needed more involvement of people that is inter-ested in taking part in developing the garden - so we didn’t want to place an emphasis on getting people there for educational reasons.
What enterprises in the neighbourhood did you contact and why?
Br. Improving food culture is a large part of why we are doing this. We wanted to get the people in the neighborhood involved and offer them good food at our events over the summer. We contacted Frú Lauga, Gló, Café Flóran and they funded the project by cooking or giving ingredients for soups. For one event we contacted the fish shops in the neighbor-hood who gave us fish bones. This was a collaborative effort to tackle the issue of food waste.
Did you contact local enterprises for collaborating with Laugargarður?
Br. Yes, that was our initial ideas to see if it could be related somehow. The sustainability of a project like this lies in connecting organizations, activities and people in the neighborhood. With that in mind we also contacted Frú Lauga’s farmers market. They loved the project and were happy to help out. The summer is the busy season so it was hard to find an angle for us to work on at this stage. Rakel the owner of Frú Lauga once mentioned to me that they were interested in urban farming and cultivating locally, - connecting her shop with the elementary school in the neighborhood. Maybe if the garden concept will be developed fur-ther new possibilities can come to light in the future.
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You use both English and Icelandic on your webpage, Facebook and in your advertisements. Why is that?
Br. We wanted to reach to everyone that are living in Reykjavík and that includes foreigners. Foreigners contribute a lot to our food culture in my opinion. I have received a newsletter from the Permaculture Association written in English, so I guess there is a group of people there with inter-est in the subject even though they do not understand Icelandic.
It also opens up possibilities to establish a relationship with other proj-ects and community gardens around the world. By sharing our knowl-edge we can inspire, and we can be inspired by others.
Did some people or organization get involved with some related to the garden?
Br. In the end of July there was a Spanish architect from Pez Estudio who contacted us for a collaborative workshop with the garden project. The idea was to build an infrastructure for the community that would evoke social interaction and tackle issues like environmentally friendly energy sources. We, of course, were very happy to attract such a promising project to the garden. They held a one week workshop and built a travel kitchen that could become of use both for the after school that is close by and Laugargarður.
You are also collaborating with Café Kigali, tell me about that?
Br. After the farmers market Cafe Kigali contacted us with the idea of selling salads from Laugargarður. Niki designed a salad packaging and cards with the Laugargarður logo. It was just a symbolic act as they only received a few pots of salad to sell to their customers. We found it to be a nice idea to demonstrate the concept and show how local food produc-ers could collaborate with local restaurants.
Did you expect to gain attention from foreign projects coming to Iceland?
Br. Well I had not thought of that option, really. Of course it is a part of the Laugargarður concept to get people involved with anything relative to sustainability. The beauty of the project is that it attracts people who are working on improving the world by raising awareness of sustainabil -ity in one way or another.
Do you have any upcoming events related to the garden?
We are in contact with the founder of Saga Fest, Scott Shigeoka (www.saga.is). He is organizing an art and music festival to be held on a farm outside of Reykjavík in May next year. With the festival they are moti-vated to cause a deep transformation in society through art and music. In the first year they want to associate the event with food and sustain-ability. We are now formulating an idea to organize a workshop together
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with him and with Guðrún Hulda Pálsdóttir that works at nature.is. The idea is that locals could work with permaculturist ideas on designing the garden.
If you would do something differently what would that be?
Br. There are two important things that I think we could have been clear-er on.
The seeding days were meant to get people into the garden to explore their interest in the project and find out if or how they would like to participate. This message was clearer when we advertised the Decision Making Meeting in August, but that was a bit too late in the season. An-other important aspect that we neglected over the summertime was to announce on Facebook when we were in the garden and what needed to be done there. Also, it is a challenge to get people to participate in something that is already up and running. If we would do this again in another neighborhood, I would start earlier and have the plot ready at least 3 months earlier. After our work this summer, we have an advan-tage of doing it with the community when the next season arrives. With the continued progress of the garden we have to take advantage of that possibility.
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[ CASE STUDY ]
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Have you been looking at foreign case studies of cultivating collectively?
Br. We have been looking at various case studies that were born out of very different situations. They all share the same motives of changing our current system in favor of the citizens by finding new ways of using public spaces. I think they can be very useful as an inspiration but we have to adapt to social, climatic and environmental factors.
There are four gardens I looked at closely, two in Berlin, and one in Cuba and in Barcelona.
The idea of the seeding days for example came from a project called 2000m2. It is an educational project and the founders are Carla Giardinia organic farmer and Ben Wissler a biologist. They provided 2000m2 land for the project and they had not decided what to do with the harvest. They wanted to make decisions with the future participants in the proj-ect. Their project is about raising awareness of our food system. If we divided all arable land in the world and divided it between each of us equally, everyone would get 2000m2 to grow everything we need, food, energy, materials for clothing etc. In Europe, for example, there is more food wasted than what we grow in our part of the world.
The organization is funded by donations and they offer people and orga-nizations to adopt a land and by doing so they get their logo or photo of themselves on a sign that is put down in the garden.
Adopt a Square Meter
I also looked into the system in Cuba which is probably the best example of enhancing sustainability in food production by a nation implementing Agro Ecological system on a national scale. This was made possible with vigorous education on ecological cultivation and by encouraging farmers to be innovative and to share knowledge through collaboration. One part of their strategy was to increase urban agriculture. Now approximately 70% of vegetable consumption in Havana comes from urban agriculture. They call their urban vegetable gardens “organoponicos” and people are cultivating organically both collectively and on private plots.
On Havana’s 44th Street in Playa municipio there is a organoponico founded in 1991 where they practice collective cultivation. Part of the harvest goes to an institutional kitchen and the rest is sold directly from the garden. There are eight people working in the garden and they re-ceive 80% of the profit, while 15% goes to the government and 5% is reinvested in the garden. On the team there are three people who take care of the cultivation, three salesmen, one biologist, and an agronomist who is also the collective director.
In their cultivation efforts they follow recommendations laid down in an agriculture manual written by the Cuban government and the United Nations. There they get instructions how to use specific vegetation in the garden as a trap for undesired insects, and how to use companion planting methods for the same purpose. People in those communities enjoy the culmination of their work.
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When we were forming the ideology of Borgarbýli we very much inspired by the project Prinzessinnengarten in Berlín. The co-founders Robert Shaw and Marcus Clausen started the garden in 2009. They found a 6000m2 vacant plot for the project in the middle of a busy neighborhood and changed it into a flourishing community garden with the help of neighbors and other volunteers. It was meant to become an educational center where neighbors could come together and did experiments, ex-changed knowledge, learned about organic food production, biodiversity and climate preservation. The purpose of the garden is to increase bi-ological, social and cultural diversity by exploring new ways of living in a city.
Cafe Prinzessinnengarten
There are many educational programs held in the garden throughout the year for kids and teenager. It is a social enterprise so they have to keep certain amount of employees throughout the year.
The organizers partnered with a few schools and a society of immigrants. There is for example a group of elderly women who hardly speak any German who have their own plot where they can cultivate vegetables that are familiar to them. They can then harvest and cook together, and sell their produce at the Bistro. Their motto is basically “Do It Yourself & Do It Together”. With that motto they managed to cultivate five hundred different kinds of vegetables and herbs in their garden.
Every Thursday afternoon people come to the garden to help out. When extra work needs to be done they send out a newsletter and ask for help. In mid-April they start to organize for the season ahead.
They encourage people to become members of the garden and offer them vegetables at a cheaper price. They also approached the commu-nity by encouraging people to come and clear up garbage. They did not know what to expect and were expecting maximum 10 people, but even-tually150 volunteers came to help out. That success has probably some-thing to do with the German awareness when it comes to environmental issues, which seems to have brought them together on this subject.
Now twenty two community gardens have been established in Germany connected to the Prinzessinnengarten.
One other example I got to know though a friend of mine, Lara Rodriges. She lives in Floresta, a little town just outside of Barcelona and is a mem-ber of a community garden in her hometown. The garden is one of many community gardens in Spain that was born from the 15M movement.
After the crisis organization social movements are becoming more wide-spread in many countries. These movements are encouraging people to act locally to strengthen community relation and find alternative ways against the capital system.
In Spain the 15M movement has been influential in many ways and as Lara puts it, it has encouraged people to speak more freely and openly with their neighbors about their situation. The name 15M derives from nationwide protest where people occupied the city square for many days in all the largest city of Spain. Manifesto that promoted the reestablish-ment of the democracy was published and the square was sectioned off for assemblies where different social problems were discussed. Shortly after this, the assembly concept spread into the neighborhoods and the smaller villages, and they are now a regular event in many places.
In the assembly they discussed how to make a better use of abandoned areas in Floresta and came up with the idea of putting up a community garden with collective cultivation. There were some experts in the as-sembly who were from another village and they made plans for the cul-tivation and bought seeds with money which the community had raised.
The community held a flea market where people decided how much they paid for what they were buying. They got enough money together to buy seeds and to put up a shelter that is also used for the assembly. They re-ceive water from the municipality as it is not very well controlled. There is no division of labor in the garden. People just water when they pass by and can they can take some vegetables home if they like.
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It is an organic cultivation and is planned in a way to make the mainte-nance as easy as possible by placing plants side by side that go well to -gether. Lara said that means that plants from the same family are never placed next to each other, which attracts insects which would not hap-pen with random combinations.
The system is working well she says but it need to be more organized as often when I come the soil is very dry. I don´t meet the community very much when I am in the garden but in the assemblies we meet and make decisions. But in the assemblies there are also other groups that are spokesmen for other subjects than the gardens.
As you can see from only these few examples community gardens dif-fer from place to place. They are influenced by many factors such as the ideology of the garden, the people who participate, the organization involved, politics and policies, geographical and climate conditions, etc.
We can find inspiration in foreign models, but every project and every country is dealing with different factors. Here we need to do more re-search and experiments to promote the growth of urban agriculture in Iceland. Most of the considerations we see with the other gardens are global issues and can be applied here, but others are more connected with our society and need to be considered on their own merits. Also the social approach is very much linked to the characteristics of our society and can only been experimented with here.
What learnings could we draw from existing gardens in Iceland?
Br.There are pros and cons with our current system that we can learn from to support further development in urban agriculture. The Horticul-tural Association of Iceland only has three gardens in Reykjavík and the one is Smálöndin is situated inside a neighbourhood the other two in the outskirt. The garden in Smálöndin has been extremely popular and has a long waiting list.
According to Kristinn H. Þorsteinsson the educational and information representative of The Horticultural Society there are manifold reason for that. The distance from home is an important factor but in Smálöndin they managed to form a community from the beginning. There the fa-cilities are good and it is fenced which is a good protection against the wind. People can only access the garden with a key and as he puts in “gives the garden a bit of a mystic”. The other gardens are not fenced and last July there was a frost that killed much of the greens in the garden Guðmundarlundur. As not all of the plots in the gardens have been rented out the weed from the unrented plots has spread out and is affecting all the others gardens. With our climate it is a challenge to cultivate and that in addition with fighting with the weed seems to be important reason why people give up. When speaking to people that are
into gardening they also mention that the system of renting a plot year after year is extremely important as you can control your soil and you know what has been treated.
All the plots that the city of Reykjavík is renting are situated in a residen-tial area, except the one in Skammidalur. The attendance to rent a plot from the city has been increasing the last few years and for example this year all the gardens except from one in Árbær were fully booked and had a waiting list. Despite these facts there seems to be many plots that people do not use at all or many give up in the beginning. The system that the City of Reykjavík offers can be improved in many ways both to encourage new cultivators to continue and also to attract to the garden more experts in cultivating. What the gardens are being criticized for is for example the system of renting out new plots every year. Having ac-cess year after year to the same plot both gives people the opportunity to plant perennial plants but also to build up the soil in the wright will make the cultivation easier. Every year the gardens from the city are plowed and by doing so weeds and undesired insects are spread across the garden. Some experts are even talking about that plowing the soil disrupts the balance of the soil with the consequences affecting water absorption causing too much flood. At least many people either gave up or were seriously thinking of surrendering against the weed. Few years ago the City of Reykjavík supplied the gardener’s with horse manure but has not offered that service the last to years. It would be a good idea to take that system up again as animal manure is a good way to build up the soil and will reduce the use of artificial fertilizers. After talking to experts, looking at study cases and reading books about how our eco-system works I am convinced that gardening does not have to be about fighting against weed. We have to start with the soil. This of course can be a bit overwhelming for a new cultivator to step into and therefore a well - informed community where people can exchange knowledge is ex-tremely helpful at the beginning.
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Do you think gardens like Laugargarður could be important contribu-tion to urban farming in Iceland?
Br. With Laugargarður we are not competing with what already exist we just believe that we should explore different forms of urban agriculture and add more diversity into our daily lives. One thing does not have to replace another, many that are cultivating are renting out plots and also cultivating at home. According to our survey most of the people that are cultivating are also interested in cultivating collectively.
There are no community gardens in Iceland that have a policy of organic cultivation. Urban agriculture as it is practiced in most places today is people’s response to our current food system. Therefore it makes no sense other than to cultivate organically.
By doing so we will also learn much more about how our soil works and in our consumerism world we need to connect more to the soil which is our groundings. Most study cases show that sharing knowledge of new techniques and ecological cultivation is the best way to recreate our food system.
According to our survey the majority of gardeners do agree on the impor-tance of having rules about organic cultivation in a community garden.
A garden like we are promoting is grounded on the idea of a gift econo-my where values are not sold, but rather given out with any future profit agreement. This can be in many forms. People can commit themselves to do something that strengthens the community and for some the social benefits is rewarding. Also experts can give courses without charging and participants are free to donate money. A system like that allows everyone to participate regardless of financial situation. In Iceland there are few groups on Facebook where people exchange knowledge, time and objects like ókeypis garðyrkjuráðgjöf ( free gardening exchange), áhugafólk um kryddjurtaræktun ( enthusiasts herb cultivation), Gefins, allt gefins (everything for free) and now we have a Icelandic division of street bank
Another possibility we see with a garden like this is connecting it with the school system. In the survey we asked people what would be the best way to teach children about cultivation. 68% were of the opinion that every school should have a plot and a greenhouse. Thereof 17% think that only schools should provide the children with this knowledge but the rest 51% were of the opinion that it should be a combination of school and family.
Do you think that people understand your concept?
Br. We have been trying to give out the messages that this is something that people can be involved in developing from the beginning. There are people who would like to be a part of the activity and there are others who would like to join in later.
We surveyed people about cultivating collectively. Almost everyone likes the social part of the project and also that activities like this could add more life to their neighborhood.
Gaining knowledge was also a common response but very few people liked it only for the growing of food. So we think the message has gotten through. I like to believe people are just taking their time to adjust to the idea, and maybe they will want to join in for the next cultivation season.
Do you think it is important that htere are rules in community gardens about organic cultivation?
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Do you think collective cultivation could be implemented here?
Br. Maybe it can be – but then again, maybe it will prove to be impossi-ble. On the one hand, it is hard to imagine Icelanders working together on communal goals as we are a very individualistic society. But then again we do adapt very easily to current trends, and more and more peo-ple are longing for changes in our society. Most people realize how our food supply system is not working out well, and that we need to think of different alternatives to approach social issues. One important aspect is breaking the isolation many people live in by redesigning our public spaces and promoting communication between people in general. Many Icelanders are making a difference in a variety of ways, and hopefully this will in the end stimulate projects like Laugargarður.
Looking at the survey 63% of the overall responses we received was in favor of cultivating collectively in public spaces.
Could you read from the survey how people are interested in partici-pating in a project like Laugargarður?
Of 63% that are interested in participating in cultivating collectively.
31% of the participants are interested in participating in the daily chores in the garden. Some would like to take part in forming the garden and other activities.
11% of the participant is interested in only forming the activity of the gar-den while 9% is interested in connecting the garden with other activities in the neighborhood.
13% were interested in bringing events into the garden live while 9% very only interested in organizing the farmers market.
All of the above sounds like a good formula for creating a lively garden concept. One thing that I found interesting is that over 50% of the peo-ple were interested in organizing farmers market.
Over 50% of the participants would like to come in with events. Maybe that demonstrates how much creativity there is?
A Farmers market only
B Events only
C Forming of activities only
D Daily live
E School Project
F Connecting to neighborhood
G Seeding day
H Interested in all activities
I Interested but do not say in what
CF Forming of the garden and connecting it with activities in the neighborhood
CD Forming of the garden and daily live
DF Daily live and connecting it with activities in the neighborhood
DE School project and daily live
All participants in the survey
Are interested inparticipating incollective cultivation
Did not show interest
0%A B C D E F G H I CF CD DE
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interested in the garden butnot in the daily activities
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[ SUMMARY ]
98 99
Our research on urban agriculture this summer has strengthen our opin-ion that that there is a ground for more diversification in urban cultiva-tion. Urban agriculture has been illustrated in various forms all over the world for decades. Undoubtedly there are individuals and groups in Reykjavík willing to launch urban agricultural projects in their neighbor-hood. It could be difficult to measure whether the impact of our work this summer will encourage others to follow. The City of Reykjavik has formulated an urban agriculture policy and and has already adjusted some of its rules and regulations to encourage urban agriculture. As an example the inhabitants in Reykjavik can now apply for an authorization to maintain chickens. Also this summer the city has given its permission to built two new community gardens following an initiative of its inhab-itants.These gardens are located next to municipal horticultural gardens which can be beneficial in many ways and can reinforce the existing activity in place. There is a question-mark whether it will be possible in the future to obtain authorizations for such community gardens in less traditional places such as close to people‘s residences. There seem to be an interest among the residents to utilize unexploited areas for cul-tivation, such as unoccupied spaces in playgrounds. The author of the chapter on urban agriculture in Reykjavik‘s 2010-2030 municipal plan, Salvör Jónsdóttir, claims that the future of urban agriculture depends on its residents‘ initiative, i.e. how the people will exploit the current mod-ifications which are aimed at enabling such activities. The inhabitants of Reykjavik will have to demonstrate their willingness by concrete and correct actions as we did with Laugargarður. There are things that the administration can do to encourage urban agriculture. The Canadian tax incentive against lending a yard approach, is a good example of this
Communicating about our activities was time consuming but the media showed a growing interest right from the start. The general public also showed some interest but it was difficult to get them to participate in the project as they came late in the cultivating season. However, as time passed we noticed growing interest among the population and many were curious to know if they could participate next year.
By the end of the summer we started to receive enquiries from people abroad who were coming to Iceland for research or projects related to sustainability. The fact that they were directed towards us illustrates that our endeavor had brought some notoriety to the project and also that it was related to sustainability.
As the project was conducted through the summer season we could not reach as many targets as we wished. But this is a long term project and should evolve in an organic way and be shaped by the people joining it along the way.
Preschool children planted potatoes in our garden. By the end of the summer we spoke to their teachers. They were very positive and ex-pressed interest in participating again in the project. This could be done
in various ways but starting as early in the season as the weather allows would be a prerequisite for the children‘s attention and the participation. Dalsheimar after-school is also interested in connecting to the garden but because of summer breaks in preschools and in schools, it would be worth considering extending the cultivation season.
This summer the cultivation was done in a non-organized manner be-cause we used the plants we could get. We were all inexperienced and could not deliver much knowledge on cultivation. However we did some food experiments with the vegetables from the garden since we wanted to demonstrate greater utilization possibilities with food in order to reduce waste. Also we consulted different representatives from the cultivation society and we tried to communicate our findings to the gen-eral public.
In order to build an educated society it is necessary to start by organizing the cultivation next summer and study next steps for further structuring. The possibilities are manyfold.
We have managed to gain attention within the local and broader com-munity. The next steps would be to utilize this attention as well as the connections we have built to prepare the activity next year.
This winter we will organize a workshop with people who are connected into the green community. The aim of the workshop is to organize the garden with people in the neighborhood and base the work on the con-cept of permaculture.
We were influenced by permaculture as we believe it can be positive for human relations and at the same time enhance the relationship between man and nature. Permaculture is about creating an interactive unity by imitating natural processes while we are positioning our existence. A lot of people are working in this spirit and together we can learn from each other and reconquer our connection with nature.
The participation of the neighbors and others in the neighborhood in the preparation for next summer is a key for success for the continuing existence of the garden.
There seems to be an interest among the inhabitants of the city for a common cultivation in the city districts, both among experienced people and newcomers. Only time can tell if Laugargarður will survive and gain ground.
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[ APPENDIX ]
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[Survey ]
With this survey we are investigating the general interest in urban farm-ing in Reykjavík. We are both looking at what exist in the city and also exploring new possibilities . We have been doing a new experiment with Laugargardur this summer and we would like to see if people are inter-ested in the concept of cultivating collectively.
We would appreciate your participation and with this we are hoping to support positive changes in our society.
You only need to answer the questions you find appropriate.
Age
• 16 - 21
• 22-35
• 36-45
• 46-60
• 60<
Sex
• Female
• Male
In what neighborhood do you live___________________
Are you cultivating vegetables?
• No
• Yes
I rent a plot from The Horticultural Association of Iceland
• I also would like to participate in cultivating collectively in my neighbourhood
• I would rather like to participate in cultivating collectively in my neighborhood than cultivate on my own
• I rent a plot from the City of Reykjavík
• I also would like to participate in cultivating collectively in my neighbourhood
• I would rather like to participate in cultivating collectively in my neighborhood than cultivate on my own
Where do you rent a plot?
• I have a private garden and I cultivate
• I also would like to participate in cultivating collectively in my neighbourhood
• I would rather like to participate in cultivating collectively in my neighborhood than cultivate on my own
• I don´t have much experience of cultivating or I don´t rent or have garden to cultivate
• I would like to participate in a community garden in my own neighbourhood
• I would like to participate in collective cultivation
• I would like to rent my own private plot
If you would like to participate in a community garden with collec-tive cultivation what do you expect to gain from it?
• Gain knowledge from more experienced people
• Get ideas to take home
• Socialize with people in my neighborhood
• It is a nice activity to do with my family without putting to much time in it
• I would get some vegetables without putting to much work in it
• I like the social part of this project, because it can encourage more communication between neighbors.
• I think it makes my neighborhood more lively
• I think it is an exciting experiment that could develop in many ways and I would like to be a part of that
• For growing food
How far does a community garden have to be from your home so that you would go there on a regular basis?
• Less than 500 m
• 500m
• 1km or less
• Anywhere within the neighbourhood
• In the city
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Have you ever thought of just going out to the street with your neighbors and start cultivating in uplifted vegetable beds?
• Yes
• No
Do you think it is important that there are rules in community gar-dens about organic cultivation?
• Yes
• No
Would you be more interested in having public greenhouses in your neighborhood than only cultivation outdoor over the summertime?
• Yes
• No
What do you think would be the best way to teach children about cultivation?
• Learn it with their family as it is such a good way to spend a time together
• Every school should have a plot/greenhouse where they grow their vegetable
• Take up the old system of the School garden ( children could take a courses in summertime where they got a little plot throughout the summer)
• Other
Wold you like to have a farmers market regularly in your neighbor-hood?
• Yes
• No
I think it is a good idea to have a place in your neighborhood where you can exchange plants and seeds
• Yes
• No
Have you heard about Laugargardur?
• Yes
• No
How would you like to participate in a society like Laugargarður? (cultivating collectively)
• I would like to participate with some events,
• I would like to be a part of forming the activity of the garden
• I would like to take part in daily live of the garden
• I would like to come to certain events like seeding day
• I would like to connect it to my school project
• I like the idea of having farmers market linked to the garden. I would like to work on that
• I would like to work with connecting the garden with activities in the neighborhood
With Laugargarður we have been working on a research on com-munity gardens. Now we are looking at what we did this summer and what can be learned from that. We are looking at different case studies of other community gardens to get inspiration on how a community garden could be organized. We would also like to hear from you if you are interested in participating in the garden and how you would like this community to be organized and what you would like to contribute. Would you be interested in attending such a meeting?
• Yes
• No
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[Interview ]
Interview with Lara Rodriges, Reykjavík, 3. September 2014
How did the community garden become into existence?
One of the topics we were discussing in the village assembly was how we could make use of abandoned plots. We decided two years ago to take over a small area that is in between houses. It is smaller than Lau-gargarður.
How was it organized?
There was a meeting to organize the garden. Few people in the group were specialized in cultivating, they made the planning we gave them money, they bought the seeds and gave instructions to the others of how to cultivate.
Did you pay for the seed from you own pocket?
We put up a flea market, where people could pay what they wanted for the things they bought.
We managed to collect 50 thousand krónur that was plenty of money to buy the seeds and also with that we built a shelter out of Euro pallets to use for the assembly. We have had at least two flea markets.
How is the garden organized?
There is no division of labor, people just water when they walk by. I sometimes go there on my way home, pick up some vegetable and sometimes I notice that the plot is too dry so I water it. Twice a year we have seeding day.
Is this working well?
I think it needs to be more organized who goes there to water, the idea was that we would all be active but in practice it is not working like that. It is working ok but needs to be watered more. The cultivation was designed in a way it would need as little maintenances as possible. We plant together plants that are beneficial to each other and there are no plants from the same family that are planted side by side.
Do you harvest all the year around?
Yes we harvest all year around and it is seasonal growing. In summer we have tomatos and in winter salad and kale etch.
Is it organic?
Yes
You are cultivating collectively but what about the garden communi-ty, do you meet in the garden?
I don’t meet many when I am in the garden
Do you have organized meetings?
Yes there are meetings but they are usually at 5 o’clock in the daytime when I am at work. Than we meet at the assembly but in that meetings we are talking about more issues than the garden. Maybe two out of ten people are from the garden.
How does the assembly work?
This is a democracy where everyone has a voice. It has developed since from the beginning. At the beginning some people were talking a lot about things that were not relevant. Now we have a mailing list. Every-one can send in a topic they would like to discuss in the meeting. There is one person that is leading the meeting, she has overview of all the topics and people have to respect the time they are given to speak. We try to have different person leading the meetings every time.
Do you get all your vegetables from the garden?
No, it has little variety so I have to buy vegetables.
Do you think the cultivation could be planned better?
Yes, I guess it could be. What we are growing in the garden are vegeta-bles that grow fast.
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Lara then tells me about a community garden that her sister is a part of in Poble Nou.
They took 4-5 abandoned plots that are in between houses and they di-vided it to individual plots.
It is more developed garden. It also was born in one of those assemblies they have in Poble Nou. They organized the plot together and it is a nice community that has developed around it. In summer they have an open air movie which they project at a wall of one of the houses.
My sister designed a compost bin and people can bring their organics waste there.
They have put up a fence and lock it with key. It is mostly for preventing the police to enter.
[ Bibliography ]
Articles and reports retrieved from the web:
Bogadóttir, S. 2010. City Archives. Laugardalur bernsku minnar. http:/ /www.borgarskjalasafn.is /desktopdefault.aspx /tabid-3930 / 6663_read-19705/ [Looked at 25.7.14]
City Mayor Statistics. 2007. The largest cities in the world by land area population and density. http:/ /www.citymayors.com/statistics/ larg-est-cities-density-125.html [Looked at 12.9.14]
City of Reykjavík Department of Environment and Planning. 2013. Aðal-skipulag Reykjavíkur 2010-2030. Reykjavík.
City of Reykjavík. “Græna borgin: Skipulag Vistvænna Hverfa, Náttúra, Landslag og Útivist, Umhverfi og Auðlindir, Vistvænar Samgöngur.”Ac-cessed July, 2014. http:/ /eldri.reykjavik.is /Portaldata /1/Resources/umh-verfissvid /myndir/skyrlsur/A3._Gr_na_borgin.pdf
Daði Björnsson. “Hörfar Lúpínan? Dæmi úr Heiðmörk” Accessed Sep-tember, 2014. http:/ /www.skog.is / images/stories/frettir/2011/horfar- lu-pinan.pdf
Ellinger , Mickey. “Urban Agriculture in Cuba” The Race, Poverty Enviro-ment: A Journal for Social and Enviromental Justice. Accessed in July, 2014. http:/ /reimaginerpe.org /17-2/ellinger
Puig, Salvador Marti. “15M: The Indignados”, University of Salaman-ca, Spain. Accessed In July, 2014. http:/ /www.academia.edu/1618814/The_Indignados_new_Spanish_Social_Movement_against_the_crisis
Sosa Machín, Braulio and Jaime Roque, Adilén María and Ávila Lozano,Dana Rocío, Rosset ,Peter Michael. “REVOLUCIÓN AGRO-ECOLÓGICA: El Movimiento de Campesino a Campesino de la ANAP en Cuba.” www.rebelion.org /docs/111067.pdf
Sustainable Cities Collective. 2014. The Ephemeral Village 2014 A Vi-sionary Event in Montreal, Canada. http:/ /sustainablecitiescollective.com /global - s i te - p lans - gr id / 283691/ephemeral -v i l lage -2014 -v ision -ary-event-montreal-canada [Looked at 15.7.14]
Brundtland , Gro Harlem “Our Common Future 1987, Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development.” United Nation. Accessed September 12th. http:/ /conspect.nl /pdf/Our_Common_Fu-ture-Brundtland_Report_1987.pdf
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Books
Anthony, Diana. Creative Sustainable Gardening. Powys: CAT Publica-tions, 2000.
Blamey, Marjorie and Christopher Grey Wilson. Flóra Íslands og Norður-Evrópu. Translated by Óskar Ingimarsson and Jón O. Edwald. Reykjavík: Skjaldborg, 1992.
Callard, Sarah and Diane Millis. Green Living: Eco-Friendly Homes, Nat-ural Gardening, Organic Food, Energy Saving, Recycling. London: André Deutsch Limited, 2001.
Cockrall -King, Jennifer. Food and the City: Urban Agriculture and the New Food Revolution. New York: Prometheus Books, 2012.
Ferguson, Francesca, editor. Make_Shift City: Renegotiating the Urban Commons: Die Neuverhandlung des Urbanen. Berlin: JOVIS Verlag, 2014.
Hildur Hákonardóttir. Ætigarðurinn: Handbók Grasnytjungsins. Reykjavík: Bókaútgáfan Salka, 2006.
Holmgren, David. Permaculture: Principles & Pathways Beyond Sustain-ability. Victoria: Holmgren Design Services, 2011.
Norman, Nils. Edible Park. Amsterdam: Valiz, 2012.
Óli Valur Hansson, editor. Matjurtabók: Leiðbeiningar um ræktun og hirðingu matjurta og berja. Reykjavík: Garðyrkjufélag Íslands, 1978.
Páll Skúlason, Menning og Sjálfstæði Páll Skúlason, Háskólaútgáfan, 1994.
Trivia retrieved from webpages:
2000m2, http:/ /www.2000m2.eu/
Natturan.is
Prinzessinnengarten, http:/ /prinzessinnengarten.net
Slow Food Iceland, Reykjavík
The Horticultural Society of Iceland, http:/ /www.gardurinn.is /Default.asp?Sid_Id=16324&tId=99&Tre_Rod=&qsr
Pictures taken from:
Adopt a Square Metre, http:/ /www.2000m2.eu/get- involved/. Accessed September 12th
Old man cultivating, http:/ /reimaginerpe.org /files/ images/04.%20Bra-ley_20091116_HighRes.preview.jpg. Accessed September 12th
Café Prinzessinnengarten. http:/ /www.knooppuntenvanzachteinfra-structuur.nl /wp -content /uploads / Hoofdfoto -Prinzessinnengarten.jpg. Accessed September 12th
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