Tag Archives: urban gardening

Beyond Construction Site, beyond informality?

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With Aidan Cerar
Beyond small gardens: Beyond Construction Site community garden, pp. 72-79
Urška Jurman, Polonca Lovšin (eds.)
KUD Obrat | Ljubljana | 2021 | ISBN 978-961-95545-0-0

Beyond Construction Site community garden has been active for more that a decade. Located in Ljubljana city centre, it is well known to the public. As a successful case of urban gardening, food supply, community building and temporary land-use management, it has attracted considerable media coverage and experts’ attention. Less attention, however, has been placed on its importance for citizen participation in the city. The article discusses Beyond Construction Site community graden as a case of community building and citizen participation that can help building partnerships between residents, neighbourhood communities, civil society organisations and city government, and in consequence contribute to democratic neighbourhood management and sustainable urban development in Ljubljana. The article argues that the City of Ljubljana has so far failed to take this opportunity and expand citizen participation beyond Beyond Construction Site to urban gardening and community practices in the city.

More about the book on the Beyond Construction Site webpage.

Social cohesion and community gardens: comparing Slovenia and South Korea

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Model Transfer of Social Ecology into Asian Territory, pp. 38-47
Alban Mannisi (ed.)
Zzac Book | Seoul | 2015 | ISBN 978-2-9535437-1-1

social ecologyCommunity gardens have gained a lot of attention over past years as an instrument of community-driven urban design, which can help cities address their social, economic and environmental problems. Although South Korea and Slovenia have not much in common at first sight, the Community Eco Urban Garden in Maribor, Slovenia’s second largest city, may provide a valuable example of not only how urban gardening improves the well-being of individuals, but also of how to integrate urban gardens into community-driven urban design in order to address larger social problems, such as lacking social cohesion and civic participation. Community gardens might be small in size, but they can play an important role in addressing negative social consequences of neoliberal policy, strengthening of social cohesion, and contributing to sustainable urban development.

Source: Issue.com