Allotments have being cultivated for centuries in European cities (Landsteiner, Soens 2020; Segers, Van Molle 2014). Urban allotment gardening in Europe dates to the end of the 18th century (Toth, 2019). Their origin is linked to the industrial revolution, the expanding urban population and the concentrated demand for food in urban areas (Keshavarz et al, 2016). In the 20th century allotments gradually became characteristic features of urban peripheries (Lawson, 2005). Today, local and national associations contribute to the development of collective memory and practices and to make allotments visible in public life (Bell at al, 2016).

Allotments and community gardens have historical significance, environmental importance and heritage dimensions both tangible (urban agricultural land, constructions, urban patterns) and intangible (gardening practices and traditions) (Acton, 2011). They contribute to the greening of the urban environment (Costa et al, 2016), to the improvement of diet (FAO, 2010), to the revitalization of traditional agricultural practices (Jansma et al, 2022), and to the creation of social links. They offer not only direct benefits such as food production, climate mitigation and biodiversity support, but also indirect advantages like enhancing mental wellbeing (Van den Berg et al, 2010) and social cohesion, and have a long history with significant heritage dimensions.

Despite their interest and potential, allotments and community gardens are not always recognized as urban heritage. Receiving little institutional recognition, they are fragile, threatened and often considered merely as obstacles for the development of new urban projects (Matthieu, 2023; Paddeu, 2021).

However, in recent years, grassroots urban movements address urban gardens as valuable local heritage, supporting new potential for local development, environmental protection and social cohesion (Lohrberg, 2022). They offer alternative urban development prospects for urban peripheries, based on social inclusion, respect for the environment and recognition of green heritage.

GreenHer will focus on six European cities (Paris, Madrid, Edinburgh, Bologna, Kraków, Leuven). Local case studies will represent a “heritage from below” (Robertson, 2012): from fights to defend the gardens of Aubervilliers in Paris and of the Granton Walled Gardens in Edinburgh; to the inclusion of immigrant populations in Usera (Madrid) to the garden projects of Nowa Huta (Krakow) or the community gardens of Bologna and Leuven, allotments are becoming a symbol for the preservation of peripheral urban heritage, fiercely defended by residents (Bartłomiejski & Kowalewski, 2019).

 

Objectives

 

The project aims to jointly analyse two phenomena:

1) allotments as “total” heritage, situated at the crossroads of cultural and natural, tangible and intangible

2) manners in which populations living in the urban peripheries mobilize allotments heritage to offer alternatives to the dynamics of neo- liberal metropolitan developments.

The specific objectives are to analyze:

 

i) the dynamics of “green heritagization” in the context of rapid and often aggressive metropolitan development: who are the actors (public, private, associations, local residents, etc.) that play a role in the recognition of allotment gardens as heritage? Under what circumstances (threats or opportunities) do allotment gardens benefit from heritage recognition, whether institutional or not? And what discourses and narratives contribute to giving gardens heritage status?

ii) the ways in which allotments are maintained by local populations creating an intangible heritage of practices (traditional growing methods, introduction or reintroduction of new and old species): How are these practices created and transmitted? What are their local specificities? Are the approaches specific to each of the six cities, or are there exchanges of practices (through the sharing of best practices, community networks, or even struggles and resistance)?

iii) the social encounters that take place there (informal festive, culinary and community practices): Beyond their practical uses, how are gardens experienced? What social gatherings, festive activities and cultural encounters take place there?

iv) the local struggles for their preservation and conservation The urban struggles that have erupted in several gardens in recent years (e.g., the Vertus gardens in Aubervilliers) are indicative of the pressures exerted by metropolitan land and real estate dynamics and, as such, are particularly interesting to study.