1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Aix-en-Provence
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Le Gar’den : un jardin partagé à la gare SNCF d’Aix-en-Provence
Short description of the intervention
The Gar'den is a Provencal garden and a vegetable garden of permaculture, both a relaxing space and a participatory garden. Indeed, everyone will be invited to participate in the life of this Gar'den, common good to protect. Young and older will be able to discover the Provencal vegetable treasures and relax in a space devoted to the sharing of goods and knowledge. (Ref. 11)
Address

2 Avenue Maurice Blondel
13100 Aix-en-Provence
France

Total area
100.00m²
NBS area
100.00m²
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Please specify “other type of area” before implementation of the NBS
Vacant section of train station (Ref 7)
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2013
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2014
End date of the intervention
2015
Present stage of the intervention
Please specify "other" stage of the intervention
The first garden was inaugurate in 2014. However, in 2015 the volunteers rebuild the garden in a mandala shape. (Ref. 10)
Goals of the intervention
-"Create common good to protect for the happiness of living together" "contribute to the sharing of knowledge"
-"At its scale, the Gar'den exposes the potential of an efficient and sustainable agriculture as a message of hope for the world: to be able to produce locally, in abundance, with unequaled efficiency per m² of soil and unit of energy invested"(Ref. 2)
-"The project consists of enhancing the green space located in the railway station center of Aix-en-Provence"."The goal now is to create a social bond among different populations that do not meet. To do this, it is necessary to promote "the best way to live together" and thus create a space that can encourage get together."(Ref. 5)
Quantitative targets
-"The durability of the garden is for a period of 5 years" (Ref. 7, page 3)
-Around 100 square meters (Ref. 1)
-"Success Criteria: After 3 years the garden is still alive, links are created between volunteers and travelers. The garden is educational, it attracts visitors who come expressly to the station to see the garden; Absence of degradation.""10 volunteers living near the railway station ensure the maintenance and animation of the garden" (Ref. 7, page 5)
Monitoring indicators defined
Square meters of garden space (Ref. 1)
produce locally, in abundance, with unequaled efficiency per m² of soil and unit of energy invested"(Ref. 2)
durability of the garden in # of years (Ref. 7, page 3)
attraction of visitors to the garden (Ref. 7, page 5)
Please specify other climate change mitigation goal
efficiency per m² of soil and unit of energy invested"(Ref. 2)
Climate change mitigation: What were the goals of the NBS?
Please specify "other Climate change mitigation activity"
-"At its scale, the Gar'den exposes the potential of an efficient and sustainable agriculture as a message of hope for the world: to be able to produce locally, in abundance, with unequaled efficiency per m² of soil and unit of energy invested"(Ref. 2)
Climate change mitigation: What activities are implemented to realize the conservation goals and targets?
Implementation activities
-Guided tour and tasting of vegetable products
-Events organized (Ref.2)
-Installation of the drip (Ref. 3)
-"Everyone is invited to participate in the life of the Gar'den, common good to protect for the happiness of living together. Young and older will be able to discover the multicolored patterns, the olfactory path, the Provencal garden and contribute to the sharing of knowledge." (Ref. 2)
-"Bulletin board is a simple way of information to share, frequently updated" (Ref. 4)
-"Creation of explanatory panels by classes of elementary schools or associations (MJC)
-School classes will come to plant, discover the annual cycle of plants and contribute to the life of the garden
-Gardening / Permaculture workshops
-The sale of organic vegetable baskets"
-Permaculture method of gardening
-"Without fossil fuels, without fertilizers or pesticides and with very little water usage"(ref. 5)
-"A garden charter is developed" (Ref. 6, page 3)
NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Community gardens and allotments
Community gardens
Vegetation Type
Please specify other amenities offered by the NBS
Compost bin, tool box, drip trellises, explanatory panels, announcement panels, insect hotel, feeder for birds (Ref. 7).
"Bulletin board is a simple way of information to share, frequently updated" (Ref. 4)
-"Creation of explanatory panels by classes of elementary schools or associations (MJC) (Ref. 5)
point of sale for organic vegetable baskets (Ref. 5)
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Provisioning services
Food for human consumption (crops, vegetables)
Habitat and supporting services
Maintenance of genetic diversity
Cultural services
Aesthetic appreciation
Inspiration for culture, art and design
Recreation
Mental and physical health and wellbeing
Intellectual interactions (scientific and / or educational)
Physical and experiential interactions with plants and animals
Social and community interactions
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Please specify "other primary beneficiary"
Young and older will be able to discover the Provencal vegetable treasures and relax in a space devoted to the sharing of goods and knowledge. (Ref. 11)
"create social bond among different populations that do not meet." (Ref 5)
Governance
Governance arrangements
Non-government actors
Non-governmental organisation (NGO) / Civil society / Churches
Private sector/Corporate/Business
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
The main initiators are the SNCF (Train Company) and the association "Pays d'Aix en Transition" with the partner "E-Balances" (NGOs). Initially, "the project was conceived by 2 students of the IEP of Aix-en-Provence: Ingrid Quefeulou and Lara Lestrade, and chosen by the SNCF Foundation (French Train Company, private sector) under the project "My provencal Garden"" (Ref. 5).
"Stakeholders are identified as follows:
-The SNCF Foundation, which supports solidarity initiatives for better living together
-Gare & Connexions (part of the SNCF private company), which manages, designs, develops and welcomes users
-e-balances (NGO), which promotes local initiatives in favor of ecology environmental and human
- Pays d'Aix en Transition (NGO), which disseminates permaculture, initiates and projects of orchards and vegetable gardens around Aix." (Ref. 7)
-"It is managed by the association e-balances and animated by collective Pays d'Aix in Transition." (Ref. 2)
Land owners
Please specify other Key actors - Other stakeholders involved
students of the IEP of Aix-en-Provence: Ingrid Quefeulou and Lara Lestrade (Ref 5)
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Public sector institution
Non-government organisation/civil society
Private sector/corporate actor/company
Researchers/university
Citizens or community group
Other
Please specify other participatory methods
meeting: The objective of the meeting is to present the project, to participate in the draft of the future garden and to decide on your involvement in this project in the implementation phase and / or in the operating phase." (Ref. 8)
Land owners
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
Unknown
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
Unknown
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Yes
Please specify
SNCF (the French train company) initiating project "My Provencal Garden" had a partnership with "Pays d’Aix en transition" (for permaculture), "La jeune chambre économique d’Aix-en-Provence"(which accompanies the creation of an association for the maintenance of community gardens and gives advice), and the "Alcyon Dotation"(that works for the fight against poverty by promoting education, justice and health for all) (Ref. 6, page 3 and 4)
-"Gare & Connexions and e-balances sign a Partnership Agreement" (with the SNCF foundation) (Ref. 6, page 3)
Presence of GI / NBS research project - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Subsidies/investment for GI / NBS in the city - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
Co-finance for NBS
Yes
Co-financing governance arrangements
Unknown
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Financing
Total cost
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
1225 (Ref. 9, page 3)
What are the total amount of expected annual maintenance costs?
Unknown
What is the expected annual maintenance costs of the NBS or GI elements?
Unknown
Please specify cost savings
Unknown
Please specify total cost (EUR)
"Total budget 1,225 € " (Ref. 9, page 3) mostly financed by the branch "Gare and Connexions" of the SNCF company, and partially financed by "Pays d'Aix en Transition" (NGO) (Ref. 9)
Non-financial contribution
Yes
Type of non-financial contribution
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Please specify technological innovation
Young and older will be able to discover the multicolored patterns, the olfactory path, the Provencal garden (Ref 2) Installation of the drip irrigation system and mandala shape for permaculture gardening (Ref. 3)
Please specify social innovation
"Creation of explanatory panels by classes of elementary schools or associations (MJC) -School classes will come to plant, discover the annual cycle of plants and contribute to the life of the garden (Ref 5) "Bulletin board is a simple way of information to share, frequently updated" (Ref. 4) "contribute to the sharing of knowledge." (Ref. 2) "A garden charter is developed" (Ref. 6, page 3) Space of sharing, and for travelers to discover the permaculture methods with gardeners. (Ref. 7, page 4)
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
"A garden unique in France" (Ref. 13, TV coverage of the Gar'den)
Replicability/Transferability
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Impacts, benefits
Please specify other economic impact
-picking food is free from the garden and anyone can harvest even if they are not members. (Ref. 1)
Description of environmental benefits
Green space and habitat:
-Increased green space area: quantitative, increase of 150m^2

-Drip irrigation system installed (Ref. 3)
-Permaculture techniques implemented for this garden (Ref. 7)
-Abandoned areas recovered by the initiative of the SNCF Foundation (Ref. 5)
-"Pays d'Aix en Transition"is first an initiative to respond to climate change with local solutions imagined and experienced by citizens. (Ref. 12)
Description of economic benefits
Increase in agricultural production: qualitative description of increased crops such as tomatoes, not for profit (Ref. 1).
-Volunteers are in charge of the maintenance (Ref. 5)
-"The sale of organic vegetable baskets" (Ref 5)
-picking food is free from the garden and anyone can harvest even if they are not members. (Ref. 1)
Description of social and cultural benefits
Social justice and cohesion
-Improved access to urban green space: expressed qualitatively as large number of railway passengers gaining access to garden (ref. 1).
-Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces: expressed quantitatively through number of volunteers (Ref 5)

Cultural heritage and sense of place
-Improvement in people’s connection to nature: expressed qualitatively (ref. 1)
Education:
-Increased knowledge of locals about local nature: expressed qualitatively as an increase in knowledge due to educational panels (ref. 3).

-It is a sharing space for creating a get-together area with travelers and gardeners (Ref. 5 and 7).
Type of reported impacts
Indicators
-Drip irrigation system installed (Ref. 3)
-Permaculture techniques implemented for this garden (Ref. 7)
-Abandoned areas recovered by the initiative of the SNCF Foundation (Ref. 5)
-Volunteers are in charge of the maintenance (Ref. 5)
-It is a sharing space for creating a get-together area with travelers and gardeners (Ref. 5 and 7).
-"Pays d'Aix en Transition"is first an initiative to respond to climate change with local solutions imagined and experienced by citizens. (Ref. 12)
-"The sale of organic vegetable baskets" (Ref 5)
-picking food is free from the garden and anyone can harvest even if they are not members. (Ref. 1)

-Increased green space area: quantitative, increase of 150m^2
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
Environmental justice: The implementation of the NBS project resulted in ...
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
No information available (7 July 2020).
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Evidence for use of assessment
Presence of an assessment, evaluation and/or monitoring process
Yes
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
Yes
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Unknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No evidence in public records
Citizen involvement
Citizens involvement in assessment/evaluation
Yes
Mode(s) of citizen involvement in evaluation/assessment
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Unknown
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Yes
Please specify
There were regular follow up meetings at the beginning of the project (Ref. 4)
References
Documents relevant to the intervention
Attachment Size
SNCF Project of "My Provencal Garden" (335.99 KB) 335.99 KB
Garden components (30.1 KB) 30.1 KB
Plan of operations (50.02 KB) 50.02 KB
List of references
1. Anon. (n.d). Video "Le Gar’den : un jardin partagé à la gare SNCF d’Aix-en-Provence". Available at: https://vimeo.com/159915282 (Accessed: Jul 7 2020).
2. Pays d'Aix en Transition (2014). "Fête du Gar'den". Website not available in 2020.
3. Pays d'Aix en Transition (2014). "Gar'den : Installation du goutte-à-goutte". Website not available in 2020.
4. Pays d'Aix en Transition (2014). "Gar'den Compte-rendu de la réunion du 13/03/2014". Website not available in 2020.
5. Pays d'Aix en Transition (2014). "Projet Gar'den". Website not available in 2020.
6. Anon (n.d). "Concept Note". Projet SNCF mon jardin de provence. Website not available in 2020.
7. Anon (2014). "Jardin Le Gar'den-Concept d'emploi". Available at: http://www.paysdaixentransition.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/legardenconceptdemploi.pdf (Accessed: Jul 7 2020).
8. Pays d'Aix en Transition (2014). "Gar'den : Réunion pour la création d'un jardin permacole au centre d'Aix-en-Provence". Website not available in 2020.
9. Pays d'Aix en Transition (2014). "Gar'den Plan de d'éroulement". Available at: http://www.paysdaixentransition.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/legardenplanded%C3%A9roulement.pdf (Accessed:Jul 7 2020).
10. Pays d'Aix en Transition (2015). "Le Gar'den Année 2". Website not available in 2020.
11. Facebook Page of the Garden. "Gare à Toi". Available at: https://www.facebook.com/pg/gareatoi.aix/about/?ref=page_internal (Accessed: Jul 7 2020).
12. Pays d'Aix en Transition (n.d). "Qui sommes-nous ?". Available at: http://www.paysdaixentransition.org/le-collectif/ (Accessed: Jul 7 2020).
13. Pays d'Aix en Transition (2016). "Nouveau reportage FR3 sur le Gar’den". Available at: http://www.paysdaixentransition.org/nouvel-article-fr3-sur-le-garden/ (Accessed: Jul 7 2020).
14. Pays d'Aix en Transition (2014). "Design du Gar’den". Available at: http://www.paysdaixentransition.org/design-du-garden/ (Accessed: Jul 7 2020).
15. Pays d'Aix en Transition (n.d). "Catégorie : Le Gar’den". Available at: http://www.paysdaixentransition.org/category/permaculture/garden/ (Accessed: Jul 7 2020).
Comments and notes
Comments
2017 comments: -
Section 4/Governance: in my understanding the two students were not the main initiator as the project was launched by the SCNF (private train company). However, they were involved as this Gar'den was conceived thanks to them but not implemented by them.

Section 5/Novelty level: This sentence in my opinion doesn't show a novelty type: ""Pays d'Aix en Transition" is first an initiative to respond to climate change with local solutions imagined and experienced by citizens" (Ref. 12)"
However, in the TV coverage, the comments said that this garden was unique in France (Ref. 13)

Section 6/Assessment: the previous link provided wasn't working as the association moved their old website to the new one. However, I could find the new link with the list of documents and reports.
Additional insights
According to the video interview, picking is free and anyone can harvest even if they are not members. (Ref. 1)
Some of the links don't work anymore. The association must have modified them as they have switched their old website to the new one. However, the new website doesn't have all the documents and information the previous website had on this project. However, I could find new links and replace some of the old links with the new website pages (showing the same information but under the new website).
The new website is www.paysdaixentransition.org and the old one: www.e-quilibres.net.
The blog of the association is "Pays d'Aix en Transition" which posts articles and new videos of the garden. (Ref. 15) http://www.paysdaixentransition.org/category/permaculture/garden/

"The objective of the meeting is to present the project, to participate in the draft of the future garden and to decide on your involvement in this project in the implementation phase and / or in the operating phase." (Ref. 8
Public Images
Image
Community garden at the railway
Community garden at the railway
Source: https://www.facebook.com/gareatoi.aix/photos/?ref=page_internal
Image
Community garden at the railway
Community garden at the railway
Source: https://www.facebook.com/gareatoi.aix/photos/?ref=page_internalSource: