1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Bucureşti
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Grădina din Gura Siriului
Short description of the intervention
A community garden at the margins of Bucharest, which aims to serve both locals and tourists, and the only place of its kind for the 240.000 inhabitants of the quarter. Apart from its educational aspects, the garden is a living workshop and a place of relaxation for its visitors (1).
Address

Drumul Gura Siriului, 124
Bucuresti
Romania

Area boundary
POINT (26.190052 44.41877)
POINT (26.1912 44.41867)
POINT (26.191812 44.419965)
POINT (26.190868 44.420218)
NBS area image
Source of NBS area image
https://www.facebook.com/GradinaDinGuraSiriului/photos/a.317021921765570.1073741830.307508749383554/663417703792655/?type=1&theater
Total area
400.00m²
NBS area
400.00m²
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2013
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2015
End date of the intervention
2015
Present stage of the intervention
Goals of the intervention
1. To create a green space in a working-class quarter (1);
2. To offer a relaxation and community space for the inhabitants of the quarter (1);
3. To provide workshops on sustainable living (2);
4. To increase the sense of community and connection to the environment (2);
5. To promote health and wellness in an urban area (3);
6. To offer organic products to the inhabitants of the neighbourhood (3);
7. Produce their own seed bank (1).
Quantitative targets
1. Serve the 240.000 inhabitants plus tourists who are residing in the area (1);
2. Various number of vegetable, medicinal plants, and trees cultivated: Ginkgo biloba, figs (not very spread around Romania) (2).

Monitoring indicators defined
Unknown
Implementation activities
Cleaning the 400 sqm in order to create rows for the vegetables (1);
Spreading organic fertilizer grown in the garden (1);
Creating 2 rows, (one for medicinal plants and one for aromatic plants), different varieties of vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, corn) (3).

NBS domain and interventions
Ecological domain(s) where the NBS intervention(s) is/are implemented
Community gardens and allotments
Allotments
Community gardens
Please specify the number of plots or allotment gardens
Unknown
Vegetation Type
Amenities offered by the NBS
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Provisioning services
Food for human consumption (crops, vegetables)
Medicinal resources
Cultural services
Tourism
Recreation
Intellectual interactions (scientific and / or educational)
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Governance
Governance arrangements
Non-government actors
Non-governmental organisation (NGO) / Civil society / Churches
Citizens or community groups
Coalition with multiple of the above
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
The initiative stared as an individual quest. The owner of the project, Crina Cranta, owned the land and in 2013 she joined forces with an NGO, named Gradini Coimunitare Urbane, and a visual artist and the project was born. Cranta has full ownership, the other members of the project are either bringing their know-how by organizing workshops, either offer manual labor or publicizes the initiative. (4)
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Non-government organisation/civil society
Citizens or community group
Policy drivers
NBS intervention implemented in response to an Regional Directive/Strategy
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a national regulations/strategy/plan
No
NBS intervention implemented in response to a local regulation/strategy/plan
No
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Please specify other type of voluntary intervention
Citizen initiative - the owner of the land initiated the project.
Enablers
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS vision/strategy/plan - mentioned in connection to the project
No
Presence of specific city-level GI/NBS section/part in a more general plan - mentioned in connection to the project
No
Presence of city network or regional partnerships focused on NBS - mentioned in connection to the project
Unknown
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
Unknown
Co-financing governance arrangements
Unknown
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Financing
What is/was the Cost/Budget (EUR) of the NBS or green infrastructure elements?
Unknown
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)
Up to 50,000 EUR
Source(s) of funding
Type of fund(s) used
Non-financial contribution
Yes
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Please specify technological innovation
It is one of the first community gardens in Bucharest and what makes it even more innovative is that it is participatory, so people join voluntarily and bring their input on how it should work. (3)
Please specify social innovation
A green space where people can join, learn how to grow their own crop. (1)
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Asociatia Romania in Tranzitie implemented a project called, Gradini Urbane Comunitare, which aims at creating green spaces in Bucharest, especially community gardens. The group aims at including senior citizens and teenagers in their activities and to raise awareness in relation to the environment. They build gardens in derelict areas or on the roofs of different buildings, including public institutions' buildings.
https://www.facebook.com/pg/GradiniUrbaneComunitare/about/?ref=page_internal
Replicability/Transferability
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Impacts, benefits
Description of environmental benefits
This NBS was a private initiative and no reports regarding the environmental benefits were issued. Even so, it seems that according to their Facebook page, the initiative is still functioning so their initial goal has been achieved: there has been an increase in green spaces of approx 400 sqm, in a residential area.
Economic impacts
Description of economic benefits
Unknown
Description of social and cultural benefits
This NBS was a private initiative and no reports regarding the social benefits were issued. Even so, it seems that according to their Facebook page, the initiative is still functioning. When possible the organizers host different workshops to spread knowledge about local plants and gardening, and sometimes they pair up with different NGOs to disseminate this knowledge. Their Facebook page is full of news about the NBS and other information about sustainable solutions for food.
Type of reported impacts
Indicators
Unknown
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
Environmental justice: The implementation of the NBS project resulted in ...
Please specify other method used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Unknown
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
During the pandemic, the organizers tried to keep in touch with the patrons of the garden by posting, on Facebook, news on how the garden evolves and trying to involve them in online events.
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
Unknown
Presence of indicators used in reporting
No evidence in public records
Presence of monitoring/evaluation reports
No evidence in public records
Availability of a web-based monitoring tool
No evidence in public records
Impact assessment mechanism
Name of any specific impact assessment tools
Uknown
Use of GIS in mapping impacts
No
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
Yes
Please specify
The initiators organize different workshops and people can easily express their opinions. Since the garden has a blog and a Facebook page, these are the modes to analyze the intervention.
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
List of references
1. PlatFerrma (2016) , GRĂDINA DIN GURA SIRIULUI, GRĂDINĂ URBANĂ COMUNITARĂ ÎN BUCUREŞTI, Available at http://platferma.ro/gradina-din-gura-siriului-gradina-urbana-comunitara-bucuresti/ (Accessed 16-8-2020)

2. Green Report (2015), Grădina din Gura Siriului, o oază într-un oraș sufocant, Available at http://www.green-report.ro/gradina-din-gura-siriului-o-oaza-intr-un-oras-sufocant/ (Accessed 16-8-2020)

3. Think outside the box (2015), Grădina din Gura Siriului: evadarea verde din Bucureşti care combină arta cu permacultura, Available at https://www.totb.ro/gradina-din-gura-siriului-evadarea-verde-din-bucuresti-care-combina-arta-cu-permacultura/ (Accessed 16-8-2020)

4. Mai mult verde (2015), Sprijiniți proiectul „Grădina din Gura Siriului”!, Available at https://maimultverde.ro/gradina-din-gura-siriului/, (Accessed 16-8-2020)
Interview
Interview comments
E-mail sent to understand if there was a connection to some environmental regulations in the city.
Comments and notes
Comments
6/For additional info, please check the interview notes. According to the email correspondent: no monitoring is performed.
Additional insights
Update August 2020: It seems that the organizers are very active on the garden's Facebook page:
https://www.facebook.com/GradinaDinGuraSiriului
Public Images
Image
Gura Siriului Community Garden
Gura Siriului Community Garden
Crina Cranta, retrieved 08/31/2018
Image
Gura Siriului Community Garden
Crina Cranta, retrieved 08/31/2018