1. General information
Location and description of the intervention
City or FUA
Glasgow
Region
Europe
Native title of the NBS intervention
Willowbank Community Garden
Short description of the intervention
The Willowbank Community Garden is a council-maintained recreational area consisting of both turfed and concreted areas and waist raised beds, edged by some shrubs and trees. It is a small space (460 sqm.) but offers a variety of growing environments. The site is located within the residential community of Willowbank Crescent, easily accessible from Woodlands Road and a five-minute walk away from the Glasgow University main buildings. Local schools are also in close proximity. The place offers locally grown foods with aesthetics and contributes to urban green space. In 2012, it won "Keep Scotland Beautiful" Award (Ref 2).
Address

Willowbank Crescen
Glasgow G3
Glasgow
G3 6NB
United Kingdom

Location
Point location, which indicates where the NBS takes place
Total area
460.00m²
NBS area
460.00m²
Type of area before implementation of the NBS
Previous derelict area
Website of the intervention
http://guwillowbankgarden.blogspot.ch/p/about.html
Timeline of intervention
Start date of the intervention (planning process)
2012
Start date of intervention (implementation process)
2012
End date of the intervention
2015
Present stage of the intervention
Completed and archived or cancelled
Goals of the intervention
(a) The mission was to demonstrate sustainable practice by turning a recreational area into a portion of productive food growing space where people can gather to acquire and exchange knowledge (Ref 2).
(b) To produce own homegrown, heirloom, seasonal and fresh food.
(c) organic food growing education.
(d) to learn about harvest-compost-recycle. (e) promote industrialization.
(f) convert a derelict area to a food-producing area where people could engage (Ref 1, 2)
Quantitative targets
Unknown
Monitoring indicators defined
Amount of foods grown, number of raised beds, number of people engaging, amount of compost produced.
Sustainability challenge(s) addressed
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Green space creation and/or management
Environmental quality
Soil quality improvement
Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
Economic development: agriculture
Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
Sustainable production
Implementation activities
Students at Glasgow University have taken guardianship of the recreational space on Willowbank Crescent in Woodlands by clearing the space of litter and unwanted items. This has been made possible by coordinating with ECAT officer Yusuf Faisal. In 2012 space won a Keep Scotland Beautiful Award through the People and Places Programme. The activities include arranging raised beds, filling them up with soil and compost, starting tatsoy, spring onion, red Russian kale, spinach beet, Chinese sprouting cabbage seedlings in seed trays; planting strawberries, sage, mint, lemongrass, goji berry, wild thyme, lovage, fennel, cowberry and rhubarb; turning drawers into planting boxes. Instead of the interest of the locals and the students from the Glasgow university, the project got stalled in 2015 (Ref 2, 5).
Type of NBS project
Creation of new green areas
Transformation of previously derelict areas
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
5 raised beds, 3 large pots
Vegetation Type
Trees
Garden beds
Please specify how many trees were planted
6 fruit trees
Amenities offered by the NBS
Unknown
Services
Expected ecosystem services delivered
Provisioning services
Food for human consumption (crops, vegetables)
Raw materials
Regulating services
Local climate regulation (temperature reduction)
Carbon storage/sequestration
Pollination
Habitat and supporting services
Habitats for species
Cultural services
Recreation
Social and community interactions
Scale
Spatial scale
Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Beneficiaries
Primary Beneficiaries
Researchers/University
Citizens or community groups
Governance
Governance arrangements
Co-governance with government and non-government actors
Non-government actors
Researchers, university
Please specify the roles of the specific government and non-government actor groups involved in the initiative
The Glasgow City Council is the owner of the space. The students of Glasgow University took the initiative to implement activities to make the area as a community garden. (Ref 2).
Key actors - initiating organization
Researchers/university
Land owners
Public space owned by the city
Key actors - Other stakeholders involved (besides initiating actors)
Local government/municipality
Researchers/university
Citizens or community group
Land owners
Public space owned by the city
Participatory methods/forms of community involvement used
Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
Co-management/Joint management
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
Yes
Please specify the "local regulation/strategy/plan"
Glasgow Allotments Strategy 2009-2013: it is a Scottish strategy in the allotment of the community gardens (Ref 3).
Mandatory or voluntary intervention
Voluntary (spontaneous)
Please specify other type of voluntary intervention
To grow locally grown food. The project is an initiative by the Glasgow University student council to help to increase the urban green space within the city and to grow some food to help the locals. (Ref 1, 2)
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
Urban Roots Glasgow, Gorbals Healthy Living Network (GHLN), North Glasgow Community Food Initiative (NGCFI) and the Woodland Community Development Trust (WCDT) : they are helping the university students in the implementation of the project (Ref 1).
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
Yes
Co-governance arrangement
An association
Was this co-governance arrangement already in place, or was it set up specifically for this NBS?
Set up specifically for this NBS
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
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)
The place has been provided to the student council by the city government and the other costs are given by the locals and the volunteer from students. (Ref 1, 2)
Source(s) of funding
Crowdfunding
Type of fund(s) used
Donations
Non-financial contribution
Yes
Type of non-financial contribution
Provision of land
Provision of goods
Provision of labour
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
Business models
Local stewardship model
Vacant space model
Please specify other environmental impact
Recycle, reuse and upcycling (Ref 1)
Which of the involved actors was motivated by this model?
Public actor (e.g. municipality)
Citizens / local communities
Type of innovation
Technological
Product innovation
Please specify technological innovation
The authority implemented the project in a vacant land provided by the Glasgow City Council. The university students planted new seedlings for food production and made some small facilities for the support of their initiative. (Ref 1)
Novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Please specify novelty level of the innovation
Unknown
Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Please specify Replicability/Transferability
Unknown
Impacts, benefits
Environmental impacts
Environmental quality
Improved waste management
Green space and habitat
Increased green space area
Increased conversion of degraded land or soil
Enhanced support of pollination
Restoration of derelict areas
Other
Description of environmental benefits
- The project supports pollination and encourages the locals and the gardeners to protect the pollinators in the garden.
- Helped in converting a derelict area to green space and restoring the degraded soil.
- Demonstrated a creative approach of reducing waste through practices of recycling, reusing and upcycling and composting. (Ref 1, 2)
Economic impacts
Increase in agricultural production (for profit or not)
Attraction of business and investment
Description of economic benefits
Allow purchase locally as often as possible to support local businesses and built up a local network. (Ref 1)
Social and cultural impacts
Social justice and cohesion
Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
Increased access to healthy/affordable food
Increased sustainability of agriculture practices
Health and wellbeing
Improved mental health
Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
Cultural heritage and sense of place
Improvement in people’s connection to nature
Education
Increased support for education and scientific research
Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
Description of social and cultural benefits
- The proejct engaged with the local community of students, staff and local residents. Connected students and the public community behind the common cause of growing food. Brought together, diverse groups.
- The intervention resulted in a demonstration site for sustainable practice. Advanced the practice of sustainable behaviour of students and public community by providing an informal outdoor classroom facility. Also as a teaching tool for sustainability that contributes to the University of Glasgow’s path down towards greater sustainable performance.
- Provided an outdoor retreat from busy everyday life for congregation and respite that is open and accessible to every member of the academic and public community. The gardeners and other visitors reported the space to be a calm and soothing place for them to enjoy which has helped them to improve their mental health.
- It offered informal, experiential learning practice through hands-on experiences. Explored, experimented and developed creative approaches to solving real-world problems on the micro-scale of the neighbourhood. Exchanged and share knowledge across generations. Educated the new generation of organic gardeners, preserve and teach traditional skills and knowledge from back in the day for the future.
- Reconnected people to their food source, nature and to place, let them become part of the food system. Developed a new ethic towards food and its production considering the environmental impact of the food. Built more awareness, knowledge and support for a local food system in Glasgow. (Ref 1, 3)
Type of reported impacts
Achieved impacts
Indicators
Amount of food produced, number of locals interested in volunteering, participants in weekly work sessions and open days, recycled materials used and upcycling of materials (Ref 1)
Environmental, social and economic impacts
Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
Environmental quality
Regeneration, land-use and urban development
Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
Analysis of specific impact categories
Job creation: The NBS created ...
Voluntary work opportunities
Environmental justice: The implementation of the NBS project resulted in ...
Improved access to green and/or blue spaces
Negative impacts: Did the project cause any problems or concerns?
No information was found regarding negative impacts of the project
COVID-19 pandemic
The project is stalled in 2015. Hence, not affected by the COVID-19 pandemic as of July, 2020.
Methods of impact monitoring
Process of recording NBS impacts
Collection of monitoring data continuously throughout the project to aid evaluation
Methods used to evaluate the impacts of NBS
Focus groups
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
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
Focus Group
Citizens involvement in the analysis of the assessment/evaluation
Yes
Please specify
Citizens were involved in a voluntary manner in accessing the progress and success of the project. They were welcomed to participate in Sunday work sessions to express their view and ideas (Ref 1). As the project got stalled in 2015, no evaluations could be found after that (Ref 5).
Follow-up to the evaluation / assessment
Unknown
References
Web links relevant to the intervention
Glasgow University Willowbank Community Garden FAcebook Group
List of references
1. Cumbers Andrew, Shaw Deirdre, Crossan John, McMaster Robert (2017) The Work of Community Gardens: Reclaiming Place for Community in the City. Available at: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0950017017695042. Accessed on 28th July 2020.
2. Willowbank Community Garden. Available at: http://guwillowbankgarden.blogspot.gr/p/about.html. Accessed on 28th July, 2020.
3. Glasgow Community Growing Project. Central Scotland Green Network. Available at: http://www.centralscotlandgreennetwork.org/delivering/project-archive/glasgow-community-growing-project. Accessed on 28th July 2020.
4. Willowbank Community Garden. Yelp. Available at: https://www.yelp.com/biz/willowbank-community-garden-glasgow. Accessed on 28th July, 2020.
5. List of Stalled Spaces projects 2011-2016. Glasgow City Council. Available at: https://glasgow.gov.uk/CHttpHandler.ashx?id=34675&p=0. Accessed on 28th July, 2020.
Interview comments
I contacted Abi Mordin and waiting for his response.
Comments and notes
Pictures of the NBS
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Public Images
The Willowbank Community Garden
The Willowbank Community Garden
Source: http://guwillowbankgarden.blogspot.ch/
The Willowbank Community Garden
The Willowbank Community Garden
Source: http://guwillowbankgarden.blogspot.ch/