Description of environmental benefits
-Increased green space area: "[...] Tulla farming school which teaches people how to create green spaces in the city” (Ref.5, 0:12-0:17)
-Increased number of species present: "we have planted vegetables that are suitable to Tirana’s climate, and those that every family needs for daily consumption – tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach and others. We’ve propagated around 300 plants during the growing seasons.” (Ref. 1) "Participants can then harvest what is available [...]" (Ref. 1) ; " Their main course helps participants get started growing their own food" (Ref. 2)
Description of economic benefits
-Increase in agricultural production (for profit or not): "we have planted vegetables that are suitable to Tirana’s climate, and those that every family needs for daily consumption – tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach and others. We’ve propagated around 300 plants during the growing seasons.” (Ref. 1) "Participants can then harvest what is available [...]" (Ref. 1) ; " Their main course helps participants get started growing their own food" (Ref. 2)
Description of social and cultural benefits
-Improved social cohesion: “an efficient form of creating higher social cohesion by providing marginalised groups with new skills and access to the arts, culture and new technologies.” (Ref. 1)
-Improved access to urban green space: "But that culture has disappeared in recent times and with many green spaces in Tirana now taken over by construction" ;"This small green space is a way of bringing people together.” (Ref.1)
-Increased visibility and opportunity for marginalised groups or indigenous peoples: "The centre, which targets economically and socially marginalised people, including members of Albania’s LGBT+ community" (Ref.1)
-Increased opportunities for social interaction: "The greenhouse project has a multitude of benefits, Klaudja says: “Besides agricultural skills, it creates a community [...]" (Ref. 1)
-Increased access to healthy/affordable food: "we have planted vegetables that are suitable to Tirana’s climate, and those that every family needs for daily consumption – tomatoes, cucumbers, herbs, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, spinach and others. We’ve propagated around 300 plants during the growing seasons.” (Ref. 1) "Participants can then harvest what is available [...]" (Ref. 1)
-Increased sustainability of agriculture practices: "urban agricultural skills to grow organic produce" (Ref. 4) "Skills once associated with the tradition – the knowledge of how to propagate seeds and seedlings; the correct conditions for the cultivation of fruit and vegetables; and a broad understanding of plant diseases and how to treat them – have also been lost. Recultivating those skills is as much a part of the Urban Farming School"
-Improved mental health / -Supporting ill-health communities facing loneliness, anxitey or depression: [...] she adds. “It is very important, particularly when there are many unemployed people in the city, and depression is often an issue. This small green space is a way of bringing people together."; " [...] focused on urban greening and healthy nutrition and taking care of mental health." (Ref. 1)
-Improvement in people’s connection to nature: "This project aims to create the first 'urban agricultural school ' model that provides essential connections with food and nature in an urban community" (Ref. 4)
-Increased sense of place identity, memory and belonging: "Besides offering green-fingered skills, growing vegetables together offers people a way to come together in a common pursuit that connects to a deep sense of Albanian identity [...]" (Ref. 1)
-Increased knowledge of locals about local nature: "Thursday evening courses taught by two professors from Tirana’s agricultural university, with 60 of them receiving certificates for consistent attendance, attesting to the achievement of new skills in plant care and cultivation" (Ref. 1)
- Promote traditional practices / Local Ecological Knowledge: "Skills once associated with the tradition – the knowledge of how to propagate seeds and seedlings; the correct conditions for the cultivation of fruit and vegetables; and a broad understanding of plant diseases and how to treat them – have also been lost. Recultivating those skills is as much a part of the Urban Farming School [...]" (Ref. 1)
-Increased support for education and scientific research: "Tulla Culture Center in collaboration with the Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture at the Agricultural University of Tirana opens the call for applications in the Urban Gardening module, which will address the design of urban green spaces, the creation of small gardens on verandas, terraces and spaces others." (Ref. 3)
