Sustainable production

The ANNALINDE gGmbH operates multifunctional urban agriculture and demonstration projects in the Western part of Leipzig: a community garden, a nursery and a fruit garden on a former train station where the emphasis is on community development and mutual learning processes in addition to food production. This is safeguarded by an events portfolio consisting of garden working days, workshops and collaborations with schools, kindergartens and like-minded organizations. In addition to that, open urban labs are operated for a number of initiatives and projects covering subject areas like urban agriculture, recycling, composting, urban bees, urban resilience and sustainable urban development (1).

After being abandoned for more than 10 years following the collapse of a building, a piece of land inside the city's "Le Panier" district was approved by the city in 2017 to become a "neighborhood garden" combining green space and a community vegetable garden (Ref. 1). After many delays the project was completed in early 2020 and the garden opened on February 28, 2020 (Ref. 11). The district "Le Panier" (where this intervention occurs) attracts many tourists every year for the charm of its narrow streets and colorful facades (Ref. 1).

The City of Marseille has three pedagogical farms which are intended to raise awareness of nature and encourage citizens to "discover to love and respect the environment; Study and experiment to act responsibly" (Ref. 1). "Among the various awareness-raising and environmental education tools developed by the City of Marseilles, pedagogical farms are the most concrete way to re-establish contact between urban youth and the rural world" (Ref. 1). The "Collet des Comtes" is one such farm and its "three hectares of land are occupied by open-field and greenhouse crops, grazing areas, an orchard, a pond and a pedagogical garden" (Ref. 1). The farm hosts educational events for children and organic markets (Ref. 5,6).

The planned intervention focuses on creating accessible green spaces for meaningful social exchanges. The City Council seeks to achieve this through a ground plan of connecting green spaces and ease of access into buildings. The intervention, proposed as a lineal green area, centers its structural organization around green spaces and public spaces. Accessibility for pedestrians is facilitated through spines of green spaces that cross the planned neighbourhood horizontally and vertically. These green spaces are planned to be watered with collected rain water, consequently the smart use of water is also a focus of the intervention. (ref 1)

Since October 2015, the City of Marseille has implemented a vegetation permit called "Visa Vert" (Green Visa), as well as a "Charter for the vegetation of public spaces in Marseille", which allow individuals to install plants in public spaces
while respecting the safety and use of the tracks by other users. Plants, flowers and shrubs can thus contribute to the beautification of the living environment and "bring a bit of nature into the city" (Ref. 1). The charter aims to “ accompany and support initiatives to revegetate the streets and promote collective actions that contribute to embellishing the living environment ”, but also to “ enhance the presence of plants in the city, to respect the public space which belongs to all and thus to improve living together ” (Ref. 5).

The Climate Friendly Gardeners Project is based at Windmill Community Gardens in the Bobber’s Mill area of Nottingham. The project teaches local residents about sustainable gardening practices in the context of the climate change affecting the UK, through a renovated community allotment garden.”
(ref 1, 2)

Allotment gardens have a long tradition in Hannover, with approximately 20.000 gardens stretching around the city as a green belt. In the last decades, some gardens were threatened by disappearance due to investment interests (Reference 1). With the goal to protect these gardens, the city employed a so-called "Kleingartenkonzept" (allotment concept) in 2016 with the help of the association of allotment gardens (Bezirksverband Hannover der Kleingärtner e.V.). The concept aims to keep the number of existing gardens for social and ecological considerations while allowing for new residential investments which is vital for the growing city. (Reference 2).
As part of the concept, extensive inventory examinations were conducted on areas affected by conversion and restructuring, along with the start of implementation of smaller development projects for housing and the creation of replacement gardens in some areas. Because the need for residential spaces has been covered for until the end of 2019, the conversion of allotments for the said land use has been stopped; it will be revisited in 2024. (Reference 2)
To address the problem of future allotment garden losses, gradual elimination of permanent vacancies has started by creating new smaller and more attractive gardens from oversized ones, by improving accessibility and optimizing spaces, and by modernizing allotments (Reference 2).

This NBS was developed in 2015 by the Romanian Association of Permaculture in order to bring nature and its benefits in the middle of the city. The approach was to implement a vegetable garden in a high school in Iasi located in a quarter dominated by building blocks. The implementers had in mind to reconnect children with nature, to present to them the organic process of how food is produced and to teach them basic occupational skills (1)

The association Codifas started its own initiative to inform citizens on the danger of practising traditional agriculture, and the advantages of sustainable agriculture. The initiative has been implemented by applying the concept of social inclusion, which means that young people from foreign countries (Ghana, Senegal etc.) were involved in the project and they helped to realize it. Together with the goal of social inclusion, the project has important benefits in terms of sustainable production and consumption. The whole area for cultivation has been divided into several plots, for those citizens who are willing to cultivate it. (Ref.1.)

Numerous developments have been carried out at the National Veterinary School of Toulouse's (ENVT) green campus to make the site more conducive to the maintenance and development of biodiversity as result of the school's "VERT VET" (GREEN VET) club (Ref. 2). The green changes began as a result of the school's 2008 sustainable development policy (Ref. 1). Among its many functions and activities, the policy helped raise awareness, clean ponds, and a well, construct a vegetable garden and make beehives and bird nest boxes in the campus's two classified forests (Ref. 3).