Urban Gardens and INFUSION

Inclusive gardens and Education for Sustainable Development (ESD)

A German study shows that gardening can contribute immensely to the integration of newcomers.
In her master thesis, Alice Wichtmann explains that intercultural gardens can take on a variety of social functions: They are meeting places, exchanges, recreation and civil society engagements. They enable the growth of social, cultural and ecological diversity in a unique way and thus also promote the integration of newcomers (ANU, accessed March 2018).

Just recently, BBC wrote an article about the "healing power" of gardening and how refugees can find a new fulfilment, role or purpose in their new home town.

And we, the team of INFUSION know that gardening can be a great starting point of setting up an own business. For example, following the example of Tania Jacobs setting up her own seed bank in Cape Town or Dijana Fabjan selling her own grown vegetables to the neighborhood through our Croatian partner UEZ.

The study of Alice Wichtmann showed that there are still few intercultural garden projects with an explicit reference to the ESD. However, (urban) gardens are very well suited because they combine the three dimensions of sustainable development (ecology, economy and social affairs) and cultural aspects:

Ecological dimension
• climate-neutral and organic cultivation
• local and seasonal production of vegetables and thus reduction of emissions
• Regulation of the water balance in cities
• Climate contribution ("cooling function")
• Dust filter
• Noise filter
• Places for biodiversity (for example, by cultivating old, semen-resistant varieties instead of hybrids)
• ecological niches in the city

Economic dimension
• Alternative economics - barter economy (e.g., seed)
• Preservation of common goods
• Subsistence, self-sufficiency
• cost-effective production of and non-monetary access to healthy food
• Turning away from consumerism through do-it-yourself, repairing and recycling used items

Social dimension
• Integration / Inclusion
• friendly places in cities
• social interaction (gardening, cooking, celebrating, etc.)
• places of encounter and diversity of people
• Experience of self-efficacy
• Deceleration, recreation areas
• health (improving air quality, physical activity, healthy and fresh food, noise control, etc.)
• Play and experience room
• places of teaching and learning

Cultural dimension
• Sharing of (cultural, local) knowledge
• Intercultural encounters
• Continuing Traditions
• getting to know different ways of understanding nature
• Space for a variety of cultural expressions ("gardening as a cross-cultural activity")
• room for concerts, parties, workshops, theater etc.

Methods and materials for inclusive gardens

In order to increase the active participation of refugees and migrants in decision-making processes in intercultural and inclusive gardens, the Alice Wichtmann recommend the following methods of participation: Future laboratories, Marble Groups, Associative Drawing and World Café.