What determined your interest in urban and peri-urban agriculture and why did you decide to approach this topic for AgriGo4Cities project?

My interest for urban agriculture was aroused due to recent urban trends addressing environmental problems and offering green solutions. However, among the things which the cities have strived to settle, such as decrease of pollution and noise, efficient waste management and clean water, we found the cities’ focus on green spaces the most intriguing endeavour due to its social dimension. Various public – citizens, initiatives, NGOs – was very keen to use green urban spaces, participate in their management and also to join the debates on their future. Urban gardening stood out as a practice which included very diverse inhabitants, was often incorporated in artistic/creative projects and also attracted the most public attention. Because gardening is a subsistence practice and does not require special education, it proved to be an efficient method for social inclusion. We decided to test its usefulness for cities’ governance as they strive to adopt participative methods for decision-making and in this way share responsibility for a quality of urban living with their citizens.

What is the impact you expect to achieve in the Danube region through this project?

In recent times, the main challenges related to governance systems within the Danube region are associated with decreasing public institutional capacities to incorporate participatory approach into planning. Austerity measures have left public administrators with limited instruments and channels for involvement of relevant stakeholders and civil society into decision-making processes. The absence of participatory mechanisms is contributing to reduced motivation of people to engage in governance and administration because they feel relegated from political, social and economic agendas and not competent enough to act as an equivalent counterpart and a considerable driver of “change”. The AgriGO4Cities aims to bridge the gap between citizens and public authorities, intensify trust and increase public participation through participatory urban agriculture, especially among the most disadvantaged communities at risk of exclusion, such as the poor, unemployed, homeless, Roma communities, elderly, women and children.

For which aspects do you consider UPA as a long term solution?

Urban agriculture which is characterized by its heterogeneity of involved actors, dimensions, backgrounds and objectives, is distinguished from rural agriculture by its integration not only into the urban society and environment, but also into the urban economy. Since usually, public opinion and decision-makers reduce it to community gardening activities, it is important to stress its much wider sense. More than ordinary agriculture, urban farms connect the goals of productivity and profitability with additional services for the society, landscape, and environment. Therefore, it is crucial that planners start recognising the importance of urban agriculture in the rich mix of activities that characterise modern cities. The world of professionally operating urban agriculture is still relatively young in Europe and has a great variety of forms. Economically based forms of urban agriculture are the »hidden champions« of an urban green development strategy. One of important synergy fostering low-cost production is using resources that are currently underutilized: vacant plots of land, empty buildings, urban organic and heat waste, and excess rainwater. Scientists not only found a great range of diversified and successful business models but could also prove various considerable societal contributions of such initiatives. Finally, urban agriculture provides citizens with the opportunity to regain control over their food supply and become aware of where their food is coming from.

Which do you think will be the biggest benefit for each participating country in the project?

Participating countries will benefit by exchanging knowledge, experiences, tools and good practices on participatory urban agriculture. With the innovative methodology, developed in the project, they will be able to improve capacities of public administrators to involve relevant stakeholders and civil society into governance and public participation. It is expected that intensified cooperation will boost mutual trust and stimulate strengthened socio-economic inclusion of vulnerable/marginalized groups. As urban agriculture has numerous economic (e.g. employment opportunities), social (e.g. access to healthy food), and environmental (e.g. reducing urban heat island) benefits, it will lead to more sustainable development and improved quality of life of citizens in selected pilot areas.

What is the biggest challenge brought by AgriGo4Cities?

Many bottom-up gardening initiatives as well as working therapists and social workers have had very good results with social inclusion of diverse vulnerable groups (for example mentally handicapped, long-term unemployed, homeless people, school drop-outs), as they developed successful mechanisms to convince and teach people how to participate in society’s matters. The biggest challenge brought by AgriGo4Cities project is to transfer such methods to top-down decision-making and adapt them to suit the mechanisms of urban governance. The main problems cities face when adopting participatory approach is to get people’s attention and motivate them – especially socially excluded people – to cooperate with public officials as well as to share responsibility for public infrastructure and other affairs. We work on developing the ways to activate people for more frequent and intensive cooperation in decision-making processes.

What is your impression about AgriGo4Cities so far?

The project started in January 2017. Since then we have organized a very successful kick-off meeting and a public project presentation with numerous participants and guests. We also welcomed project officer from the Joint Secretariat of the Interreg Danube Programme, Mr. Johannes Gabriel, who wished us all the best in the project. Besides that, the project was presented and promoted at various international events such as the 12th Meeting of the Steering Group of Priority Area 10 “Institutional Capacity & Cooperation” of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR) in Berlin, the EuroCities Roma Task Force meeting, the 6th Meeting of the EUSDR PA10 Danube Local Actors Platform (D-LAP) in Vienna. Just this week the project is going to be presented at the National Participation Day in the Czech Republic. The project gained a lot of visibility and attention through a strong communication campaign. The expectations from different stakeholders are high. The partnership is currently working hard in analysing territorial, institutional and socio-economic implications in pilot areas that will help us set up a proper common methodology for successful pilot actions. Through this work we are also searching for good practice examples that we can build on. There is a lot of work in front of us but I am confident since the partnership is strong, competitive and motivated enough to face all the challenges that we want overcome.

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