Creating an urban allotment to foster social change

Since 2008, and particularly from 2011, political horticulture has been gaining popularity in cities such as Barcelona. It is a set of practices led by members of the public who are seeking social and urban change using allotments as a tool for action. It forms part of the study "Sembrando vida en las ciudades: beneficios sociales y ambientales de los huertos urbanos de Barcelona" (Sowing life in cities: the social and environmental benefits of the urban allotments of Barcelona), included in the book, La ciudad agraria. Agricultura urbana y soberanía alimentaria (The Farming City. Urban Agriculture and Food Sovereignty), edited by Guillermo Tendero.

Researchers from various institutions, such as Laura Calvet-Mir and Hug March from the TURBA (Urban Transformation and Global Change Laboratory) research group of the IN3-UOC, took part in the study, which examines the case of Barcelona.  .

Barcelona is one of the cities where the urban allotment phenomenon has proved very popular both among individuals and as a tool for the city’s social policy. “Much more than the individual benefits that allotments offer (physical and psychological well-being, connecting with nature, etc), they also help improve social cohesion, reactivate the circulation of knowledge about agriculture among the urban population/young people, produce new subjectivities regarding the right to the city and promote short food circuits”, says Calvet-Mir. “Allotments bring to the table the fact that we need to rethink how we relate to one another on an urban level, what public space means, how we should consume, etc”, March adds.

If we expand the field of research and focus on Spain, we reach a similar conclusion: “the main motivations are producing quality food, maintaining traditions and physical exercise”. What is clear is that it is not a passing trend, quite the opposite: “urban allotments are becoming an increasingly common feature of the urban landscape”, concludes March.

Creating an urban allotment to combat social inequality

The research in which UOC researchers took part has found that of the three non-private initiatives in Barcelona – the Urban Allotments Network, the Community Urban Allotments Network and the BUITS (or "empty spaces") Plan [t&s1] – the Community Urban Allotments Network ”has an explicitly political logic that includes social and political aspects that transcend allotment management and food production”. According to the researchers, these allotments express a broad and radical concept as to what political horticulture is: creating an allotment as a tool to combat structural injustice and neoliberal urban politics.

The Community Urban Allotments Network originated in 2009 as a way of bringing together allotments set up by social movements and associations in Barcelona. Most were established by occupying empty land without cooperating with local government, operating on an informal basis. Their objective is to provide a space in which to exchange ideas and resources such as seeds.

In fact, the BUITS Plan (Empty Urban Spaces with Territorial and Social Involvement), which was started by Barcelona City Council in 2013 to take advantage of disused land, has certain similarities, and research shows that, “voluntarily or not”, it takes a page from the occupied allotments movement with arguments such as “social entrepreneurship or public engagement”. The BUITS Plan gives empty land to non-profit organizations free of charge for three years. Of the fourteen projects that began in 2013, nine were urban horticulture projects. Five more were added in 2016 with the plan's new call.

The current urban allotments in Barcelona were started primarily in the last 20 years. In fact, of the 54 urban allotments in Barcelona at the start of 2017, only three were created before 2000. The third large-scale initiative is the Barcelona Urban Allotments Network. Created in 1997 and fostered by the City Council, its aim is to develop urban and organic allotments for over-65s and people at risk of social exclusion. In 2017, it already had 15 allotments, all with the same characteristics.

Seville and the Parque de Miraflores.

Calvet-Mir says that there are examples in many other cities in Catalonia besides Barcelona, such as Sant Cugat, as well as at State level in cities like Madrid or Seville, with its Parque de Miraflores.

This last example is fostered by an organization that has recovered an agricultural area abandoned by the government. In this case it has been revived and transformed into the heart and soul of a larger project, the Las Moreras Urban Allotments Agricultural School, where urban allotments are a tool for social cohesion and young children’s environmental education. Just another example of social transformation through allotments. There are currently four large programmes under way: school allotments, educational courses, leisure allotments for adults and a young people’s greenhouse aimed at year-six primary school and year-one ESO (secondary school) students.