Alicante, Spain
City population: 331770
Duration: 2009 – 2010
Implementation status: Completed
Scale: Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Project area: 220 m2
Type of area: Previous derelict area
Last updated: October 2021

Located in the neighborhood of Pla del Bon Repòs com, Carolines Altes, Carolines Baixes and Campoamor, the community orchard of Carolines is an initiative to transform an abandoned lot into a sustainable garden and a community orchard (Ref. 2). "The place where this orchard is located was an abandoned space for 20 years where a large amount of garbage accumulated. The neighbors decided to clean the area by giving it a use with an orchard area, meeting area, gardening. The people responsible for it are the assembly of neighbors. It is also an action to combat the physical and psychological degradation of the neighborhood, being the community garden an excuse for this, but also a fundamental pillar where these ideas are based." (Ref. 2)

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Community gardens and allotments
  • Community gardens
  • Horticulture

Key challenges

  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Habitat and biodiversity restoration
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Regeneration, land-use and urban development
  • Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
  • Effective management
  • Combatting crime and corruption
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Environmental and climate justice
  • Social cohesion
  • Social interaction
  • Health and well-being (SDG 3)
  • Enabling opportunities for physical activity
  • Improving mental health
  • Improving physical health
  • Creation of opportunities for recreation
  • Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
  • Sustainable production

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Maintenance and management of urban nature, Transformation of previously derelict areas, Knowledge creation and awareness raising

Project objectives

-Rehabilitation of an abandoned place for 20 years (Ref.2) -Neighborhood meeting point (Ref. 2) -Gardening is helping to combat the physical and psychological degradation of the neighborhood (Ref. 2) - To learn how to grow and produce healthy, organic foods that fight food speculation (Ref. 3) - Self-manage the vital spaces of the neighborhood (Ref. 6) From Ref. 9 (document uploaded): -Promote social relations and interaction in the center -Improve self-esteem, habits and responsibility -Improve knowledge and sensitivity on the agro-system and the environment

Implementation activities

- Trips, visits to other orchards, material suppliers, agricultural tasks, workshops, seminars, neighbors gathering (with food sharing, music, dancing) (Ref. 9 and Ref.5) - Open assemblies where decisions are taken, which encourages the social interaction and cohesion and environmental justice within the neighborhood (Ref. 6) - Direct participation from the civil society, which promotes inclusive governance and management (Ref. 6) - Carolines Hort Comunitari is an experiment in cultivating land in the middle of a neighborhood in order to preserve native seeds (Ref. 5) -Activities are proposed both with the indigenous people of the neighborhood and with the immigrant population in an intergenerational way with the aim of transmitting culture and knowledge (Ref. 6)

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity restoration:

  • Rehabilitate and restore damaged or destroyed ecosystems
  • Restore species (native, endangered, or unspecified)
  • Restore native species
  • Public engagement
  • Other

Main beneficiaries

  • Citizens or community groups
  • Marginalized groups: Elderly people, Refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants, Other
  • Food producers and cultivators (i.e. farmers, gardeners)
  • Other

Governance

Management set-up

  • Led by non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Non-government organisation/civil society
  • Citizens or community group
  • District/neighbourhood association

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
  • Crowd-sourcing/Crowd-funding/Participatory budget
  • Taskforce groups
  • Dissemination of information and education
  • Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
  • Co-management/Joint management
  • Citizen oversight (e.g. boards, advisory)
  • Citizen science
  • Citizen monitoring and review
  • Other

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

It is mainly governed by the neighbors (Ref. 2) The NGO Red Huertos Alicante is a network of all community garden in the city of Alicante and provides support in urban agriculture with training: "source of consultation, creating links between citizens" (Ref. 1)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Unknown
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Yes (Regional plan: please see the pdf document (Ref. 4) "GUIDE FOR THE CREATION OF ECOLOGICAL SOCIAL COMMUNITY GARDENS IN ANDALUSIA" )

Financing

Total cost

Unknown

Source(s) of funding

  • Other

Type of funding

  • Other

Non-financial contribution

Type of non-financial contribution
  • Provision of land
  • Provision of goods
  • Provision of labour
  • Provision of expertise
  • Provision of other services
  • Exchange of services
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
  • Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
  • Other

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased green space area
  • Increased conversion of degraded land or soil
  • Increased spread of native/heirloom/open-pollinated seed
  • Restoration of derelict areas

Economic impacts

  • Increase in agricultural production (for profit or not)
  • Increased market share for green economies
  • Other

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Improved social cohesion
  • Fair distribution of social, environmental and economic benefits of the NBS project
  • Improved liveability
  • Improved access to urban green space
  • Increased visibility and opportunity for marginalised groups or indigenous peoples
  • Increased opportunities for social interaction
  • Increased involvement of locals in the management of green spaces
  • Increased access to healthy/affordable food
  • Increased sustainability of agriculture practices
  • Health and wellbeing
  • Improved mental health
  • Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
  • Cultural heritage and sense of place
  • Promotion of cultural diversity
  • Protection of natural heritage
  • Increased sense of place identity, memory and belonging
  • Increased appreciation for natural spaces
  • Education
  • Increased support for education and scientific research
  • Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
  • Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits
  • Other

Type of reported impacts

Expected impacts, Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Unknown

Presence of indicators used in reporting

No evidence in public records

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No evidence in public records

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No evidence in public records

References

1. Red Huertos Alicante (no date). "Proyecto: Source link. Available at: Source link (Accessed on July 15, 2020)
2. Hort Comunitari de Carolines: "Entrevista a Sento y Bushara". (2016) YouTube: Sacacorchos Blog. Available at: Source link (Accessed on July 15, 2020)
3. L'Hort Comunitari de Carolines. (no date). History. Available at: Source link (Accessed on July 15, 2020)
4. Puente Asuer, R. (2013). "Guía para la creación de huertos sociales ecológicos en Andalucía. Junta de Andalucía". Available at: Source link (Accessed on July 15, 2020)
5. Anon. (no date). "Alicante". Urban Gardens Barcelona. Available at: Source link (Accessed on July 15, 2020)
6. Anon. (no date). "Huerto Comunitario de Carolinas". Available at: Source link (Accessed on July 15, 2020)
7. Alicante Out (no date). "Muestra-mercado ecológico en el Huerto Comunitario de Carolinas". Available at: Source link (Accessed on July 15, 2020)
8. Ano. (2013). Survey: "Huertos urbanos de Alicante". Document attached in the atlas. (Accessed on August 7, 2020)
9. Ortiga, C. (2010). "Quan els urbanites cullen cebes i idees". Document attached in the atlas. (Accessed on August 7, 2020)