Last updated: November 2024
The Prinzessinnengarten Kollektiv Berlin is a community garden in the New St Jacobi Cemetery in Berlin-Neukölln that invites people to join in gardening and experience nature. As part of open gardening days, people can participate in the design of the garden areas and gain experience in the local, ecological cultivation of useful plants. The main aim of their work is to provide opportunities for education and participation. Activities are open to everyone and range from sowing, planting and harvesting to seed production, processing and preserving vegetables, keeping bees to questions of community-based urban habitat design.The community also has its own farm shop where seeds, food and processed products are sold. (Ref. 1; Ref. 4) Numerous projects for recycling and upcycling, innovative cultivation methods, organic beekeeping, composting methods and post-fossil mobility use the Prinzessinnengarten as a platform for sustainable urban living. Artists also work in the garden with participatory methods on the question of how cities and their coexistence can be designed in a sustainable and resource-saving way. Outside the Prinzessinnengarten, offshoot gardens are set up and collaborations are developed to build nationwide and European networks. Through lectures, workshops, study visits and participatory research in the garden, we endeavour to include and further develop the topics associated with the Prinzessinnengarten in discussions and education. (Ref. 7) The project is located on a cemetery, which has been partially closed since 2016. This means that burials are no longer carried out on the site and the existing rights of use of the 500 or so remaining graves will no longer be extended after expiry. The church association lends the land to the project in exchange for maintenance work on the surrounding grounds. (Ref. 6)
The Prinzessinnengarten
Prinzessinnengarten Kollektiv Berlin / nomadisch grün
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Community gardens and allotments
- Community gardens
- Horticulture
Key challenges
- Environmental quality
- Waste management
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Green space creation and/or management
- Habitat and biodiversity conservation
- Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
- Preservation of historic traditions
- Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
- Inclusive governance
- Effective management
- Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
- Social interaction
- Environmental education
- Sense of community and community engagement
- Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
- Sustainable consumption
- Sustainable production
Principal problems in Functional Urban Area (FUA)
- Land use and Socio-economic change
- Agriculture/ crop production
- Unequal availability and access to public green spaces
- Health, Well-being and Social cohesion
- Social fragmentation and isolation
- Other
Key priorities
Biodiversity (conservation and/or restoration), Social Justice and community
Focus
Creation of new green areas, Creation of areas for food production (community gardens, allotments), Maintenance and management of urban nature, Maintenance or upgrade of exisiting green spaces (e.g. parks), Protection of natural ecosystems, Habitat conservation, Transformation of previously derelict areas, Transformation of vacant land into green spaces, Knowledge creation and awareness raising, Educational and awareness raising programs, Improved governance of green or blue areas, Creation of new, innovative governance and management approaches
Project objectives
To create opportunities for education and communal participation and involvement in decision making processes and implementation
To improve waste management (Ref. 1)
To preserve native and rare crops. (Ref. 7)
To create free spaces for intercultural exchange in a public environment. (Ref. 5)
To learn and share cultural agricultural traditions. (Ref. 1)
To preserve free urban green spaces and introduce new management approaches to unconventional green spaces (Ref. 5)
Implementation activities
The community garden was founded in 2009 in Berlin Kreuzberg and was structured as a mobile urban community garden. After 10 years of activities, the organization moved to the St Jacobi graveyard in Neukölln. (Ref. 1) Looking for free space, the organization contacted the Protestant Cemetery Association and was invitated to implement a garden on free green space on the St Jacobi cemetery in 2018/2019, funded by the Berlin Programme for Sustainable Development (BENE). (Ref. 2; Ref. 5) Before the implementation, people using the cemetery were asked for their opinion and consent on the gardening activities and university researchers tested the soil for pollution. (Ref. 5) In exchange for using the land, the community garden has to support the cemetery through maintenance work and helping its users. (Ref. 6)
There are open gardening days, joint projects with daycare centres and schools, workshops on composting, seed production and preserving, collaborations with artists or neighbourhood initiatives. In the free eductaional programmes, topics such as crop diversity, organic farming, participation and sustainable urban development are dealt with. The produce is used privately by the volunteers, in the Café or sold to close by restaurants, whereby the profits support financing the project. Participation in the project is free of cost and open to everyone to learn and interact with other community members. Native and rare crops are used and harvested in traditional ways of farming.
Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities
Biodiversity conservation:
- Protect and enhance urban habitats
- Create new habitats
- Protect species
- Undertake specific measures to protect native species
- Undertake specific measures to protect endangered species
- Means for conservation governance
- Protect and apply traditional knowledge and conservation practices
Main beneficiaries
- Citizens or community groups
- Other
Governance
Management set-up
- Led by non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Non-government organisation/civil society
- Citizens or community group
- Other
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
- Dissemination of information and education
- Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
The project's initiation was funded by the Berlin Programme for Sustainable Development (BENE) through the regional government (Berlin Senate). The Protestant Cemetery Association Berlin City Centre provides the land for the project in exchange for maintenance work on the church grounds. (Ref. 2; Ref. 6) People connected to the intact graves were asked for permission for the project. Researchers from the TU Berlin cooperated with the organisation and tested the soil for pollution. (Ref. 5) The project is run by the NGO Nomadisch Grün gemeinnützige GmbH as a supporting organisation and implemented by citizens as volunteers.
Project implemented in response to ...
... an EU policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a national policy or strategy?
Unknown
... a local policy or strategy?
Unknown
Type of enablers
NGOs/Community groups driving the implementation, Funds, subsidies or investment for GI/NBS in the city (available for the city or provided by the city)
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
- Public regional budget
Type of funding
- Earmarked public budget
Non-financial contribution
Type of non-financial contribution
- Provision of land
- Provision of labour
- Provision of expertise
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
- Public authorities (e.g. land, utility services)
- Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Environmental quality
- Improved waste management
- Achieved improved waste management
- Green space and habitat
- Increased green space area
- Achieved increased green space area
- Increased number of species present
- Achieved increased number of species present
Economic impacts
- Generation of income from NBS
- Achieved generation of income from NBS
- Other
Socio-cultural impacts
- Social justice and cohesion
- Improved social cohesion
- Expected improved social cohesion
- Safety
- Increased perception of safety
- Achieved increased perception of safety
Type of reported 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
Potential risks of implementation and trade-offs
Social justice and conflicts, Displacement of vulnerable or marginalized communities
References
1.
Prinzessinnengarten Kollektiv Berlin (n.d.). Über uns. Accessed on September 19, 2024, [Source link];
2.
Prinzessinnengarten Kollektiv Berlin (n.d.). Der Neue St. Jacobi Friedhof. Accessed on September 19, 2024, [Source link];
3.
Prinzessinnengarten Kollektiv Berlin (n.d.). Spenden. Accessed on September 19, 2024, [Source link];
4.
Prinzessinnengarten Kollektiv Berlin (n.d.). Unser Hofladen. Accessed on September 19, 2024, [Source link];
5.
Hempel, C. & Werner, N. (2024). Modellprojekt: Gärtnern zwischen Gräbern. Accessed on September 19, 2024, [Source link];
6.
Kästner, S. (2019). Urban-Gardening auf Friedhöfen: Gurken auf Gräbern. Accessed on September 19, 2024, [Source link];
7.
Prinzessinnengarten Kollektiv Berlin (n.d.). FAQ. Accessed on September 19, 2024, [Source link];
8.
District Office Neukölln (n.d.). Einwohnerregisterstatistik. Accessed on September 19, 2024, [Source link];
9.
District Office Neukölln (n.d.). Arbeitsmarktreport für Berlin-Süd (Neukölln). Accessed on September 19, 2024, [Source link];
Surrounded by graves: the Prinzessinnen community garden in Neukölln
Prinzessinnengarten Kollektiv Berlin / nomadisch grün
Urban Gardening in Cemeteries
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/urban-gardening-auf-friedhoefen-gurken-auf-graebern-100.html
Urban Gardening in Cemeteries
https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/urban-gardening-auf-friedhoefen-gurken-auf-graebern-100.html
Information about this nature-based solution was collected as part of the Naturescapes project funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement No 101084341.