Bremen, Germany
City population: 536227
Duration: 2015 – 2015
Implementation status: Completed
Scale: Sub-microscale: Street scale (including buildings)
Project area: 110 m2
Type of area: Building
Last updated: October 2021

The project aimed to create a garden on the roof in the Bremen Volkshochschule, developed with the help of local NGO, Gemüsewerft Bremen and local citizens. The initiative involves vegetables and herbs growing, educational workshops on nutrition and urban gardening as well as various social activities. It aims at increasing access to the urban gardening space and increase in ecological awareness of the residents of Bremen (Ref. 1, 3).

Planters with sprouting vegetables on a rooftop
https://www.vhs-gesundheitsbildung.de/2019/01/06/urban-gardening-an-der-vhs-bremen/

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Nature on buildings (external)
  • Green roofs
  • Community gardens and allotments
  • Community gardens

Key challenges

  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Environmental education
  • Social interaction
  • Health and well-being (SDG 3)
  • Creation of opportunities for recreation
  • Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
  • Sustainable consumption
  • Sustainable production

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Knowledge creation and awareness raising

Project objectives

Goals of the intervention: 1) Creation of the rooftop garden that will combine vegetables/herbs growing with education on healthy nutrition, urban development, and urban gardening; 2) Sensitizing people to healthy food and the healthy way of life; 3) Providing a place for rest; 4) Providing ingredients for cooking seminars; 5) Bringing back agricultural competence to the city (Ref. 1, 3). 6) Increase in ecological awareness of the residents (Ref. 1, 3).

Implementation activities

Building a rooftop garden on the total area of over 100 m² at a height of 40 meters (Ref. 1, 4). Planting regional and seasonal vegetable and herbs varieties in mobile planting boxes; Developing and running various teaching courses in the garden, which can show the variety of local eatable plants, teach their processing techniques and provide fun activities for harvesting and cooking (Ref. 1).

Main beneficiaries

  • Citizens or community groups

Governance

Management set-up

  • Led by non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Public sector institution
  • Non-government organisation/civil society

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Dissemination of information and education
  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
  • Co-management/Joint management

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The garden in VHS was built in cooperation with Gemüsewerft in Bremen (which provides its knowledge and expertise in the construction of mobile city gardens) and with the non-profit company for integrative employment (as operator of the vegetable garden - Geschäftsführer der gemeinnützigen Gesellschaft für integrative Beschäftigung mbH). The project is also supported by the local government (Ref. 1, 3).

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Unknown
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Yes (The Bremer Volkshochschule participates in the "BioStadt Bremen", a programme of the local Department for Labor, Economy and Ports, which supports the ecological, regionally and fairly produced food in Bremen (Ref. 1).)

Financing

Total cost

€10,000 - €50,000

Source(s) of funding

  • Public local authority budget
  • Funds provided by non-governmental organization (NGO)

Type of funding

  • Direct funding (grants, subsidies, or self-financed projects by private entities)
  • Donations

Non-financial contribution

Type of non-financial contribution
  • Provision of labour
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
  • Citizens (e.g. volunteering)

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased green space area

Economic impacts

  • Increase of green jobs (e.g. paid employment positions)
  • Increase in agricultural production (for profit or not)

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Improved access to urban green space
  • 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
  • Gain in activities for recreation and exercise
  • Education
  • Increased support for education and scientific research
  • Increased knowledge of locals about local nature

Type of reported 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. Der Senator Fur Kultur (2015). 'Roof garden of the Bremer Volkshochschule is a new learning place' ('Dachgarten der Bremer Volkshochschule als neuer Lernort eröffnet'). Available at: Source link (Accessed: October 20, 2020).
2. VHS website (n.d.). 'The VHS roof garden starts the third season' ('Der VHS-Dachgarten startet in die dritte Saison'). Available at: Source link (Accessed: October 20, 2020).
3. Pieper, K., (2015), ('Gemüse und Kräuter von der eigenen Dachterrasse'). Available at: Source link (Accessed: October 20, 2020).
4. Nolte, S. (2015). 'Roof garden in the Bamberg House' ('Der VHS-Dachgarten auf dem Bamberger-Haus'). Available at: Source link (Accessed: October 20, 2020).
5. VHS (2019). “Urban Gardening auf dem Dach der Bremer vhs – ein Dachgarten in 40 Metern Höhe”. Available at: Source link (Accessed: October 20, 2020).