Leipzig, Germany
City population: 502920
Duration: 2011 – 2016
Implementation status: Completed
Scale: Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level
Project area: unknown
Type of area: Agricultural area or farmland, Previous derelict area
Last updated: October 2021

The ANNALINDE gGmbH operates multifunctional urban agriculture and demonstration projects in the Western part of Leipzig: a community garden, a nursery and a fruit garden on a former train station where the emphasis is on community development and mutual learning processes in addition to food production. This is safeguarded by an events portfolio consisting of garden working days, workshops and collaborations with schools, kindergartens and like-minded organizations. In addition to that, open urban labs are operated for a number of initiatives and projects covering subject areas like urban agriculture, recycling, composting, urban bees, urban resilience and sustainable urban development (1).

City and Community Garden Annalinde
City and Community Garden Annalinde
ANNALINDE gGmbH, retrieved 08/13/2018 from Dominik Renner

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Community gardens and allotments
  • Community gardens
  • Other

Key challenges

  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Habitat and biodiversity conservation
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Regeneration, land-use and urban development
  • Conversion of former industrial areas
  • Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Environmental education
  • Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
  • Economic development: agriculture
  • Cultural heritage and cultural diversity
  • Preservation of natural heritage
  • Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
  • Sustainable consumption
  • Sustainable production

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Transformation of previously derelict areas

Project objectives

1. Creating a space for exchange and learning about the local production of food, biological diversity, sustainable consumption, sustainable resources use to foster concepts for the future-oriented neighbourhood and urban development (Ref. 1) 2. Nature, environmental and landscape conservation and protection (Ref. 1 and 9) 3. Increase of citizen engagement for communal and charitable purposes (Ref. 1) 4. Create a place of support for youth and elderly people (Ref. 1) 5. Fostering biodiversity in urban areas (9) 6. Promote local stewardship among citizens (1)

Implementation activities

Since 2011 neighbours and volunteers have turned a brownfield of 2,000 sqm into 50 high beds and greenhouses with vegetables and herbs. Everybody can join the activities like sowing, planting, harvesting, processing and conserving of the vegetables, bee-keeping, poultry raising and the development of new cultivation methods (Ref. 8). The old nursery Toepel was revived in 2013. On 3 fields over 100 different vegetables, seedlings and fruits are grown in 3 greenhouses, in addition to a herbs garden, eatable hedges, a place for experimentation and 14 bee colonies. 35 consumers and restaurant owners are supplied with the product which is also sold on a weekly market. The nursery is also a training enterprise (Ref. 7). In 2015 an additional orchard area was added to the project. On a former station, an urban orchard on 3,400 sqm (regional and indigenous fruits) was implemented, complemented by location-adapted wild meadows, grasslands and herbs providing important habitats (Ref. 9).

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity conservation:

  • Protect and enhance urban habitats
  • Create new habitats
  • Reduce negative impacts and avoid the alteration/damage of ecosystem
  • Means for conservation governance
  • Manage biological resources for conservation and sustainable use
  • Public engagement
  • Protect and apply traditional knowledge and conservation practices

Main beneficiaries

  • Non-government organisation/Civil Society
  • Citizens or community groups

Governance

Management set-up

  • Led by non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

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

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Co-planning (e.g. stakeholder workshops, focus groups, participatory mapping)
  • Dissemination of information and education
  • Consultation (e.g. workshop, surveys, community meetings, town halls)
  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
  • Co-management/Joint management

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

The charitable organization ANNALINDE gGmbH has acquired the spaces on which the interventions are implemented. Everything is done in close exchange with residents, neighbours and interested citizens who are not only co-managers of all initiatives, but also participants in workshops or labs and therefore active learners from experiences provided. In addition to that, other institutions are indirectly involved through funding (local government) or cooperation (i.e. schools, kindergardens, civic society movements) (1, 2, 3, 4,6)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? No
... a national policy or strategy? No
... a local policy or strategy? No

Financing

Total cost

Unknown

Source(s) of funding

  • EU funds
  • Public national budget
  • Public local authority budget
  • Funds provided by non-governmental organization (NGO)
  • Crowdfunding

Type of funding

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

Non-financial contribution

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

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Environmental quality
  • Improved soil quality
  • Green space and habitat
  • Promotion of naturalistic styles of landscape design for urban development
  • Increased green space area
  • Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
  • Increased conversion of degraded land or soil
  • Increased number of species present
  • Enhanced support of pollination
  • Restoration of derelict areas

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
  • Increased access to healthy/affordable food
  • Increased sustainability of agriculture practices
  • Education
  • Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits

Type of reported impacts

Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

No

Presence of indicators used in reporting

No

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

No

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No

References

1. ANNALINDE gGmbH. (2016). Annalinde. Über uns. Accessed on October 12, 2020, Source link
2. ANNALINDE gGmbH. (2017). Annalinde. Projekte. Accessed on October 12, 2020, Source link
3. CivixX Werkstatt für and Zivilgesellschaft. (n/a). ANNALINDE Gärtnerei. Accessed on October 12, 2020, Source link
4. Leipzig Leben. (2016). Stadtgarten Annalinde Leipzig | Urban Gardening. Accessed on October 12, 2020, Source link
5. Transparency International Deutschland e.V. (2017). Initiative Transparente Zivilgesellschaft. Accessed on October 12, 2020, Source link
6. ANNALINDE gGmbH. (2016). ‘ANNALINDE_Urbane Agrikultur im Leipziger Westen’. Leipzig. Accessed on October 12, 2020, Source link
7. ANNALINDE gGmbH. (2016). Gärtnerei. Accessed on October 12, 2020, Source link
8. ANNALINDE gGmbH. (2016). Gemeinschaftsgarten. Accessed on October 12, 2020, Source link
9. ANNALINDE gGmbH. (2016). Obstgarten. Accessed on October 12, 2020, Source link
10. CivixX Werkstatt für Zivilgesellschaft. (2017). Leipziger Agenda-Preis 2014 - Die Preisträger. Website not available
11. Rat für Nachhaltige Entwicklung. (n/a). ANNALINDE Gärtnerei – Erhaltung des Kulturgutes Stadtgärtnerei durch ökologischen Gartenbau und partizipative Bildungsprojekte. Website not available
12. Gemeinsam Wandeln and Kühn, R. (n/a). Gartennetzwerk. Accessed on October 12, 2020, Source link
13. Bürgerbahnhof Plagwitz. (n/a). Stiftung ‘Ecken wecken’. URBANE FREIRÄUME - Fallstudie über den Bürgerbahnhof Plagwitz. Accessed on October 12, 2020, Source link
14. Stadt Leipzig. (2009) Dezernat Stadtentwicklung und -bau: Integriertes Stadtentwicklungskonzept Leipzig 2020 (SEKo). Leipzig. Accessed on October 12, 2020, Source link
City and Community Garden Annalinde (2017)
City and Community Garden Annalinde (2017)
ANNALINDE gGmbH, retrieved 08/13/2018 from Dominik Renner