München, Germany
City population: 1346481
Duration: 2011 – 2012
Implementation status: Completed and archived or cancelled
Scale: Micro-scale: District/neighbourhood level
Project area: 700 m2
Type of area: Previous derelict area
Last updated: October 2021

O'pflanzt is! is a community garden in the inner part of Munich. It was founded in summer 2011 by Vanessa Blind. Her vision was to create an urban, socio-ecological community garden - a place of planting, sowing and harvesting, a place for meeting and learning, a piece of nature in the city, a creative wilderness. The garden is a real community garden, as there are no individual beds, and decisions are made collectively. Sustainable production is one of the main goals of the project, which is why planting is done organically without synthetic fertilizer and only wood and recycled materials are used. (Reference 2) In 2018, the area of the garden had to be returned to its owners. The leaders of the garden, however, managed to find a new plot within a year and a half. (Reference 13)

Community garden: o’pflanzt is!
Community garden: o’pflanzt is!
Source: Ref. 11

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Community gardens and allotments
  • Community gardens

Key challenges

  • Climate action for adaptation, resilience and mitigation (SDG 13)
  • Climate change adaptation
  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Habitat and biodiversity conservation
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
  • Inclusive governance
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Environmental education
  • Social interaction
  • Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
  • Sustainable production

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Knowledge creation and awareness raising

Project objectives

- creating an urban social-ecological community garden for planting, harvesting, meeting, and learning (Reference 2); - creating an island of biodiversity, with special attention to bees; - promoting active participation in food production; - mobilizing against standardized food production; - promoting genetically diverse regionally grown seasonal crops for climate change adaptation (Reference 4); - conducting public dialogues about the symbiosis of urbanity and nature and about the practical ways of preserving nature; - promoting cooperation and mutual recognition between people with different social and cultural background, including young and old people, disabled people and migrants; - with the help of guided and individual gardening support psycho-social well-being outside the world of consumerism; - promoting publicly accessible art and culture through exhibitions and performances and cultural projects in the garden ; - exchange of goods and raw materials to regional currencies (Reference 2-6).

Implementation activities

- renting an unoccupied site from the local government; - establishing a non-governmental association providing a legal framework for urban gardening (Reference 2); - realization of urban gardening on a 3300 square meter area with 30 raised beds; - offering workshops for education; - setting up a compost toilet, a greenhouse tent, an outdoor kitchen and 3 compost heaps and beehives in the site; - organizing events in the garden (Reference 5); - in 2014, beehives were established (Reference 2);

Climate-focused activities

Climate change adaptation:

  • Increase the use of climate-resilient plant species (resistant to drought, fire, and pests)

Biodiversity conservation or restoration-focused activities

Biodiversity conservation:

  • Protect and enhance urban habitats
  • Create new habitats
  • Protect species
  • Undertake specific measures to protect species
  • Undertake specific measures to protect valued species
  • Means for conservation governance
  • Public engagement
  • Capacity building

Main beneficiaries

  • Citizens or community groups
  • Marginalized groups: Elderly people, Socio-economically disadvantaged populations (e.g. low-income households, unemployed), People with functional diversities

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

  • Crowd-sourcing/Crowd-funding/Participatory budget
  • 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

Opflanzt-is! was founded in summer 2011 by Vanessa Blind. She leased an unoccupied area on the Emma-Street from the State Bavaria. (Until 2018, when the project had to move) To provide a legal framework for the project, the non-profit association o'pflanzt is! E.V. was registered. (Reference 2).

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Unknown
... a national policy or strategy? Unknown
... a local policy or strategy? Unknown

Financing

Total cost

€10,000 - €50,000

Source(s) of funding

  • Public local authority budget
  • Private Foundation/Trust
  • Crowdfunding
  • Commercial banks

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

Impacts and Monitoring

Environmental impacts

  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased conservation or restoration of ecosystems
  • Increased protection of threatened species
  • Enhanced support of pollination

Economic impacts

  • Increase in agricultural production (for profit or not)

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Social justice and cohesion
  • Fair distribution of social, environmental and economic benefits of the NBS project
  • 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
  • Education
  • Increased support for education and scientific research
  • Other

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. Source link. (2017). The official website of the community garden. [online]. Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020].
2. Source link. (2017). Historie. [online]. Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020].
3. Source link. (2017). Die Vision. [online]. Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020].
4. Source link. (2017). Warum Gärtern?. [online]. Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020].
5. Source link. (2017). Gärtern ist politisch. [online]. Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020].
6. Source link. (2017). Satzung. [online]. Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020].
7. Haide, E. (2009). Urbane partizipative Gartenaktivitäten in München 2009. [online] Source link. [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020].
8. Source link. (2017) O'Pflanzt is! [online] Available at: Source link [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020].
9. Source link. (2017). Wir sind drin. [online]. Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020].
10. Riedel, K. (2014) Urban Gardening in München: O' pflanzt is!. Süddeutsche Zeitung [online] Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020]
11. SüSource link. (2017) Picture of the community garden. [image] Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020]
12. Source link. (2017). Die Bienen: Stadtbiene 2.0. [online]. Available at: Source link. [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020].
13. Source link. (2019) Gemeinschaftsgarten erblüht neu im Olympiapark. [online] Available at: Source link [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020]
14. Source link (2020). O'pflantzt is! [online] Available at: Source link [Accessed: 28 Jul. 2020]