Porto, Portugal
City population: 981829
Duration: 2004 – 2012
Implementation status: Completed
Scale: Meso-scale: Regional, metropolitan and urban level
Project area: 40000 m2
Type of area: Agricultural area or farmland, Residential
Last updated: October 2021

This NBS is a part of the "Horta à Porta" (allotments at the door) programme which enhances the economic, environmental and social dynamics of the Porto region through the creation of community organic gardens and the promotion of active involvement which empowers local people and institutions. The program is led by the Greater Porto Metropolitan Waste Management Service, LIPOR. Implementation of vegetable gardens began in 2003. In the Metropolitan Region of Porto, there are 23 of these community gardens totalling four hectares, and the forecast is for a large-scale increase in the near future(1)

Hortas urbanas_Porto
Hortas urbanas_Porto
Source: https://www.lipor.pt/pt/sensibilizar/hortas-urbanas/o-projeto-de-hortas-urbanas/

Overview

Nature-based solution

  • Community gardens and allotments
  • Allotments
  • Community gardens

Key challenges

  • Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
  • Green space creation and/or management
  • Environmental quality
  • Soil quality improvement
  • Inclusive and effective governance (SDG 16)
  • Inclusive governance
  • Effective management
  • Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
  • Social interaction
  • Health and well-being (SDG 3)
  • Enabling opportunities for physical activity
  • Creation of opportunities for recreation
  • Economic development and employment (SDG 8)
  • Economic development: agriculture
  • Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
  • Sustainable consumption
  • Sustainable production

Focus

Creation of new green areas, Knowledge creation and awareness raising

Project objectives

1. Aims to increase the quality of life for the people of the Porto region through improved agricultural, environmental and social practices. 2. Create dynamic spaces that promote biodiversity and dissemination of best agricultural practices, valuing home composting and organic farming 3. Organise a network of gardens comprising plots of 25 to 100 square metres for citizens interested in organic farming and composting. 4. Train new urban farmers in organic farming. 5. Create local support structures for partnerships and for vegetable gardens. 6. Facilitate local community initiatives involving citizens and users in project management 7. Improve social cohesion. 8. Reinforce a green corridor (1)

Implementation activities

The Horta à Porta project started in July 2003 to create a network of local groups and other organisations in the Porto region, around a regional strategy for home composting, vegetable garden creation and promotion of organic farming. Preparing the land for organic horticulture involves dividing it into plots of 25 square metres, and installing a water supply, garden sheds and composters (compost barrels). This is done in partnership and by distributing tasks and responsibilities, which incidentally are not always the same. As a result of its activities since 2004, the Horta à Porta network now has 23 kitchen gardens on a total of four hectares of land where ‘homemade’ organic farming is practised. What’s more, around 1 600 people in the Porto region are on the waiting listed to access a garden in the network. A clear indicator of success is that there are very few dropouts. (1)

Main beneficiaries

  • Local government/Municipality
  • Citizens or community groups
  • Marginalized groups: Elderly people, Socio-economically disadvantaged populations (e.g. low-income households, unemployed)
  • Food producers and cultivators (i.e. farmers, gardeners)
  • Young people and children

Governance

Management set-up

  • Co-governance with government and non-government actors

Type of initiating organisation

  • Regional government
  • Local government/municipality

Participatory approaches/ community involvement

  • Taskforce groups
  • Dissemination of information and education
  • Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
  • Citizen oversight (e.g. boards, advisory)

Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project

LIPOR – Serviço Intermunicipalizado de Gestão de Resíduos do Grande Porto (‘Greater Porto Metropolitan Waste Management Service’) – is the institution responsible for the management, recovery and treatment of urban organic waste produced in eight associated local authorities of Greater Porto. This is an interauthority association, a sort of urban community of communes for the environment and organic waste, which supports all strategic, economic, environmental and social developments related to waste in urban areas and which actively intervenes in the territory around issues of sustainable development. It includes partners from several universities and international institutions, and is a member of the Business Council for Sustainable Development (BCSD Portugal), the Portuguese Association for the Study of Sanitation, the Institute of Energy (IE), the SRR Resource Recovery Forum, the International Solid Waste Association (ISWA) – and the Association of Cities for Recycling (1)

Project implemented in response to ...

... an EU policy or strategy? Yes (This programme fits very appropriately into the specific objectives of LIFE+, itself representing further investment from the European Union Structural Funds for environmental ends.(5))
... a national policy or strategy? Yes (This NBS is in connection with the Portuguese urban planning laws which require each municipality to draw up its “municipal ecological infrastructure” (Estrutura Ecológica Municipal (Plano Director Municipal), in order to “protect its values and natural, cultural, agrarian and woodland resources. On October 2007, the Municipal Assembly of Lisbon ruled that the land use defined in the existing comprehensive plan (Plano Director Municipal) must incorporate the Green Plan (Plano Verde de Lisboa) as the “municipal ecological infrastructure”.This decision opened up new possibilities for the development of urban agriculture in the city (4) The Portuguese law (“Decreto Regulamentar” nº 11/2009, 29 of May), recognizes agriculture as a compatible activity within the green infrastructure mentioning that “green spaces are areas with functions of ecological balance, open air recreation, leisure, sports and culture, agriculture or forestry”. (5) )
... a local policy or strategy? Unknown

Financing

Total cost

€100,000 - €500,000

Source(s) of funding

  • EU funds
  • Public regional budget

Type of funding

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

Non-financial contribution

Type of non-financial contribution
  • Provision of land
  • Provision of goods
  • 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

  • Green space and habitat
  • Increased green space area
  • Increased ecological connectivity across regeneration sites and scales

Economic impacts

  • Generation of income from NBS

Socio-cultural impacts

  • Education
  • Increased knowledge of locals about local nature
  • Increased awareness of NBS and their benefits

Type of reported impacts

Achieved impacts

Presence of formal monitoring system

Yes

Presence of indicators used in reporting

Yes

Presence of monitoring/ evaluation reports

Yes

Availability of a web-based monitoring tool

No

References

1. AEIDL (2012), Horta à Porta, Gardening for Good Portugal Report, (Website not available in 2020)
2. Lipor, Portugal, Hortas Institucionais e Empresariais, (Website not available in 2020)
3. INNOVATE (2014), Social Innovation, Policy Kit, Available at Source link (Accessed 22-6-2020)
4. Cancela, J. (2009, Congress, ISOCARP) Urban agriculture in city planning process. Experiences from Portugal, Available at Source link (Accessed 22-6-2020)
5. AIEDL (2012), Porto analytical fiche, Available at Source link, (Accessed 28-7-2020)
6. Hortaaporta (no date), Website, Available at Source link 28-7-2020)