Resilient Rosario

Creation of new green areas, Ecological restoration of ecosystems, Transformation of previously derelict areas, Knowledge creation and awareness raising

Rosario’s flagship urban and peri-urban agriculture program has evolved to become a cornerstone of the city’s response to increased flooding and heat events. The project has as goals the following: 1. To help improve food security and nutrition for low-income residents by strategically repurposing public land and private peri-urban spaces. 2. To improve resilience to extreme events and reduce carbon emissions via more compact food supply chains. 3. To expanded urban agriculture into public spaces, schools, marketplaces and a variety of social programs, especially those for youth and elders, establishing a culture around food production. 4. To improve the soil with time and to avoid sliding and floods - boosting the city's flood resilience. 5. To transform derelict areas into green spaces - restoring land in an ecological manner. 6. To establish food production systems of high biological value. 7. To cope with increasing rains, mitigate the urban heat island and preserve biodiversity. (1,2,3,4)

In early 2002 the municipality teamed up with a local nongovernmental organization, the Centro de Estudios de Producciones Agroecológicas (CEPAR — centre for the study of agroecological production) and a national program, Pro Huerta, which supports family gardens. The proposal was that people look for wasteland in the neighbourhood in which they lived and occupy it to cultivate the land. At that time, Rosario had an ordinance by which the land could be used and exempted from the tax. From May 2002 to April 2003, the Centro de Estudios del Ambiente Humano (CEAH — human environments studies centre) at the National University of Rosario, CEPAR, and several municipal departments — such as urban planning and property registry — collaborated to analyze the available vacant land in the city. They used aerial photography, databases from the land registry, and information provided by urban farmers in workshops. Classes on urban farming were organised weekly, and over 100 people were attending. The parks- gardens were designed in unbuildable places, on the sides of the highway, the side of the railroad, the sides of the two large streams- Rosario has a river. They are permanent, socio-productive places that have between two and four hectares. Demand for fresh produce was high that the city quickly opened a new market to enable growers to sell fruits and vegetables directly and provide new sources of affordable and healthy local produce to residents. As the economic crisis stabilized, the municipality planned for the future of the urban agriculture program. In 2004, the mayor approved a municipal ordinance allowing the city to grant temporary tenure of vacant land to the urban poor for urban agriculture. In 2007 and 2008, two Vegetable Garden Parks were opened, bolstering the city’s flood resilience while providing additional land for urban agriculture. These days the intervention has been included in a Green Belt Project that helps contain urban sprawl while restoring land in an ecologically sensitive manner. (2,4,5)

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