Last updated: October 2021
The Garden Factory ('Tuinfabriek') is an exceptional urban agriculture project on a roof of the central station that aims at becoming the largest food-producing roof of the Netherlands. The project is a self-sustaining vegetable garden located on the roof of a busy mall in the centre of Utrecht (ref. 5). On the roof, citizens, students, company employees and schools work together to grow vegetables and keep bees and chicken. The Garden Factory reflects an ecological 'self-sustaining factory' as the chickens, worms and bees 'work' in the garden as being part of the decomposing system and pollination and a system is built for rainwater retention that allows for irrigation (ref. 1). Eating, composting, sowing, growing, harvesting, cooking form the production process of this Garden Factory (ref. 4). The main elements of the roof garden are in place, such as the crop bins, the chicken coop and the decomposing machine are completed. However, it is an ongoing developing project as some elements are still in development stage such as some elements of the Soup Kitchen and the aim is to integrate the Garden Factory more with the central station shopping mall in multiple ways (ref. 1).
The garden factory
Source: Ref. 2
Overview
Nature-based solution
- Nature on buildings (external)
- Green roofs
- Community gardens and allotments
- Community gardens
- Green areas for water management
- Sustainable urban drainage systems
Key challenges
- Water management (SDG 6)
- Stormwater and rainfall management and storage
- Green space, habitats and biodiversity (SDG 15)
- Habitat and biodiversity conservation
- Green space creation and/or management
- Environmental quality
- Soil quality improvement
- Regeneration, land-use and urban development
- Promote natural styles of landscape design for urban development
- Social justice, cohesion and equity (SDG 10)
- Social cohesion
- Social interaction
- Sustainable consumption and production (SDG 12)
- Sustainable consumption
- Sustainable production
Focus
Creation of new green areas
Project objectives
The main objective is to become the largest food-producing roof of the Netherlands (sustainable food production) (ref. 1). Other goals are:
-Social cohesion (not directly stated), but the roof was formally closed due to nuisance by junks and is now reopened because of the roof garden and supports participation as everyone who would like to participate is allowed to do so (ref. 1)
-Education: a primary school is involved in the Garden Factory as children learn about the processes of food production: decomposing, gardening, harvesting, collecting organic waste. Also, the Garden Cantine is a meeting spot in which gardening techniques are exchanged (ref. 1)
-Pollination: due to the bee keeping on the roof (ref. 1)
-Eating, composting, sowing, growing, harvesting, cooking form the production process of this Garden Factory (ref. 4)
Implementation activities
Food production: seeding, gardening, harvesting
Decomposing: collecting organic waste from citizens and businesses (including a supermarket and a flower shop) and putting this in the hand-made decomposing machine
Taking care of the chickens: cleaning the chicken coops, moving around the 'mobile chicken coops' in order to move around the chicken from one crop bin to the next. `
Cooking: in the Soup Kitchen, soup is made from the vegetables, which is then brought to the central station mall`
Exchange of gardening techniques in the Garden Cantine (ref. 1)
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 native species
- Undertake specific measures to protect valued species
- Means for conservation governance
- Manage biological resources for conservation and sustainable use
- Raise public awareness
- Public engagement
Main beneficiaries
- Public sector institution (e.g. school or hospital)
- Private sector/Corporate/Company
- Citizens or community groups
Governance
Management set-up
- Led by non-government actors
Type of initiating organisation
- Private sector/corporate actor/company
- Citizens or community group
- Other
Participatory approaches/ community involvement
- Crowd-sourcing/Crowd-funding/Participatory budget
- Taskforce groups
- Dissemination of information and education
- Joint implementation (e.g. tree planting)
- Co-management/Joint management
- Citizen oversight (e.g. boards, advisory)
Details on the roles of the organisations involved in the project
The initiative to create a roof garden originally came from employees of Corio (company) and as a response to the City of the Mall art manifestation, an art designer, Ester van de Wiel has expanded the garden and created the Garden Factory out of it. Now, citizens of the neighborhood around central station, students, a primary school and the designer herself are responsible for the maintenance of the Garden Factory and they are supported by the municipality of Utrecht and Corio (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?
Unknown
Financing
Total cost
Unknown
Source(s) of funding
- Crowdfunding
Type of funding
- Donations
Non-financial contribution
Type of non-financial contribution
- Provision of goods
- Provision of labour
- Other
Who provided the non-financial contribution?
- Public authorities (e.g. land, utility services)
- Citizens (e.g. volunteering)
Impacts and Monitoring
Environmental impacts
- Water management and blue areas
- Improved stormwater management
- Green space and habitat
- Increased green space area
- Increased number of species present
- Enhanced support of pollination
Economic impacts
- 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 access to healthy/affordable food
- Increased sustainability of agriculture practices
- Education
- Increased support for education and scientific research
Type of reported impacts
Expected 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. detuinfabriek. (2018). de Tuinfabriek. [online] Available at: Source link (Accessed 29 July 2020)
2. Mathieu. (2014). De tuinfabriek: moestuinieren op het dak van Hoog Catherijne. [online] Available at: Source link (Accessed 29 July 2020)
3. Dutch Design Awards. (2014). Studio Ester van de Wiel De Tuinfabriek. [online] Available at: Source link (Accessed 29 July 2020)
4. Ester van de Wiel. (n.d.). The Garden Factory (2013 – 2017). Available at: Source link (Accessed 29 July 2020)
5. InsideFlows. (n.d.). The garden factory. Available at: Source link (Accessed 29 July 2020)
2. Mathieu. (2014). De tuinfabriek: moestuinieren op het dak van Hoog Catherijne. [online] Available at: Source link (Accessed 29 July 2020)
3. Dutch Design Awards. (2014). Studio Ester van de Wiel De Tuinfabriek. [online] Available at: Source link (Accessed 29 July 2020)
4. Ester van de Wiel. (n.d.). The Garden Factory (2013 – 2017). Available at: Source link (Accessed 29 July 2020)
5. InsideFlows. (n.d.). The garden factory. Available at: Source link (Accessed 29 July 2020)