TRANSNATIONAL MEETING IN ALEXANDROUPOLIS

Rome and Carlow representatives were welcomed the evening before the two-day meeting by Mr Ioannis Zampoukis, the Mayor of Alexandroupolis, and the Municipality team of experts involved in urban agriculture activities for a kick-start discussion and formal introductions.

During the two days of the meeting participants had the opportunity to visit various community gardens in the city, among which is the city garden Bioagros. This garden is the case study for the project and is under the responsibility of the municipality. The visit to Bioagros was a great opportunity to exchange information on the garden’s regulation which sets the basis for the improvement of the city’s future regulation of urban gardens.

The programme of the meeting included very userful and interesting Gardeniser training sessions and presentations by the URBACT ad-hoc experts (particularly interesting the World Café within the session dedicated to the Capacity Building element of the project). Participants also had the chance to present their study cases and all sessions resulted in excellent opportunities to share new ideas on the management of urban gardens. Alexandroupolis ULG members were grateful for the opportunity to meet with ULGs from other cities for what turned out to be a very fruitful and enriching exchange of experiences and knowledge.

A highlight of the meeting was the presentation of the visits by the Lead Expert and the URBACT ad-hoc experts to two of the lighthouse cities: Helsinki and Oslo. The two cities have different management models of urban gardens that can inspire the RU:RBAN cities and also the sustainability plan of the good practice of Rome.  The visit to the third lighthouse city, Reykjavìk, will take place in September.

All participants in the meeting thanked the city of Alexandroupolis for the excellent organization of all sessions and visits, highlighting how the meeting was an extraordinary opportunity to strengthen the network, inspire and motivate local community groups to engage in the development of community gardens.