RU:RBAN REACHES THE LECTURE HALLS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SPLIT

We are talking of Anja Garmaz, a student of Sociology at the University of Split who has chosen urban gardens as the topic of her research thesis. Our partners from Split had the chance to interview her and when asked why she had decided to take up this topic her reply was “My childhood was marked by documentaries about global warming, the extinction of plants and animals and the warnings about the influence society has on nature. As a result of that I got interested in different ways of diminishing that influence, as well as in the ecology and sustainable development. Since the concept of food production is among one of the main concerns of sustainable development, I got in touch with the concept of urban gardens.”

Anja learnt of urban gardens in Split two years ago through a newspaper article inviting citizens to apply for the creation of urban gardens, and she applied. However, the project was not carried out that year as the city could finance it but  was also informed that the citizens showed great interest for the project. This gave Anja the idea for her thesis:  trying to find the answer to the question why the project was not implemented since there was great interest among the citizens of Split and they would have run the urban gardens. As Anja says, “Without active participants, there is no sustainability of the project.”

Her research will be conducted through a survey, using a questionnaire that will collect socioeconomic characteristics of participants – which would be anonymous – while any other information will be gathered through open questions in the form of an interview. She hopes to learn about the experiences of people who self-organized and turned neglected city property into small urban garden and a place for them to socialize and relax, gathered under the citizen's initiative 'Our property under Vidilica' (ed: a neighbourhood in Split). Her interest is to learn about the possible issues they encountered and the ways they solved them. Anja also hopes to find out if there are any differences in the dynamics of the relationships when dealing with a formal initiative such as the RU:RBAN pilot project of the urban garden in Split - initiated by nongovernment associations and the city - compared to informal initiatives such as 'Our property under Vidilica'. She believes her research will partially have influence on the broadness of the topic as, according to her, her work is a pioneer theme in Split.

When asked of her views on the future of urban gardens in Split, Anja explained that “urban gardens have become a global phenomenon in the past 20 years, which is confirmed by evolving scientific literature on the topic (from biology and architecture to sociology and many more) and by the ever growing number of established projects of urban gardens in  the world, both formal and informal examples that have been initiated by enthusiastic citizens.” According to Anja, urban gardens are intertwined with the concept of smart cities, green economy and sustainable development. Their role has proved to have positive effects in many areas, from the education of children about the organic agriculture and the development of the ecological awareness of the citizens to the integration of migrants in new communities. Therefore, it is not just interesting because of the environmental care, but also because of the useful approach to the development of activism, community cohesion and the responsibility of the citizens towards the creation of coexistence in the community.

We truly thank Anja for her insights on the topic of urban gardens and we wish her the very best in her studies and future career!