COST ACTION TU1201 URBAN ALLOTMENT GARDENS
URBAN ALLOTMENT GARDENS IN PORTUGAL REVIEW, INVENTORY AND CASE STUDIES Authors: Frederico Meireles Rodrigues1,a, Teresa E.Leitão2,b, Sandra Costa1,c, Bianca Silva1, 1 1 1 8 Lina Fernandes , Maria Inês Sousa , Mariana Silva Maria do Rosário Carneira , Sara Tedesco8,2
a. fmeireles@utad.pt Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro Quinta de Prados, Apartado 1013 5001-801 Vila Real, PORTUGAL
b. tleitao@lnec.pt Laboratório Nacional de Engenharia Civil Avenida do Brasil 101 1700-066 Lisboa, PORTUGAL
c. sandrac@utad.pt Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro Quinta de Prados, Apartado 1013 5001-801 Vila Real, PORTUGAL
Introduction Major growth of cities was due to the Industrial Revolution, which led to improving production capabilities and technological advances and ultimately to strong migrations towards the cities. (Matos 2010) This was a very important reason to increase food production within city limits, setting up the foundations of urban allotments. Yet, in Portugal, this idea wasn't at all important, not until the 20th century, when the II World War was menacing cities with starvation. This was particularly significant given the fact that, for the first time, there are more people living in the urban environment than in the countryside. Gonçalo Ribeiro Telles (2001: 19) stated "The XXI century city will be a region in which the space that has been built needs to become harmonized with the natural environment, without which its existence, as human value, will be impossible". Accordingly, the UAG, as cultural areas implying the knowledge and integration of natural processes, needs to be properly included in the urban structure through planning, design and management processes.
Le Potager du Roi (XVII)
Ferme ornée (XVIII)
Associate Institutions: 3. LIPOR - Intermunicipality Wast Management of Greater Porto 4. CML - Municipality of Lisbon It is necessary to take into account economic, ecological, social aesthetic and principles of good urban design in order to do so. The context in which UAG are being developed in Portugal is especially variable with location and type of promoter. In some cases these are located in the “left over's” of densely built spaces in the cities, while in other cases they are located in urban areas that still have many rural characteristics. Therefore this distinction among urban areas, generates also a very much notable diversity in the type of UAG. Definitions Review Urban agriculture is an activity that develops within (intra-urban) or on the periphery (peri-urban) of a town, city or metropolis, which produces, processes and distributes a diversity of food and non-food resources using human and material resources, products and services found in the city or suburbs, resultingin other human and material resources, products and services to
Present day
UAG on Clapham Common (XX)
UAG (XX)
Inventory This research started with the setting of an inventory of the UAG in Portugal. It aims to provide a proper description and characterization of UAG and so providing non existing information about this activity. We have proposed to look for the existing programmes, number of UAG, its distribution in the country and their typologies and main characteristics.
Supporting Institutions: 5. CMVR - Municipality of Vila Real 6. CMG - Municipality of Guimarães 7. APPC - Cerebral Palsy Association of Vila Real 8. ISA – Instituto Superior de Agronomia, Lisbon
Partner Institutions: 1. UTAD-CIFAP - Department of Forestry and Landscape Architecture of the University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro 2. LNEC - National Laboratory for Civil Engineering
supply the city. (Mougeot 1999) Ruth Pinto (2007) offers a general description of the UAG in Portugal which seems of consensus, pointing several characteristics: They are usually small sized (constrained by the availability of land), reflecting a spontaneous use of interstitial permeable land to enable self-sufficiency, reducing energy consumption, increasing economic activity to create jobs (and so benefiting the economy), providing healthy (in the case of organic farming) and fresh food products. Lately, UAG in Portugal, are not only relevant for the purpose of food growing and supply, but also being implemented with additional functions, such as recreation and leisure, therapy and environmental education. UAG are urban green spaces with productive character. In terms of spatial planning system, the Portuguese legislation only provides the framework for UAG, as part of the continuum naturale, at a municipality level, integrated in the Green Infrastructure Planning (Magalhães 1992). Since the municipality land designated to urban agriculture (including UAG), is also considered a green space, it shares the associated ecological and social values and thus these areas are also considered to be good drivers to sustainability the cities. However, the UAG in Portugal might be developed and managed by public or private entities and there is no specific norm by which they can be steered. This leads to the random establishment of UAG, left to the own interests of the institutions, which then generates their own regulations to design and manage, or rely on other existing programs to do so. Urban Context Form of plots
Fence
Tools storage facitily
Home composting
Organic farming
.
ortogonal
yes
yes
no
yes
a, b, c, d, e
①⑨⑩
UAG ref.
Urban density
Landuse
Aprox. área (m2)
Nº of plots
Br 0001
●●●
1, 6
30000
TABELA 2: CONTEXTO, ESTRUTURA, ETC..
IMAGENS
UAG in Évora
Many of the UAG addressed in the inventory are integrated in nongovernmental programmes (table 1). The allotments that form part of these programmes are so grouped in a particular area, under the same general goals, which facilitates planning and maintenance. The search for implemented UAG was done by literature review, consultation of existing local and programme lists (table 1) and exploratory search on the internet mainly on local press and institutional websites. So far this has allowed us to list 89 UAG in Portugal and to develop its classification into five typologies (table 2): Subsistence; Community; Institutional; Therapeutics; Pedagogical. Several characteristics associated with their urban context and internal features were recorded and presented as demonstrated in table 2 and 3.
Li 0002, in Cascais
UAG in Maia
Training
Rent
1 ano
F
yes
F
no
Fu 0001
●●
1,2,9
1401
22
Irregular e ortogonal
yes
yes
yes
no
d
①⑨⑩
3 anos
Fu 0016
●●●
3, 9
907
16
ortogonal
yes
yes
yes
no
d
⑥⑧
3 anos
F
no
Po 0016
●●●
1,2,10
370
10
ortogonal
yes
yes
yes
yes
.
①④⑨
NE
O
no
Po 0027
?
4,5,6,9
8004
74
ortogonal
yes
yes
yes
yes
a, c, e, f,g
①④⑨
3 ano
O
no
Po 0028
●●
1,2,10
375
15
ortogonal
yes
yes
yes
yes
.
①⑧
1 ano
O
no
Table 3 - Structure and organization of the UAG:Legend: High, Average, Low, ? No construction; 1 – Housing, 2 Commerce and services; 3 - Mixed use, 4 - Industrial, 5 – Highways; 6 - Agricultural; 9 – Green spaces associated with buildings ans mtorways, 10 – Public Social Infrastructure; a - benches and tables b - toilets, c - lawns d – Tanks, water reservoirs and wells; e – shrub and flower beds; f - playgrounds; g - lakes: ① Order of registration ④ city resident ⑥ employed in the institution ⑧ students ⑨ training in organic farming and composting ⑩ not having another allotment: O - mandatory; F - optional, NE – not exististing ●●●
Table 1: Existing programmes of UAG in Portugal. Legend: 1- Subsistence; 2 - Community; 3 - Institutional; a – city resident; b – order of registration; c – training in organic farming and composting; d – low income; e – proximity of the residence; f - employed in the institution; g - not having another allotment.
Other Selection of Contract components candidates
●●
●
Analysis has shown that UAG can be found in urban dense (34,5%), peri-urban (44,0%) and low density or rural fringe (16,6%) of cities. They are specially concentrated in public land of Porto, Lisbon and Funchal(Madeira), which is largely due to the fact that they are organized in programmes, what seems to be very effective stimulating and regulating them. In terms of spatial organization these UAG are generally fenced, orthogonally arranged be a grid of paths and plots (30,47 average number). Many of those provide recreation and meeting opportunities, suggested by features such us benches, tables, pergolas playgrounds and lawns.
TABELA 1: CLASSIFICAÇÃO, OBJECTIVOS E FUNÇÕES... Table 2 - Objectives and funtions of UAG: Legend: i – recreation and leisure; ii – pedagogic/educational; iii - therapy; iv – family income aid; v – social valorisation; vi – occupation of vague land; vii – requalification.
In order to record the UAG in the Inventory list, the data entry started with an ID reference, Region, and Municipality where they are located. Then Landowner and the Management responsibility were also aspects to be taken into account as well as the objectives and functions
Br 0001, in Braga
Fu 0001, in Funchal
UAG in Porto
Urban Allotment Gardens Programme of LIPOR, Greater Porto: This research will be a case study of the UAG programme of LIPOR, focusing in its implementation process, the inventory and the in - depth characterization of the UAG. This will allow analyzing its integration within the urban context, the typologies of UAG, their formal structure, spatial and functional organization and its visual quality. This study aims to create a designed model to the implementation of new UAG under this specific programme.
Urban Landscape Planning of the Urban Allotment Gardens in Vila Real: The research is about how UAG can be integrated inside the urban perimeter of the city of Vila Real, Portugal. It focuses the landscape potential, considering the study of urban landscape planning requirements, ecological and socio-cultural criteria to the establishment of new UAG. The work follows a methodology of landscape analysis and synthesis with the objective of finding those sites and to develop a design proposal to a selected site.
Expansion of the Urban Allotment Gardens of the river Ave, Guimarães: The objective of this research is to develop a base of knowledge about the UAG of Guimarães to instruct a design proposal for its expansion, according to the user's needs and preferences, scenic quality and other social, environmental and ecological constrains. In order to do so it will be conducted an in-depth characterization of the existing UAG and Post Occupancy Evaluation.
Therapeutic Urban Allotment Gardens: It is intended to study the therapeutic open space horticulture therapy, and the potential of UAG to that integration into an urban context. The farm, and allotment gardens, of the Cerebral Palsy Association of Vila Real was selected as case-study and project site with the intention to develop a set of design principles and to enhance the therapeutic, functional and aesthetic qualities of this type of urban allotments.
Urban agriculture in allotment gardens in Lisbon: The current situation of AGs in Lisbon is illustrated in Fig. 1, covering an area of 77.4 ha (CML, 2010). Several areas are being assessed by LNEC and ISA (Hortas LNEC, Granja, and Ajuda); the one currently instrumented is “Horta LNEC” (Fig. 2).
The main objectives of this research are (concerning the ecological aspects): Inquiries were performed in different Ags to assess the practices, specially the irrigation and fertilization procedures, as well as the social economic aspects; soil characteristics where assessed for granulometry, porosity, and soil bulk density; weekly samples of soil-water are being taken in two plots, and at two depths (30 and 60 cm), for monitoring the changes in pH, T, electrical conductivity and No3- (Fig. 3); 1D soil-column experiments were carried out to assess soil permeabilities (Fig. 4); 1D modeling using RZWQM2 will help calibrating the field data and running future scenarios in other to simulate and preview the long term impacts of agronomic practices enquired. Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 3 – Vadose zone soil-water monitoring Fig. 2 – “Horta LNEC” in 31 march 2012
N Fig. 1: Map of the urban agricultural in Lisbon: The map of the urban agricultural use in the Green Infrastructure (lightgreen) of Lisbon Municipality, corresponding to 77,4ha of allotments, of which 43,9ha are built on land classified by Municipal Planning as “Production and recreation green spaces” (dark-green) and 33,5ha built on land with other classification (red). Source: Municipality of Lisbon, 2010.
Fig. 4 – 1D soilcolumn experiments
The following methods and indicators were used in the research study and in the case-studies: Analysis of the impacts of AGs in the city, i.e. their environmental footprint to soil and water contamination (monitoring, modeling and future scenarios); analysis of the impacts of different production system (organic and conventional); contribution to the development of guidelines for sustainable development and management (reduction of environmental impacts) based on the case-study resukts (Water Framework Directive indicators will be used); analysis of exposure of Ags to contaminations (roads, etc).
Results and Further Work: So far it is safe to conclude, from the analysis of the realized Inventory, that UAG are becoming an important new type of public green space, providing a great range of functions, such as recreation, community valorisation, regeneration of wrecked vacant land, pedagogic, restorative and therapeutic. In addition, although UAG cannot deliver the same values as parks and gardens, by occupying sites where those are typically settled, they may decrease significantly public maintenance costs, plus delivering food products. Further work will mostly focus on UAG design. Research will develop landscape planning methods to search for UAG suitability criteria, UAG programme case-studies, post-occupancy evaluation of UAG case-studies and design principles to therapeutic UAG. Furthermore, research will also focus on the environmental impact of UAG, particularly concerning soil and water contamination. References: Matos, Rute S. (2010): A Reinvenção da Multifuncionalidade da Paisagem em Espaço Urbano – Reflexões. Tese de Doutoramento. Evora: Universidade de Évora. Disponível em http://dspace.uevora.pt (consultado em 17 de Janeiro de 2013) MAGALHÃES, Manuela R. (1992): Espaços Verdes Urbanos, DGOTDU, Lisboa MOUGEOT, Luc J. A. (2000): “Urban agriculture: definition, presence, potentials and risks”. In: Exploring the diversity of urban and peri-urban agricultural systems in Sudano-Sahelian West Africa: An attempt towards a regional typology. 197-206. PINTO, Rute S. B. F. (2007): Hortas Urbanas: Espaços para o Desenvolvimentos Sustentável de Braga. Dissertação de Mestrado. Braga: Universidade do Minho. Disponível em http://repositorium.sdum.uminho.pt/ (consultado em 5 de Dezembro de 2012). TELLES, Gonçalo Ribeiro (2001): “Prefácio”. In: A Arquitetura Paisagista, morfologia e complexidade. 1.ª edição. Lisboa: Editorial Estampa. 17-20. VILJOEN, A. (2005). CPULs, continuous productive urban landscapes – designing urban agriculture for sustainable cities. Oxford: Architectural Press. Elsevier.p:280. FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Disponível em : http://www.fao.org/index_en.htm. Consultado em: 7 de Dezembro de 2012.