Ecological Urban Gardens Project
III AWARDS “FRANCISCO LIBERAL” FOR PROJECTS OF INNOVATION AND ENCOURAGEMENT OF PARTICIPATION OF ASSOCIATIONS
Alicante City Council, through its Department of Immigration, has awarded the prize of the third edition of the Prize "FRANCISCO LIBERAL" for innovation projects of civic participation and the promotion of the partnership project "Urban Ecological Gardens," presented jointly by these associations Alicante 9:
- Neighborhood Association Sol D'Alacant
- Gallego de Alicante
- Sick of Fibromyalgia Association of Alicante
- Open House Association
- Association of Families of Mentally Ill
- Loyola de Alicante Center
- Center for Astronomical Research in Alicante
- Associació per al'Ensenyament of Chemical Physics – Curie
Project Green Heart
The project seeks to organize a fun-focused education for people of all ages to foster the participation of all sectors of the population in the recovery and maintenance of a farm in the environment through the creation and maintenance of urban organic gardens, while creating an alternative cultural and leisure in turn promotes the idea of sustainable development.
Basic Features of the project
- First, a Garden of Practice for conducting training workshops, theoretical and practical aid.
- Participants will undertake training (cost to them) to create a particular orchard managed individually or collectively. The concept of "garden city", will host a variety of forms can be created in a public or private site, owned by a single person or a community of owners, situated in a courtyard, park, terrace, balcony, attic, garden etc. and may be a surface from a square meter (located on a balcony, for example), can be so high as desired.
- Such "urban ecological garden" set free the participants before the appropriate permits, if not in your property and may be located within the town of Alicante and in its periphery, including its rural part.
- Similarly to the completion of the workshops, where managers may come voluntarily from the "garden city", there is a line staffed by technical expertise of our organization via telephone, email or in person.
- This will create a database through a census of the "Garden City" participants in the project, which will be published via web, which will be continuously updated and contain all the data for each orchard and their managers, with an expression of its location, species cultured, whether participating in the network of seed exchange, identification of their managers and their phone numbers, email addresses, and so on.
Environmental justification of the project
Modern cities strongly affect their natural environment and biodiversity of the surrounding areas. Against this, the city gardens involve:
- An effective way to relieve the pressure of the urban landscape.
- Serving to offset the effect of "heat island" that occurs in cities. Concrete and asphalt absorb and radiate the light of the sun, causing an increase in temperature in cities that involve a greater use of air conditioning and therefore greater energy expenditure.
- It can absorb large amounts of rainwater, reducing the pressure on sewage systems.
- Assuming an ecological sustainable management of green spaces, improving the repopulation of pollinating insects, favoring the presence of birds and diversify the number and species of plants.
- By exchanging seeds contributes to the conservation of indigenous species and traditional varieties of fruit crops and vegetables that are not commercially available and which would otherwise face a serious risk of disappearing.
- They are an invitation to integration and coexistence between countryside and city, between nature and city, improve air quality and reducing pollution.
Objectives
- Promotion of citizen participation and sustainable development.
- Promotion of environmental education in the city.
- Establishing and evaluating the relationship between the natural and human activities.
- Facilitating direct contact and handling of such items as land, water, plants, etc., providing an enriching experience.
- Learning the techniques for growing organic agriculture.
- Achieving a set of values that motivate us to feel interest and concern for preserving biodiversity and natural habitats of indigenous and traditional horticultural species.
- Creating a local network for the exchange of seeds among the project participants.
- Creating a Barter Market seed and horticultural products with a biannual basis in which to actively engage all those involved the project.
For more information:
GREEN HEART ASSOCIATION
Raymond H, 18
DP 03690 ALICANTE