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COMMUNITY GARDEN TOOLKIT
 Liam Connell, Virginie Tassin, Lenka Vodstrčil




The three authors of this document are claiming full moral rights and copyright on the concept
and the content of this document. Copyright is also claimed on the drawings created, which
excludes all digital pictures.
The University of Melbourne HREC project number: 0932394
Community Gardens Toolkit - Natopia:
CONTENTS

                                                         Page

1. NATOPIA: WHO, WHAT, WHY                                1
   Why set up a community garden?
   Who is this guide for?
   Why is Natopia important?


2. GETTING STARTED                                        6
   Location, location, location!
   How long can the space be used for a garden?


3. GARDEN FUNCTION, PURPOSE, AND DESIGN                   8
   Designing your garden without reinventing the wheel
   Involving the community
   Education
   Partnerships, networks, coordination, cooperation


4. PLANNING A COMMUNITY GARDEN                            14
   Identifying stakeholders
   Find an expert!
   Legal considerations


5. FUNDING THE PROJECT                                    19
   Where to find support?
   Cost/benefit analysis


6. THE FUTURE OF NATOPIA                                  21
   What’s next?
   Keen to contribute?
   And so…


7. RESOURCES AND FURTHER READING                          23
   Checklist
   Internet resources
Community Gardens Toolkit - Natopia:
1. NATOPIA: WHO, WHAT, WHY

Natopia: it began as a simple desire to re-introduce nature into highly-developed urban
place (or ‘topos’ in Latin). The three authors of this guide are PhD students from very
different backgrounds: one is a scientist, another is a lawyer, and the third is an historian.
Yet the three of us were drawn by the idea of how a city as vast and urban as Melbourne
could find within it the space for human beings to engage more fully with nature.


If we had one guiding principle it would be that we want to help provide the knowledge
to bring people in dense urban areas like Melbourne back into contact with nature – and
hopefully help bring individuals back into contact with each other along the way. A great
way for people to do this is to set up their own local community garden.




Natopia is about making partnerships, and helping people help each other. We have
found that there are a lot of individuals in Melbourne who, like us, see why community
gardens are interesting and useful projects. Often there are people with a high level of
technical know-how who could assist a family or group of neighbours set up their own
garden, but finding each other is difficult. Natopia aims to create links between
individuals on all levels to teach and learn from each other about sustainability. We know
that this can be is a complex and difficult task on the whole. Natopia is the starting point
in a process that first, explains why community garden projects are interesting and useful,
and second, how these links can be formed. We think that a great way to achieve both
outcomes is for individuals to set up their own community garden projects.




                                              1
Why set up a community garden?

There are so many benefits! Starting a community garden is a wonderful way to meet
people in your neighbourhood, share gardening tips and recipes, and grow fresh food
that you can use at home.


Additionally, community gardens:
    •   can be a truly environmentally sound way to grow the food we all need to be
        healthy
    •   require the most minimal transport energy requirements, from the earth to your
        plate
    •   will likely be a critical source of food production in the future, especially with the
        ever-increasing global population
    •   can be a powerful educational resource for people to teach and learn from each
        other about nutrition, environmental sustainability, and cultural diversity
    •   provide an option to produce food that contains no herbicides or chemical
        additives, requires no packaging, and is often less water-intensive
    •   provide the space to “defrag” and reconnect in a natural environment, with
        significant stress-relieving and mental health benefits
    •   help strengthen a feeling of community, and give people an even greater “stake”
        in their sense of home.


You may have noticed a number of these sprouting up around Melbourne – people are
already getting in on the idea!




                                              2
Okay, I love the idea, so what is this guide?
This guide has been designed as a first-step “toolkit” for families, neighbours, and friends
to set up their own local community garden. As this is just the first step of a longer
project that seeks to make this information available in an accessible form, we have
focused here almost exclusively on the challenges involved in developing community
gardens in public-owned spaces. That is, areas that are the responsibility of councils and
governments, rather than private bodies. There is a completely different set of challenges
involved in setting up community garden projects on privately-owned space.


There are a still lot of tricky questions for people who want to start their own community
gardens, wherever it might be located. For starters:
    •   How do we find a space to use?
    •   What’s the best sort of garden where I live?
    •   How do I find or convince other people in our street to get involved?


In researching this guide we have had to deal with many of the same questions. We
found that answers are out there, once you start looking. This guide captures the essence
of many conversations we have had with Melbournians with high levels of professional
expertise who agree that community gardens are a great idea, and potentially very
important for Melbourne’s future development.


There are issues that this toolkit can’t equip you for, especially things that are specific to
each suburb or even street in Melbourne. But you can think of it as a first port of call,
and where answers are site-specific, we’ll try to point you in the right direction to find the
answers you are looking for.



                                                3
Who is this guide for?

Everyone!


We designed this guide as the first step for interested individuals, neighbours and families
to get together to create their own community garden. It does not assume any prior
knowledge, and is meant to be accessible enough that anyone can pick it up and get
useful information from it. We have also constructed this toolkit with councils in mind,
in that we are helping them help you find the information you need. We hope that
councils themselves might be aware of the information contained here, and could help
create the links needed for community garden projects to be implemented in their area.


                           Why is Natopia important?

There are many obvious benefits in creating community gardens, but here are a few of
the reasons that we see as being interesting and important.




Food security and land resources
There is growing awareness of the limited resources and farming potential that may be
available in the future. You may have heard about the growing need for food security,
described simply as “when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic
access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food
preferences for an active and healthy life”. Food security has been a major issue in
developing countries for many years, but factors including climate change, drought and
the demand for livestock feed are now adding to global concern about this problem.
Melbourne has its own food security challenges, with an increasing population that leads
to farmland being turned into housing and adds to the drain on our water supplies.


Increasing the amount of readily available edible plants by planting vegetable or fruit
crops in your garden can help keep costs low not only for you and your family but also



                                             4
for other people in the community. Education is key to the success of edible gardens.
Knowing when to plant certain crops, how to maintain them and when to harvest their
produce are important aspects of a successful garden project. Crops can be sold, shared
or swapped with others members of the community and thus the overall costs are
reduced for all involved.




Health and wellbeing
Generally speaking, health is connected to what we eat. The time spent outside doing
even low levels of physical activity will also benefit your health and general wellbeing. We
depend on nature for material objects such as food, water and shelter and also for
psychological, emotional and spiritual needs. Gardens, parks and other natural
environments provide the nature we need to facilitate the link between human health and
wellbeing.




Linking nature into an urban environment
The words ‘increased density’ are used more and more often as Melbourne grows in both
size and population. There are many benefits to having more people within a shorter
radius from the city centre including reduced transport costs and less of an impact on the
surrounding vegetation. Including nature in future urban developments, through gardens
and parks, will increase the appeal of inner city living and is fundamental to the
objectives of Natopia.




                                             5
2. Getting Started
So, you’ve decided that you want to embark on setting up your own local community
garden. Perhaps you even have some neighbours who are keen to get involved. Here are
a few questions we think you will need to answer.


                             Location, location, location!


How do I find a space to set up the garden?
This may well be one of the hardest questions to answer if you don’t already have a space
in mind. Remember to think creatively. Not all gardens need to be situated on an open
block of land that happens to be free for the picking! A garden doesn’t need to be huge
to be successful: one small garden may spur on other local residents to create another
garden. Here are some examples of potential spaces for a community garden:
        •   An empty block of land owned by the council
        •   A planter box at the end of a dead-end street
        •   A nature strip
        •   An empty car space
        •   A piece of land that you own (even your front lawn!) that you are happy to let
            other neighbours use
        •   A portion of a local park
        •   An unused laneway


Remember – the land does not always need to be perfect and fertile. Planter boxes are a
great option for plants! Obviously some spaces may require you to get permission from
your local council (see section 4, below).


It might be worth going to your local council and seeing if there is any land that is
currently not being used or could contain a community garden on site. Often there is
land surrounding a block of flats that might be unkempt and in need of a bit of love!
One person starting a garden can often encourage other residents to take part in the
garden no matter how big or small.




                                              6
How long can the space be used for a garden?

You may need to consider whether the land you want to use for a garden will be used in
the future for another project or development. If this is the case, you may need to make
the garden bed more temporary, for example use planter boxes or crates that can then be
moved on to another location when the land is no longer available. If your garden can be
more permanent, there will be additional planning you need to consider in order to
guarantee its success!


                  Temporary
                  Temporary gardens are ideal if you don’t know how long you will be
                  able to use the space you have in mind. Temporary gardens may also
                  be more adaptable to:
                          •   Changes to direct sunlight
                          •   Re-development of the land
                          •   Contaminated or unfavourable soil
                          •   Seasonal changes


                  There are some options if you think that this will be the case for your
                  garden. An example is planter boxes. Depending on the plants or crops
you want to grow, planter boxes (for example left over crates from the market) may not
need to be very deep.


Permanent
If you have a site accessible where you know you can create a more long-term garden
then there are some similar things to think about. For example, there might be a
development built in a neighbouring block of land that could reduce sunlight. Access to
water needs to be taken into account (as it does for temporary gardens). Long-term
community gardens, such as VegOut or CERES may become very high in demand as
well. This may require you to think about the more long-term management of the
garden, for instance using a ballot system to allocate plots, encouraging people to take
turns pruning the garden and so on. Remember that it can take time for your garden to
be well established, so think about the people and systems that might need to be in place
in order for your garden to survive!


                                            7
3. Garden Function, Purpose, and Design

What community gardens require, first of all, is imagination!
Now that you have located a space (or have some locations in
mind) another aspect to consider is what you might want your
garden to be used for.


There are a few things to ask yourself when designing the garden
and what should be planted. For instance how much light does the
garden get? What is the condition of the soil? What type of plants
do we want to grow? Each garden is different and there will be
different list of issues associated with the space.


There are many books and online resources for gardening and vegetable growing
available that may be of use when deciding on the types of plants that you want to grow.
However, receiving information from other members of your community about other
uses of your garden is probably the best place to start. Community gardens are most
successful when people educate each other, share ideas, and once begun find that the
function of their garden will develop quite organically!




                                               8
Designing your garden without reinventing the wheel

Making connections with others is an integral part of Natopia. We encourage you to
engage with existing initiatives and relevant experts not only because of what you’ll learn
by getting in touch with them but also because it will enable you, as an individual, to pass
on what you’ve learned to your family, school and neighbourhood. The exchange of
knowledge and interaction between people is a vital part of any healthy community. We
encourage you to become familiar with as many of the relevant existing schemes and
experts as possible. Remember that the choice of temporary or permanent garden might
raise different issues.




There are some questions to think about regarding the condition of the garden site.
Particularly if the site is in a preserved lane, on a roundabout, next to a railway line, or on
a vacant building site, for example.
    •   Is the soil clean? Is it contaminated? If so, how to make it happening?
            o Think about the plots option for plants as temporary, raised beds will
                 avoid contact with the soil
            o Think about direct access to the garden: is it safe?
    •   Is there enough natural light in this specific location?
            o What kind of plants could be used if there is a lot of light, or a lack of
                 direct sunlight?
            o Are the plants drought resistant? Can they withstand direct sunlight all
                 through the summer months?
    •   How will you manage water distribution?
            o Have you considered water tanks? They could be transported to a next
                 temporary garden initiative.
            o What about direct irrigation beneath the soil?
            o Is it possible to arrange with the neighbourhood restaurant to re-use their
                 water? This has been used in a number of gardens in Melbourne already!



                                                9
Regarding the garden itself:
•   What types of plants for which use?
       o Are you focusing on food security first? And
           then plan the garden to be a place where
           people can grow and learn how to grow
           their vegetables? Think also about what
           would be the best plants for this: native or
           non- native? Which uses less water and is
           drought-resistant?
       o Are you considering educational programs? If so, these educational
           programs could be on a wide range of vegetation: native plants, aromatic
           plants that could be used for traditional medicines purposes; you are
           limited only by your imagination!
       o Are you interested in biodiversity and environment? If so, different flora
           need to be represented, including trees, insects and so on.




                                       10
Involving the Community

Having a garden that is accessible to other members of the community is one of the
primary aims of Natopia. This incorporates both how welcome people feel at the
community garden as well as their ability to physically access it.


Feeling Welcome (Sociability)
There are a range of things to consider that will make neighbours and local residents feel
welcome at the garden. People can be naturally curious and will probably approach your
garden whilst you are working on it. This is a great opportunity to explain what you are
doing and why – and of course, invite them to join you! Other successful gardens use
simple signs welcoming people to prune, water, weed or take what they feel as they see
fit. You may also like to hold an 'open day' or orientation day to welcome your fellow
gardeners. Educational workshops are a great idea!




Accessibility
In terms of physical accessibility, in most cases the main intent is for the garden to be
used by residents within reasonable walking distance. In some cases the gardens may
need to be located near public transport and require easy access for maintenance
vehicles. These factors may depend on the location of the site and may not be able to be
changed by you, but they are important to keep in mind.


Creating a garden that is in close proximity to facilities may reduce the costs in setting the
garden up to begin with. For example, an adjoining building could provide access to
water, toilets or shelter through negotiation with the owners. Again, access to these
facilities may be less or more important, depending on the size of your garden and who
you think might use it.




                                             11
Education

Gardens provide an opportunity to teach and learn from others. We believe that one of
the most important aspects of Natopia is the sharing of ideas and information. We hope
that people who use the garden you create will share tips with others about how to grow
and care for the different things you grow there. If the garden contains edible plants,
there might be other beneficial educational programs that could be run. These might be
workshops instructing how to cook with different herbs or vegetables, or how different
cultures use the same plants in special ways. For example, there are many educational
programs available at CERES, a well-established community garden and farm in the City
of Moreland.




           Partnerships, Networks, Coordination, Cooperation

To ensure the success of a community garden, links should be made between you and
existing local programs that want to improve the life of their community in many
different ways: educational, environmental, not to mention health & wellbeing. Creating
links between some or all of those will give your community garden its best chance for
success.


For this, it is worth considering the way these programs themselves work together. For
example, educational programs could be run a community garden that demonstrate the
importance of food security on the wellbeing of people, or the benefit of growing certain
types of crops that require minimal water, or the importance of biodiversity on the health
and wellbeing of urban communities. All you need is imagination!




                                           12
We have researched some inspiring initiatives and bodies to liaise with in Victoria and
Australia, but there are also some fantastic initiatives that have been set up overseas.
Here are some ideas of where to look! (For details of these programs see section 7)
   •   Educational and voluntary programs: such as Ceres or Cultivating Community
   •   Green Projects: such as Green Roof initiatives, Very Edible Garden, High Line
       Project, la Promenade Plantée, all of which show
           o Examples of start-up projects, identifying spaces, finding funding
           o Examples of the management of environmental and urban planning;
   •   Research Projects, such as those in architecture and landscape, permaculture,
       horticulture, climate change.
   •   Community Initiatives: Ceres, Cultivating Community & the Department of
       Planning and Community Development in Victoria.


Academic Research and Innovation
It would be very possible for your garden to be linked with a
university. There are many research programs that focus on how
various plants survive in an urban environment. This can be a
very mutually-beneficial exercise: Academic research like this
targets innovation, and needs to engage with new ideas from
people on the ground who are out there actually “doing it”, and community gardens need
the technical skill and horticultural knowledge that can a research institution like a
university can provide in abundance. It would be wonderfully useful to be in contact with
universities to inject the latest knowledge and technology into the planning and design of
your community garden. A link with a university may also help generate funding for the
construction or maintenance of the garden, (further discussed in section 5, below).


Links with Schools
It is worth finding out what programs are currently in place at local schools and if there
are community groups that could get involved with your garden. At several schools in
Victoria there are healthy food programs that are up and running in which children are
taught to grow food and how to prepare it. The ongoing benefits of teaching children
about healthy eating and food security – particularly where food comes from – are
endless! Schools in your area may also be interested in providing land for a community
garden or allow you to use their grounds for food swaps and educational programs.


                                           13
4. PLANNING A COMMUNITY GARDEN

Be curious, expand your horizons, take initiatives, give everyone the chance to get
involved, and let the community garden you have been dreaming about become real!


                             Identifying stakeholders

Community gardens are characterised by the variety of its uses and the combination of
many different people working together. Stakeholders are the people who have an interest
in something that you need for your community garden to be successful. These are the
people who can help you, and who you need to negotiate with. Here is what you need to
think about when planning your community garden:
   •   Short-term and long-term considerations:
           o Who will be involved at the various
               phases of the project?
           o Who wants to be involved?
           o Who needs to be involved?




Location – who are the most suitable stakeholders regarding the specific location of the
project? Consider who has most of an interest in your street, neighbourhood, city, state.
What is in it for them?
   •   Public policy: existing commitments that you could help to achieve with your
       garden project. For example, does your council have an existing sustainability
       commitment that it needs to prove it has done something about by the end of
       the year? If they agree to help you with your garden project, you will have helped
       each other achieve your goals
   •   Public image: Are there any nearby businesses that like to promote themselves as
       being “clean and green”?
   •   Core belief: Many individuals state publicly to have a passion for achieving many
       of the benefits that a community garden can achieve. Try to find someone to
       champion your cause!




                                           14
It is also worth thinking about the diversity of your stakeholders. This means that you
need to involve and work with people coming from different environment and bodies:
Give the chance to everyone to get involved!


Finally, think about what the focus of your community garden is: a garden focusing on
environment might have different stakeholders than one focusing on food security.



                                     Find an expert!

The aim of Natopia is to provide a model that will facilitate the transformation of social
behaviour and awareness of the others, and of nature. For a community garden to be
successful, it is worth keeping some things in mind when you identify the experts that
will help you. Here are just some steps to remember when attempting to get people on
board:


   •     First identify the various professionals who can help a community garden. This
         might include people in these areas:
             o Public authorities and institutions (specialised in development, planning,
                  and public policy. Some of them are already involved with sustainable
                  development, food security, health and wellbeing)
             o Academia (architects, landscapers, horticulturists, and many more)
             o Private companies including consultancy firms (Some examples are law
                  firms, architecture or planning design firms)
             o NGOs or International Organisations (some of them are specialised in
                  various aspects of education, preservation of nature, and sustainability)
   •     Identify how all these people interact together, and indeed if they interact
         together.
   •     Set up a plan of recruitment of the people identified (remember that networking
         is crucial!)
   •     The way you present your ideas and project has to be changed a bit depending if
         you are meeting up with someone working in water management or a landscape
         architecture. Consider the type of questions you want to ask to people depending
         on their specialty.




                                              15
•   Here are the questions to keep in mind when meeting with experts: what exactly
        you do want from them? Why do you need them? How can they help you?


How to get people from a different field and environment get together and make it happen?
Remember that the type of people you will be working with will depend on the main
purpose of your specific community garden (only food security or health well being
related…). You might find that people from various fields and environment interact
poorly together. But don’t be afraid of this: it is not an obstacle. It can actually make your
garden project much stronger! All of them have great expertise that could make an
important difference in the management, creativity and outcome of the development of
your community garden.


The motivation needs to come first from you, and also those who are setting up the
community garden alongside you. Getting people from different professions to work
together is not always easy. This is often because many of them have never interacted in
this way between each other before. Everyone has knowledge that could be used in a
community garden, but the trick is how to communicate and coordinate people in a way
that could be effective. A lot of people and professionals have presumptions. You need
to be confident about the objectives, and why you want to achieve them. Often the
biggest challenge is being true to your original principles, and learning how to be an
ethical leader.


The more you involve people from a different field and different environment, the richer
your experience will be, and the richer the experience your garden project will be to give
to your local community.




                                             16
Community garden stakeholders
Examples from the State of Victoria. The stakeholders identified are only representative
of the main ones that might get on board.


     Sector      Organization interest/ type                                               Example
                 State or Federal Government                                               Department of Sustainability and
                 Think Global! Yes your community garden is close to the place you         Environment
                 live, but the action you are taking by setting up this initiative could
                 be supported and could interest the State and Federal government!

                 Planning Authority                                                        Your local Council
                                                                                           Victorian Department of
                                                                                           Planning and Community
                                                                                           Development
Government




                 Water Catchment Management Authorities                                    Melbourne Water
                 Water management advice
                 Public Land                                                               Botanical Gardens
                 Local Council                                                             Cities of
                 These three councils are into sustainability, community garden, food      Melbourne/Moreland/Yarra
                 security. Check them out!
                 Health/Wellbeing                                                          Health, Safety and Well-Being
                 Inspiration and education                                                 Leadership Committee
                                                                                           (Moreland)
                 Recreation                                                                Parks Victoria
                 Public spaces used for recreational purposes
                 Community Groups                                                          Cultivating Community
                 Experience, advice, on-ground support, passion                            Veg Out (St Kilda Community
                                                                                           Farm)
                                                                                           Rotary
Not-for-Profit




                 Online Network                                                            Community Gardens Network
   Local




                 Useful to see what already exists
                 Local sustainability education groups                                     Incursion programs (CERES)
                 Educational programs, coordination and partnerships
                 Food Security                                                             VicRelief Foodbank
                 Very Useful Body from which you can learn a lot!
                 Architecture and Planning                                                 Faculty of Architecture, Building
Academic




                 Innovation and experience                                                 and Planning
                 Scientific Research                                                       Melbourne School of Land and
                 Innovation and advice                                                     Environment

                 Gardening Materials                                                       Yates/Herberts
                 Garden advice and/or partnerships
                 Private Companies                                                         TRACT Consulting (Planning,
                                                                                           Urban & Landscape Design)
                 These companies could be of great help in networking and                  PricewaterhouseCoopers
Private




                 supporting your community garden.                                         (Sustainability and Climate
                                                                                           Change department)
                                                                                           World Business Council for
                                                                                           Sustainable Development
                 Melbourne Leadership Networks                                             Committee for Melbourne
                 Visionaries and Inspiring people to contact… they are dreaming            Centre for Sustainability
                 and designing your cities in the upcoming years, they are just like       Leadership
                 you! C’mon don’t be shy!




                                                                 17
Promotion/education                                                      SBS Radio
           Why? People interested should be able to hear about your                 774 ABC Melbourne
Media      community garden, give a change to everyone to get involved!             Other community radio stations


           NGO / International Organisation                                         WWF
           Inspiring bodies, inspiring people and initiatives. They have a lot of   Friends of Earth
NGO




           passionate people working for them and a great deal of knowledge         The Ian Potter Foundation
           about the importance of sustainability, environment, development         United Nations Environment
           and well being.                                                          Program
           Recreational bodies                                                      Life Be In it
           Who said that a community garden only is about growing food?             Soccer Australia
Others




           Think about what you can do there also to transform this green           AFL
           area into a lively and welcoming place! Have fun!




                                     Legal considerations

Yes, you need to think about this, too!


In this guide we have suggested that you concentrate on using public spaces rather than
private land. We have only considered the option of a public space in Victoria at this
stage, but remember that you can use this example as a way to manage and approach the
project outside of Victoria.


We have found that community gardens are most successful when set up in unused
public spaces. For a community group wanting to set up a new garden set up in Victoria,
it might the worth thinking about trying to access Crown Land. Access and use of Crown
Land and any risk liability associated with the use of the community garden might be
dealt with through a licence system, issued under the Crown Land Reserves Act (1978).
This is especially true if your local council agrees to be the managing committee of the
community garden. Any risks associated with using the community garden would then
remain with the Department of Sustainability and Environment. Local councils can be a
very helpful vehicle for setting up a community garden project, so it is definitely worth
getting in touch with them!


                                                          18
5. FUNDING THE PROJECT

                             Where to find support?

Don’t be afraid to knock on doors, share your ideas and beliefs, and ask for help! You
will realise that a lot of people will be ready to help you, and sometimes people and
industries you have not even been thinking about. Open your horizons!


Here are some options to consider when seeking funding and support:
   •   Cash funding
   •   In-kind support, including pro-bono work
   •   Personal interests and initiative. Never forget the power of individuals to make it
       happen. This can be one of the most effective driving forces there is!




Where to look?
There are many options; the question is where to start. Try breaking down funding
schemes into categories. For example:
   •   District / Community Neighbourhood area. (for example, restaurants, schools,
       churches, neighbourhood associations)
   •   Local governments sustainability committees
   •   State and federal government grant schemes
   •   Private industries
   •   Associations operating in your city
   •   Institutions, including those associated with academia. (Research Institutes,
       which can be critical for securing research grants.


                                             19
Costs / benefit analysis

When contacting potential stakeholders and institutions, you need to demonstrate that
the benefits of the project outweigh the costs – basically, that you’ll get more out of a
garden than what gets put in.


That means that you should not focus only on the proper expenses, (the water
management, the costs of plants, the maintenance etc), you also need to take in account
the sustainable outcomes of your community garden and what you actually expect from your
garden project: that is, not only a way to gather people from the same community or
neighbourhood, but also a vehicle of education, of health and wellbeing and a way to use
the benefits of re-integrating nature into cities in environmentally sustainable ways. Ask
your expert contacts for advice and examples of how the benefits measure up against the
contributions your garden will require. You need to present your project by integrating it
into the future you are imagining!




                                           20
6. THE FUTURE OF NATOPIA

                                    What’s next?

This is just the first step in an ongoing project based on our research into the benefits
and uses of community gardens, and practical ways to begin your own garden. As
touched on in the beginning, there is a different set of challenges involved in creating
community gardens on privately owned land, and a future version of Natopia will
hopefully contain more useful information in that direction. We have suggested ways to
think about the most effective type of garden space, how to get more information about
local planning regulations, the possible need for external funding, and how to find
information about suitable plant types for your specific area. As such, this toolkit has
been something of a “portal”, a way for you, the interested urban gardener, to source
knowledge from professionals who might otherwise be hidden (sometimes hidden in
plain view). So what are some other ways that we can help each other in knowledge
sharing about community gardens?


                     Keen to contribute?

The future of Natopia will be an online wiki-based information
sharing community. The authorship of the information will be
approved by a panel who will review the credentials of the authors.
This will be the most direct flow of information from industry
experts in the various aspects of establishing community gardens, to
the people who want to do so themselves. There will also be
dedicated forums for users to exchange their own gardening and
food production tips – similar to what happens in the garden itself,
but with people a lot further away than the neighbouring plot.


We also want to establish a dedicated community garden in Melbourne called Natopia,
which could act as a full-time resource and research centre. The goal would be to have a
central educational hub, upon which many other community garden projects could build.




                                           21
And so…

As we have seen, there exists so much energy and enthusiasm in a city like Melbourne for
community garden projects. There is a growing awareness of both what they can do to
strengthen links between people, educate, and provide a fresh, sustainable source of food
over time. There are many related challenges resulting from climate change that require
complex, co-operative responses. For example, there is a growing awareness of how
important a role local community gardens will play in the future as a means of food
security in the face of increased energy costs and growing global populations. Food
security could quite possibly be the biggest challenge that human beings face within the
next generation. Learning to live well within one’s environment is what sustainability’s all
about, and helping to re-integrate nature back into cities like Melbourne is a fantastic way
to start achieving that sustainability.


But the most important thing to remember about community gardens are the human
beings – people just like you. All the resources, knowledge, and infrastructure are out
there, along with the will to make these projects happen. What they need is someone to
get the project started. You might already live on a street full of people like yourself who
are just itching to grab a spade and start flexing their green thumb. So who’s going to
make the first move? The person who knows how to start. And who is that? The person
who just finished reading this guide!




                                            22
7. RESOURCES AND FURTHER READING

                                         Checklist

Planning a community garden? Here are some reminders!


       Checked what other gardens are present in the community
       Identified space for the garden
       Found a group of neighbours or local residents to work with
       Thought about the function and purpose of the garden
       Designed the garden
       Made sure people feel welcome in the garden
       Talked to businesses or other stakeholders who might help fund the construction
       or maintenance of the garden


                               Internet Resources




                                    Because we want to encourage

                                    you to expand your horizons…

                                   get on the net and have a look!




                                            23
1. Natopia: Who, What, Why


                        It is time to act! Bring back nature into your
                        city, into your life, into your traditions.

                      Sustainability Issues, Health & Well Being of you and your
                     environment:


Home: Want to see something inspiring that could help you to understand how your
health & wellbeing and the one of Earth are linked? Here is an amazing and inspiring
work, Have a look! http://www.home-2009.com/

SustainAbility: http://www.sustainability.com/

Quoted in the toolkit: Maller et al. “Healthy Parks, Healthy People. The health benefits
of contact with nature in a park context. Deakin University and Parks Victoria, 2nd
edition, 2008


Benefits of reintegrating Nature into Urban
Development:
Urban Climate Research:
http://arts.monash.edu.au/ges/research/climat
e/urban/index.php

Urban Design and Climate:
http://www.bom.gov.au/info/leaflets/urban_d
esign.pdff


The Earth Observatory of the NASA – Beating the Heat in Big Cities:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GreenRoof/
How City Warmth Affects Plant Growth:
http://www.thefreelibrary.com/City+heat:+urban+areas'+warmth+affects+plant+grow
th-a0120035020


Report on the projected rise of temperature in Melbourne city in 2003-2007:
http://www.cmar.csiro.au/e-print/open/suppiah_2001b.pdf




                                          24
Food Security
Explanatory Document from theAustralian Government:
http://www.ausaid.gov.au/keyaid/food_security.cfm

The State of Food Insecurity in the World, Food and Agriculture
Organisation:
http://www.fao.org/docrep/011/i0291e/i0291e00.htm




                           2. Getting Started

               What already exists abroad? Get inspired by
                   these few links!

                    New York: http://www.thehighline.org/
                  Chicago: http://www.bloomingdaletrail.org/
               Philadelphia: http://www.readingviaduct.org/index.html
Paris: http://www.paris-walking-tours.com/promenadeplantee.html
http://www.promenade-plantee.org/
http://www.paris.fr/portail/Parcs/Portal.lut?page=equipment&template=equipment.te
mplate.popup&document_equipment_id=1772




          3. Garden Function, Purpose and Design



                   Let’s make it happen: the garden of your
                   dream come true!



General Information:
Sustainable Urban Garden: http://www.sacgardens.org/
A portal to Green Technology: http://www.greentechnolog.com/



                                       25
Community Gardens in Melbourne:
Cultivating Community: http://cultivatingcommunity.org.au/cc/
CERES: http://www.ceres.org.au/drupal/index.php
Veg Out: http://www.vegout.asn.au/
Ringwood Community Garden: http://www.ringwoodcommunitygarden.org.au/
Permablitz Australia: http://www.permablitz.net/codemo/aboutus/index.htm
Very Edible Gardens is a backyard initiative but useful to get info about plant pots and
beds: http://www.VeryEdibleGardens.com/


                           Green Roofs:
                           Have a look, you can find ideas about the way you can set
                           up your garden
                           Growing Up in Melbourne: http://www.growingup.org.au/
                           Green Roofs for Healthy Cities: http://www.greenroofs.org/
                           EcoFriend: Green Living: http://www.ecofriend.org/

Community Gardens Abroad:
‘P-Patch’ in Seattle: http://www.seattle.gov/Neighborhoods/ppatch/
‘Cultivating Youth’ in New Jersey: http://cyfar.rutgers.edu/
‘Growing Community’ in Denver: http://www.dug.org/home.asp



                 4. Planning a Community Garden



Speak about your ideas!

Government:
Department of Sustainability & Environment:
http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/dse/index.htm
City of Moreland: http://www.mefl.com.au/
Health, Safety and Well- Being Leadership Committee of Moreland:
http://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/health-safety-and-wellbeing/health-moreland/health-
safety-leadership.html
City of Melbourne: http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/



                                           26
City of Yarra: http://www.yarracity.vic.gov.au/
Melbourne Water: http://www.melbournewater.com.au/
Royal Botanical Gardens of Melbourne: http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/
Parks Victoria: http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/




                               Recreation
                               Life Be In It: http://www.lifebeinit.org/
                               Soccer Australia: http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/
                               AFL: http://www.afl.com.au/




Community Groups
Cultivating Community: http://cultivatingcommunity.org.au/
Veg Out: http://www.vegout.asn.au/
Rotary: http://www.rotary.org/
CERES: http://www.ceres.org/


Online Networks
Community Gardens Network: http://communitygarden.org.au/


Food Security
VicRelief Foodbank: http://www.vrfb.com.au/


Academia
Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning of Melbourne University:
http://www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/
Melbourne School of Land and Environment: http://www.landfood.unimelb.edu.au/


Gardening Materials
Yates: http://www.yates.com.au/
Herberts: http://www.herbherbert.com/



                                          27
Private Companies
Committee for Melbourne: http://melbourne.org.au/
Center for Sustainability Leadership: http://www.csl.org.au/
TRACT: http://www.tract.net.au/
PriceWaterHouse Coopers Australia: http://www.pwc.com.au/
World Business Council for Sustainable Development: http://www.wbcsd.org/


Media
SBS TV: http://www.sbs.com.au/
SBS Radio: http://www.sbs.com.au/radio/
774 ABC Melbourne: http://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/




NGOs/ International Organisations
Friends of Earth: http://www.foe.co.uk/
The Ian Potter Foundation: http://www.ianpotter.org.au/
WWF: http://www.wwf.org/
The United Nations Environment Program:
http://www.unep.org/
Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations:
http://www.fao.org
The FAO has a special programme on Food Security: http://www.fao.org/spfs/en/




                                          28

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Community Gardens Toolkit - Natopia:

  • 1. COMMUNITY GARDEN TOOLKIT Liam Connell, Virginie Tassin, Lenka Vodstrčil The three authors of this document are claiming full moral rights and copyright on the concept and the content of this document. Copyright is also claimed on the drawings created, which excludes all digital pictures. The University of Melbourne HREC project number: 0932394
  • 3. CONTENTS Page 1. NATOPIA: WHO, WHAT, WHY 1 Why set up a community garden? Who is this guide for? Why is Natopia important? 2. GETTING STARTED 6 Location, location, location! How long can the space be used for a garden? 3. GARDEN FUNCTION, PURPOSE, AND DESIGN 8 Designing your garden without reinventing the wheel Involving the community Education Partnerships, networks, coordination, cooperation 4. PLANNING A COMMUNITY GARDEN 14 Identifying stakeholders Find an expert! Legal considerations 5. FUNDING THE PROJECT 19 Where to find support? Cost/benefit analysis 6. THE FUTURE OF NATOPIA 21 What’s next? Keen to contribute? And so… 7. RESOURCES AND FURTHER READING 23 Checklist Internet resources
  • 5. 1. NATOPIA: WHO, WHAT, WHY Natopia: it began as a simple desire to re-introduce nature into highly-developed urban place (or ‘topos’ in Latin). The three authors of this guide are PhD students from very different backgrounds: one is a scientist, another is a lawyer, and the third is an historian. Yet the three of us were drawn by the idea of how a city as vast and urban as Melbourne could find within it the space for human beings to engage more fully with nature. If we had one guiding principle it would be that we want to help provide the knowledge to bring people in dense urban areas like Melbourne back into contact with nature – and hopefully help bring individuals back into contact with each other along the way. A great way for people to do this is to set up their own local community garden. Natopia is about making partnerships, and helping people help each other. We have found that there are a lot of individuals in Melbourne who, like us, see why community gardens are interesting and useful projects. Often there are people with a high level of technical know-how who could assist a family or group of neighbours set up their own garden, but finding each other is difficult. Natopia aims to create links between individuals on all levels to teach and learn from each other about sustainability. We know that this can be is a complex and difficult task on the whole. Natopia is the starting point in a process that first, explains why community garden projects are interesting and useful, and second, how these links can be formed. We think that a great way to achieve both outcomes is for individuals to set up their own community garden projects. 1
  • 6. Why set up a community garden? There are so many benefits! Starting a community garden is a wonderful way to meet people in your neighbourhood, share gardening tips and recipes, and grow fresh food that you can use at home. Additionally, community gardens: • can be a truly environmentally sound way to grow the food we all need to be healthy • require the most minimal transport energy requirements, from the earth to your plate • will likely be a critical source of food production in the future, especially with the ever-increasing global population • can be a powerful educational resource for people to teach and learn from each other about nutrition, environmental sustainability, and cultural diversity • provide an option to produce food that contains no herbicides or chemical additives, requires no packaging, and is often less water-intensive • provide the space to “defrag” and reconnect in a natural environment, with significant stress-relieving and mental health benefits • help strengthen a feeling of community, and give people an even greater “stake” in their sense of home. You may have noticed a number of these sprouting up around Melbourne – people are already getting in on the idea! 2
  • 7. Okay, I love the idea, so what is this guide? This guide has been designed as a first-step “toolkit” for families, neighbours, and friends to set up their own local community garden. As this is just the first step of a longer project that seeks to make this information available in an accessible form, we have focused here almost exclusively on the challenges involved in developing community gardens in public-owned spaces. That is, areas that are the responsibility of councils and governments, rather than private bodies. There is a completely different set of challenges involved in setting up community garden projects on privately-owned space. There are a still lot of tricky questions for people who want to start their own community gardens, wherever it might be located. For starters: • How do we find a space to use? • What’s the best sort of garden where I live? • How do I find or convince other people in our street to get involved? In researching this guide we have had to deal with many of the same questions. We found that answers are out there, once you start looking. This guide captures the essence of many conversations we have had with Melbournians with high levels of professional expertise who agree that community gardens are a great idea, and potentially very important for Melbourne’s future development. There are issues that this toolkit can’t equip you for, especially things that are specific to each suburb or even street in Melbourne. But you can think of it as a first port of call, and where answers are site-specific, we’ll try to point you in the right direction to find the answers you are looking for. 3
  • 8. Who is this guide for? Everyone! We designed this guide as the first step for interested individuals, neighbours and families to get together to create their own community garden. It does not assume any prior knowledge, and is meant to be accessible enough that anyone can pick it up and get useful information from it. We have also constructed this toolkit with councils in mind, in that we are helping them help you find the information you need. We hope that councils themselves might be aware of the information contained here, and could help create the links needed for community garden projects to be implemented in their area. Why is Natopia important? There are many obvious benefits in creating community gardens, but here are a few of the reasons that we see as being interesting and important. Food security and land resources There is growing awareness of the limited resources and farming potential that may be available in the future. You may have heard about the growing need for food security, described simply as “when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”. Food security has been a major issue in developing countries for many years, but factors including climate change, drought and the demand for livestock feed are now adding to global concern about this problem. Melbourne has its own food security challenges, with an increasing population that leads to farmland being turned into housing and adds to the drain on our water supplies. Increasing the amount of readily available edible plants by planting vegetable or fruit crops in your garden can help keep costs low not only for you and your family but also 4
  • 9. for other people in the community. Education is key to the success of edible gardens. Knowing when to plant certain crops, how to maintain them and when to harvest their produce are important aspects of a successful garden project. Crops can be sold, shared or swapped with others members of the community and thus the overall costs are reduced for all involved. Health and wellbeing Generally speaking, health is connected to what we eat. The time spent outside doing even low levels of physical activity will also benefit your health and general wellbeing. We depend on nature for material objects such as food, water and shelter and also for psychological, emotional and spiritual needs. Gardens, parks and other natural environments provide the nature we need to facilitate the link between human health and wellbeing. Linking nature into an urban environment The words ‘increased density’ are used more and more often as Melbourne grows in both size and population. There are many benefits to having more people within a shorter radius from the city centre including reduced transport costs and less of an impact on the surrounding vegetation. Including nature in future urban developments, through gardens and parks, will increase the appeal of inner city living and is fundamental to the objectives of Natopia. 5
  • 10. 2. Getting Started So, you’ve decided that you want to embark on setting up your own local community garden. Perhaps you even have some neighbours who are keen to get involved. Here are a few questions we think you will need to answer. Location, location, location! How do I find a space to set up the garden? This may well be one of the hardest questions to answer if you don’t already have a space in mind. Remember to think creatively. Not all gardens need to be situated on an open block of land that happens to be free for the picking! A garden doesn’t need to be huge to be successful: one small garden may spur on other local residents to create another garden. Here are some examples of potential spaces for a community garden: • An empty block of land owned by the council • A planter box at the end of a dead-end street • A nature strip • An empty car space • A piece of land that you own (even your front lawn!) that you are happy to let other neighbours use • A portion of a local park • An unused laneway Remember – the land does not always need to be perfect and fertile. Planter boxes are a great option for plants! Obviously some spaces may require you to get permission from your local council (see section 4, below). It might be worth going to your local council and seeing if there is any land that is currently not being used or could contain a community garden on site. Often there is land surrounding a block of flats that might be unkempt and in need of a bit of love! One person starting a garden can often encourage other residents to take part in the garden no matter how big or small. 6
  • 11. How long can the space be used for a garden? You may need to consider whether the land you want to use for a garden will be used in the future for another project or development. If this is the case, you may need to make the garden bed more temporary, for example use planter boxes or crates that can then be moved on to another location when the land is no longer available. If your garden can be more permanent, there will be additional planning you need to consider in order to guarantee its success! Temporary Temporary gardens are ideal if you don’t know how long you will be able to use the space you have in mind. Temporary gardens may also be more adaptable to: • Changes to direct sunlight • Re-development of the land • Contaminated or unfavourable soil • Seasonal changes There are some options if you think that this will be the case for your garden. An example is planter boxes. Depending on the plants or crops you want to grow, planter boxes (for example left over crates from the market) may not need to be very deep. Permanent If you have a site accessible where you know you can create a more long-term garden then there are some similar things to think about. For example, there might be a development built in a neighbouring block of land that could reduce sunlight. Access to water needs to be taken into account (as it does for temporary gardens). Long-term community gardens, such as VegOut or CERES may become very high in demand as well. This may require you to think about the more long-term management of the garden, for instance using a ballot system to allocate plots, encouraging people to take turns pruning the garden and so on. Remember that it can take time for your garden to be well established, so think about the people and systems that might need to be in place in order for your garden to survive! 7
  • 12. 3. Garden Function, Purpose, and Design What community gardens require, first of all, is imagination! Now that you have located a space (or have some locations in mind) another aspect to consider is what you might want your garden to be used for. There are a few things to ask yourself when designing the garden and what should be planted. For instance how much light does the garden get? What is the condition of the soil? What type of plants do we want to grow? Each garden is different and there will be different list of issues associated with the space. There are many books and online resources for gardening and vegetable growing available that may be of use when deciding on the types of plants that you want to grow. However, receiving information from other members of your community about other uses of your garden is probably the best place to start. Community gardens are most successful when people educate each other, share ideas, and once begun find that the function of their garden will develop quite organically! 8
  • 13. Designing your garden without reinventing the wheel Making connections with others is an integral part of Natopia. We encourage you to engage with existing initiatives and relevant experts not only because of what you’ll learn by getting in touch with them but also because it will enable you, as an individual, to pass on what you’ve learned to your family, school and neighbourhood. The exchange of knowledge and interaction between people is a vital part of any healthy community. We encourage you to become familiar with as many of the relevant existing schemes and experts as possible. Remember that the choice of temporary or permanent garden might raise different issues. There are some questions to think about regarding the condition of the garden site. Particularly if the site is in a preserved lane, on a roundabout, next to a railway line, or on a vacant building site, for example. • Is the soil clean? Is it contaminated? If so, how to make it happening? o Think about the plots option for plants as temporary, raised beds will avoid contact with the soil o Think about direct access to the garden: is it safe? • Is there enough natural light in this specific location? o What kind of plants could be used if there is a lot of light, or a lack of direct sunlight? o Are the plants drought resistant? Can they withstand direct sunlight all through the summer months? • How will you manage water distribution? o Have you considered water tanks? They could be transported to a next temporary garden initiative. o What about direct irrigation beneath the soil? o Is it possible to arrange with the neighbourhood restaurant to re-use their water? This has been used in a number of gardens in Melbourne already! 9
  • 14. Regarding the garden itself: • What types of plants for which use? o Are you focusing on food security first? And then plan the garden to be a place where people can grow and learn how to grow their vegetables? Think also about what would be the best plants for this: native or non- native? Which uses less water and is drought-resistant? o Are you considering educational programs? If so, these educational programs could be on a wide range of vegetation: native plants, aromatic plants that could be used for traditional medicines purposes; you are limited only by your imagination! o Are you interested in biodiversity and environment? If so, different flora need to be represented, including trees, insects and so on. 10
  • 15. Involving the Community Having a garden that is accessible to other members of the community is one of the primary aims of Natopia. This incorporates both how welcome people feel at the community garden as well as their ability to physically access it. Feeling Welcome (Sociability) There are a range of things to consider that will make neighbours and local residents feel welcome at the garden. People can be naturally curious and will probably approach your garden whilst you are working on it. This is a great opportunity to explain what you are doing and why – and of course, invite them to join you! Other successful gardens use simple signs welcoming people to prune, water, weed or take what they feel as they see fit. You may also like to hold an 'open day' or orientation day to welcome your fellow gardeners. Educational workshops are a great idea! Accessibility In terms of physical accessibility, in most cases the main intent is for the garden to be used by residents within reasonable walking distance. In some cases the gardens may need to be located near public transport and require easy access for maintenance vehicles. These factors may depend on the location of the site and may not be able to be changed by you, but they are important to keep in mind. Creating a garden that is in close proximity to facilities may reduce the costs in setting the garden up to begin with. For example, an adjoining building could provide access to water, toilets or shelter through negotiation with the owners. Again, access to these facilities may be less or more important, depending on the size of your garden and who you think might use it. 11
  • 16. Education Gardens provide an opportunity to teach and learn from others. We believe that one of the most important aspects of Natopia is the sharing of ideas and information. We hope that people who use the garden you create will share tips with others about how to grow and care for the different things you grow there. If the garden contains edible plants, there might be other beneficial educational programs that could be run. These might be workshops instructing how to cook with different herbs or vegetables, or how different cultures use the same plants in special ways. For example, there are many educational programs available at CERES, a well-established community garden and farm in the City of Moreland. Partnerships, Networks, Coordination, Cooperation To ensure the success of a community garden, links should be made between you and existing local programs that want to improve the life of their community in many different ways: educational, environmental, not to mention health & wellbeing. Creating links between some or all of those will give your community garden its best chance for success. For this, it is worth considering the way these programs themselves work together. For example, educational programs could be run a community garden that demonstrate the importance of food security on the wellbeing of people, or the benefit of growing certain types of crops that require minimal water, or the importance of biodiversity on the health and wellbeing of urban communities. All you need is imagination! 12
  • 17. We have researched some inspiring initiatives and bodies to liaise with in Victoria and Australia, but there are also some fantastic initiatives that have been set up overseas. Here are some ideas of where to look! (For details of these programs see section 7) • Educational and voluntary programs: such as Ceres or Cultivating Community • Green Projects: such as Green Roof initiatives, Very Edible Garden, High Line Project, la Promenade Plantée, all of which show o Examples of start-up projects, identifying spaces, finding funding o Examples of the management of environmental and urban planning; • Research Projects, such as those in architecture and landscape, permaculture, horticulture, climate change. • Community Initiatives: Ceres, Cultivating Community & the Department of Planning and Community Development in Victoria. Academic Research and Innovation It would be very possible for your garden to be linked with a university. There are many research programs that focus on how various plants survive in an urban environment. This can be a very mutually-beneficial exercise: Academic research like this targets innovation, and needs to engage with new ideas from people on the ground who are out there actually “doing it”, and community gardens need the technical skill and horticultural knowledge that can a research institution like a university can provide in abundance. It would be wonderfully useful to be in contact with universities to inject the latest knowledge and technology into the planning and design of your community garden. A link with a university may also help generate funding for the construction or maintenance of the garden, (further discussed in section 5, below). Links with Schools It is worth finding out what programs are currently in place at local schools and if there are community groups that could get involved with your garden. At several schools in Victoria there are healthy food programs that are up and running in which children are taught to grow food and how to prepare it. The ongoing benefits of teaching children about healthy eating and food security – particularly where food comes from – are endless! Schools in your area may also be interested in providing land for a community garden or allow you to use their grounds for food swaps and educational programs. 13
  • 18. 4. PLANNING A COMMUNITY GARDEN Be curious, expand your horizons, take initiatives, give everyone the chance to get involved, and let the community garden you have been dreaming about become real! Identifying stakeholders Community gardens are characterised by the variety of its uses and the combination of many different people working together. Stakeholders are the people who have an interest in something that you need for your community garden to be successful. These are the people who can help you, and who you need to negotiate with. Here is what you need to think about when planning your community garden: • Short-term and long-term considerations: o Who will be involved at the various phases of the project? o Who wants to be involved? o Who needs to be involved? Location – who are the most suitable stakeholders regarding the specific location of the project? Consider who has most of an interest in your street, neighbourhood, city, state. What is in it for them? • Public policy: existing commitments that you could help to achieve with your garden project. For example, does your council have an existing sustainability commitment that it needs to prove it has done something about by the end of the year? If they agree to help you with your garden project, you will have helped each other achieve your goals • Public image: Are there any nearby businesses that like to promote themselves as being “clean and green”? • Core belief: Many individuals state publicly to have a passion for achieving many of the benefits that a community garden can achieve. Try to find someone to champion your cause! 14
  • 19. It is also worth thinking about the diversity of your stakeholders. This means that you need to involve and work with people coming from different environment and bodies: Give the chance to everyone to get involved! Finally, think about what the focus of your community garden is: a garden focusing on environment might have different stakeholders than one focusing on food security. Find an expert! The aim of Natopia is to provide a model that will facilitate the transformation of social behaviour and awareness of the others, and of nature. For a community garden to be successful, it is worth keeping some things in mind when you identify the experts that will help you. Here are just some steps to remember when attempting to get people on board: • First identify the various professionals who can help a community garden. This might include people in these areas: o Public authorities and institutions (specialised in development, planning, and public policy. Some of them are already involved with sustainable development, food security, health and wellbeing) o Academia (architects, landscapers, horticulturists, and many more) o Private companies including consultancy firms (Some examples are law firms, architecture or planning design firms) o NGOs or International Organisations (some of them are specialised in various aspects of education, preservation of nature, and sustainability) • Identify how all these people interact together, and indeed if they interact together. • Set up a plan of recruitment of the people identified (remember that networking is crucial!) • The way you present your ideas and project has to be changed a bit depending if you are meeting up with someone working in water management or a landscape architecture. Consider the type of questions you want to ask to people depending on their specialty. 15
  • 20. Here are the questions to keep in mind when meeting with experts: what exactly you do want from them? Why do you need them? How can they help you? How to get people from a different field and environment get together and make it happen? Remember that the type of people you will be working with will depend on the main purpose of your specific community garden (only food security or health well being related…). You might find that people from various fields and environment interact poorly together. But don’t be afraid of this: it is not an obstacle. It can actually make your garden project much stronger! All of them have great expertise that could make an important difference in the management, creativity and outcome of the development of your community garden. The motivation needs to come first from you, and also those who are setting up the community garden alongside you. Getting people from different professions to work together is not always easy. This is often because many of them have never interacted in this way between each other before. Everyone has knowledge that could be used in a community garden, but the trick is how to communicate and coordinate people in a way that could be effective. A lot of people and professionals have presumptions. You need to be confident about the objectives, and why you want to achieve them. Often the biggest challenge is being true to your original principles, and learning how to be an ethical leader. The more you involve people from a different field and different environment, the richer your experience will be, and the richer the experience your garden project will be to give to your local community. 16
  • 21. Community garden stakeholders Examples from the State of Victoria. The stakeholders identified are only representative of the main ones that might get on board. Sector Organization interest/ type Example State or Federal Government Department of Sustainability and Think Global! Yes your community garden is close to the place you Environment live, but the action you are taking by setting up this initiative could be supported and could interest the State and Federal government! Planning Authority Your local Council Victorian Department of Planning and Community Development Government Water Catchment Management Authorities Melbourne Water Water management advice Public Land Botanical Gardens Local Council Cities of These three councils are into sustainability, community garden, food Melbourne/Moreland/Yarra security. Check them out! Health/Wellbeing Health, Safety and Well-Being Inspiration and education Leadership Committee (Moreland) Recreation Parks Victoria Public spaces used for recreational purposes Community Groups Cultivating Community Experience, advice, on-ground support, passion Veg Out (St Kilda Community Farm) Rotary Not-for-Profit Online Network Community Gardens Network Local Useful to see what already exists Local sustainability education groups Incursion programs (CERES) Educational programs, coordination and partnerships Food Security VicRelief Foodbank Very Useful Body from which you can learn a lot! Architecture and Planning Faculty of Architecture, Building Academic Innovation and experience and Planning Scientific Research Melbourne School of Land and Innovation and advice Environment Gardening Materials Yates/Herberts Garden advice and/or partnerships Private Companies TRACT Consulting (Planning, Urban & Landscape Design) These companies could be of great help in networking and PricewaterhouseCoopers Private supporting your community garden. (Sustainability and Climate Change department) World Business Council for Sustainable Development Melbourne Leadership Networks Committee for Melbourne Visionaries and Inspiring people to contact… they are dreaming Centre for Sustainability and designing your cities in the upcoming years, they are just like Leadership you! C’mon don’t be shy! 17
  • 22. Promotion/education SBS Radio Why? People interested should be able to hear about your 774 ABC Melbourne Media community garden, give a change to everyone to get involved! Other community radio stations NGO / International Organisation WWF Inspiring bodies, inspiring people and initiatives. They have a lot of Friends of Earth NGO passionate people working for them and a great deal of knowledge The Ian Potter Foundation about the importance of sustainability, environment, development United Nations Environment and well being. Program Recreational bodies Life Be In it Who said that a community garden only is about growing food? Soccer Australia Others Think about what you can do there also to transform this green AFL area into a lively and welcoming place! Have fun! Legal considerations Yes, you need to think about this, too! In this guide we have suggested that you concentrate on using public spaces rather than private land. We have only considered the option of a public space in Victoria at this stage, but remember that you can use this example as a way to manage and approach the project outside of Victoria. We have found that community gardens are most successful when set up in unused public spaces. For a community group wanting to set up a new garden set up in Victoria, it might the worth thinking about trying to access Crown Land. Access and use of Crown Land and any risk liability associated with the use of the community garden might be dealt with through a licence system, issued under the Crown Land Reserves Act (1978). This is especially true if your local council agrees to be the managing committee of the community garden. Any risks associated with using the community garden would then remain with the Department of Sustainability and Environment. Local councils can be a very helpful vehicle for setting up a community garden project, so it is definitely worth getting in touch with them! 18
  • 23. 5. FUNDING THE PROJECT Where to find support? Don’t be afraid to knock on doors, share your ideas and beliefs, and ask for help! You will realise that a lot of people will be ready to help you, and sometimes people and industries you have not even been thinking about. Open your horizons! Here are some options to consider when seeking funding and support: • Cash funding • In-kind support, including pro-bono work • Personal interests and initiative. Never forget the power of individuals to make it happen. This can be one of the most effective driving forces there is! Where to look? There are many options; the question is where to start. Try breaking down funding schemes into categories. For example: • District / Community Neighbourhood area. (for example, restaurants, schools, churches, neighbourhood associations) • Local governments sustainability committees • State and federal government grant schemes • Private industries • Associations operating in your city • Institutions, including those associated with academia. (Research Institutes, which can be critical for securing research grants. 19
  • 24. Costs / benefit analysis When contacting potential stakeholders and institutions, you need to demonstrate that the benefits of the project outweigh the costs – basically, that you’ll get more out of a garden than what gets put in. That means that you should not focus only on the proper expenses, (the water management, the costs of plants, the maintenance etc), you also need to take in account the sustainable outcomes of your community garden and what you actually expect from your garden project: that is, not only a way to gather people from the same community or neighbourhood, but also a vehicle of education, of health and wellbeing and a way to use the benefits of re-integrating nature into cities in environmentally sustainable ways. Ask your expert contacts for advice and examples of how the benefits measure up against the contributions your garden will require. You need to present your project by integrating it into the future you are imagining! 20
  • 25. 6. THE FUTURE OF NATOPIA What’s next? This is just the first step in an ongoing project based on our research into the benefits and uses of community gardens, and practical ways to begin your own garden. As touched on in the beginning, there is a different set of challenges involved in creating community gardens on privately owned land, and a future version of Natopia will hopefully contain more useful information in that direction. We have suggested ways to think about the most effective type of garden space, how to get more information about local planning regulations, the possible need for external funding, and how to find information about suitable plant types for your specific area. As such, this toolkit has been something of a “portal”, a way for you, the interested urban gardener, to source knowledge from professionals who might otherwise be hidden (sometimes hidden in plain view). So what are some other ways that we can help each other in knowledge sharing about community gardens? Keen to contribute? The future of Natopia will be an online wiki-based information sharing community. The authorship of the information will be approved by a panel who will review the credentials of the authors. This will be the most direct flow of information from industry experts in the various aspects of establishing community gardens, to the people who want to do so themselves. There will also be dedicated forums for users to exchange their own gardening and food production tips – similar to what happens in the garden itself, but with people a lot further away than the neighbouring plot. We also want to establish a dedicated community garden in Melbourne called Natopia, which could act as a full-time resource and research centre. The goal would be to have a central educational hub, upon which many other community garden projects could build. 21
  • 26. And so… As we have seen, there exists so much energy and enthusiasm in a city like Melbourne for community garden projects. There is a growing awareness of both what they can do to strengthen links between people, educate, and provide a fresh, sustainable source of food over time. There are many related challenges resulting from climate change that require complex, co-operative responses. For example, there is a growing awareness of how important a role local community gardens will play in the future as a means of food security in the face of increased energy costs and growing global populations. Food security could quite possibly be the biggest challenge that human beings face within the next generation. Learning to live well within one’s environment is what sustainability’s all about, and helping to re-integrate nature back into cities like Melbourne is a fantastic way to start achieving that sustainability. But the most important thing to remember about community gardens are the human beings – people just like you. All the resources, knowledge, and infrastructure are out there, along with the will to make these projects happen. What they need is someone to get the project started. You might already live on a street full of people like yourself who are just itching to grab a spade and start flexing their green thumb. So who’s going to make the first move? The person who knows how to start. And who is that? The person who just finished reading this guide! 22
  • 27. 7. RESOURCES AND FURTHER READING Checklist Planning a community garden? Here are some reminders! Checked what other gardens are present in the community Identified space for the garden Found a group of neighbours or local residents to work with Thought about the function and purpose of the garden Designed the garden Made sure people feel welcome in the garden Talked to businesses or other stakeholders who might help fund the construction or maintenance of the garden Internet Resources Because we want to encourage you to expand your horizons… get on the net and have a look! 23
  • 28. 1. Natopia: Who, What, Why It is time to act! Bring back nature into your city, into your life, into your traditions. Sustainability Issues, Health & Well Being of you and your environment: Home: Want to see something inspiring that could help you to understand how your health & wellbeing and the one of Earth are linked? Here is an amazing and inspiring work, Have a look! http://www.home-2009.com/ SustainAbility: http://www.sustainability.com/ Quoted in the toolkit: Maller et al. “Healthy Parks, Healthy People. The health benefits of contact with nature in a park context. Deakin University and Parks Victoria, 2nd edition, 2008 Benefits of reintegrating Nature into Urban Development: Urban Climate Research: http://arts.monash.edu.au/ges/research/climat e/urban/index.php Urban Design and Climate: http://www.bom.gov.au/info/leaflets/urban_d esign.pdff The Earth Observatory of the NASA – Beating the Heat in Big Cities: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/GreenRoof/ How City Warmth Affects Plant Growth: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/City+heat:+urban+areas'+warmth+affects+plant+grow th-a0120035020 Report on the projected rise of temperature in Melbourne city in 2003-2007: http://www.cmar.csiro.au/e-print/open/suppiah_2001b.pdf 24
  • 29. Food Security Explanatory Document from theAustralian Government: http://www.ausaid.gov.au/keyaid/food_security.cfm The State of Food Insecurity in the World, Food and Agriculture Organisation: http://www.fao.org/docrep/011/i0291e/i0291e00.htm 2. Getting Started What already exists abroad? Get inspired by these few links! New York: http://www.thehighline.org/ Chicago: http://www.bloomingdaletrail.org/ Philadelphia: http://www.readingviaduct.org/index.html Paris: http://www.paris-walking-tours.com/promenadeplantee.html http://www.promenade-plantee.org/ http://www.paris.fr/portail/Parcs/Portal.lut?page=equipment&template=equipment.te mplate.popup&document_equipment_id=1772 3. Garden Function, Purpose and Design Let’s make it happen: the garden of your dream come true! General Information: Sustainable Urban Garden: http://www.sacgardens.org/ A portal to Green Technology: http://www.greentechnolog.com/ 25
  • 30. Community Gardens in Melbourne: Cultivating Community: http://cultivatingcommunity.org.au/cc/ CERES: http://www.ceres.org.au/drupal/index.php Veg Out: http://www.vegout.asn.au/ Ringwood Community Garden: http://www.ringwoodcommunitygarden.org.au/ Permablitz Australia: http://www.permablitz.net/codemo/aboutus/index.htm Very Edible Gardens is a backyard initiative but useful to get info about plant pots and beds: http://www.VeryEdibleGardens.com/ Green Roofs: Have a look, you can find ideas about the way you can set up your garden Growing Up in Melbourne: http://www.growingup.org.au/ Green Roofs for Healthy Cities: http://www.greenroofs.org/ EcoFriend: Green Living: http://www.ecofriend.org/ Community Gardens Abroad: ‘P-Patch’ in Seattle: http://www.seattle.gov/Neighborhoods/ppatch/ ‘Cultivating Youth’ in New Jersey: http://cyfar.rutgers.edu/ ‘Growing Community’ in Denver: http://www.dug.org/home.asp 4. Planning a Community Garden Speak about your ideas! Government: Department of Sustainability & Environment: http://www.dse.vic.gov.au/dse/index.htm City of Moreland: http://www.mefl.com.au/ Health, Safety and Well- Being Leadership Committee of Moreland: http://www.moreland.vic.gov.au/health-safety-and-wellbeing/health-moreland/health- safety-leadership.html City of Melbourne: http://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/ 26
  • 31. City of Yarra: http://www.yarracity.vic.gov.au/ Melbourne Water: http://www.melbournewater.com.au/ Royal Botanical Gardens of Melbourne: http://www.rbg.vic.gov.au/ Parks Victoria: http://www.parkweb.vic.gov.au/ Recreation Life Be In It: http://www.lifebeinit.org/ Soccer Australia: http://www.footballaustralia.com.au/ AFL: http://www.afl.com.au/ Community Groups Cultivating Community: http://cultivatingcommunity.org.au/ Veg Out: http://www.vegout.asn.au/ Rotary: http://www.rotary.org/ CERES: http://www.ceres.org/ Online Networks Community Gardens Network: http://communitygarden.org.au/ Food Security VicRelief Foodbank: http://www.vrfb.com.au/ Academia Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning of Melbourne University: http://www.abp.unimelb.edu.au/ Melbourne School of Land and Environment: http://www.landfood.unimelb.edu.au/ Gardening Materials Yates: http://www.yates.com.au/ Herberts: http://www.herbherbert.com/ 27
  • 32. Private Companies Committee for Melbourne: http://melbourne.org.au/ Center for Sustainability Leadership: http://www.csl.org.au/ TRACT: http://www.tract.net.au/ PriceWaterHouse Coopers Australia: http://www.pwc.com.au/ World Business Council for Sustainable Development: http://www.wbcsd.org/ Media SBS TV: http://www.sbs.com.au/ SBS Radio: http://www.sbs.com.au/radio/ 774 ABC Melbourne: http://www.abc.net.au/melbourne/ NGOs/ International Organisations Friends of Earth: http://www.foe.co.uk/ The Ian Potter Foundation: http://www.ianpotter.org.au/ WWF: http://www.wwf.org/ The United Nations Environment Program: http://www.unep.org/ Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations: http://www.fao.org The FAO has a special programme on Food Security: http://www.fao.org/spfs/en/ 28