8. Beyond a Construction Site

Welcome to the green paradise! Yes, this was the site of an excavation where construction work stopped, and today, it hosts a green community garden. And for over ten years now! Congratulations! There are at least ten suspended construction sites in the centre of Ljubljana or nearby, a result of real estate speculations before the financial crash in 2008 and the ensuing economic recession. It covers an area of 1,000 square metres. For several years, the excavation was left desolate, with no workers or machinery after the investor abandoned the project. But, in 2010, a concept of alternative land use was born in collaboration with the local residents. The cultural association Obrat suggested a gradual transformation of the site into a community space reserved for gardening, socializing, education and culture. At least until the owner, the City of Ljubljana, decides what to do with the land. And they did it! Within the framework of the Mladi Levi Festival, they obtained all land use permits and started gardening in 2010. Shortly afterwards, they managed to sign an agreement with the City of Ljubljana on the free use of the space. The contract is now renewed every year. Since it used to be a construction site, the space is now simply called “Beyond a Construction Site”. It is therefore an alternative approach to the use of seemingly useless urban areas. The project promotes a more active role of local residents in planning, organization, and management of urban areas. In practice, this means that children and adults socialize on the site, organize different community events, and – most importantly – grow their own vegetables and fruit. There are about 100 active participants in the project who cultivate about 40 garden patches. They have established a flexible system of rules that regulate the common use and management of space, but are also subject to change according to the needs of the community.

You must have noticed the growing popularity of urban gardening. However, urban gardening is not new in Slovenia or globally. On the contrary, urban gardening has been known since antiquity. In Slovenia, the industrialisation in the first, and especially the second part of the 20th century brought along the cultivation of many urban areas in the vicinity of workers' settlements. Yes, workers found little patches of earth in their new urban settlements and began to cultivate them. It was the beginning of the “gardening” phenomenon. In the past, the gardeners used to occupy their small patches of land illegally, but today this is mostly regulated by city authorities. There is even a TV series (named Gardeners, of course), which includes a hit single by Ana Pupedan with the title – you guessed it – Gardeners.