Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Programme 2014 - 2020 INTERREG VB Danube

Date of latest update: 2023-11-06

Description

Description (EN):

In recent times, the main needs and challenges related to governance systems within the Danube region can be associated with decreasing public institutional capacities to incorporate participatory approach into decision-making processes. The absence of participatory mechanisms is contributing to reduced motivation of people to engage in governance and administration because they feel relegated from political, social and economic agendas and not competent enough to act as an equivalent counterpart and a considerable driver of “change”. The gap between citizens and public authorities at all levels is therefore increasing and leading to intensified mistrust and lack of public participation, especially among the most disadvantaged communities at risk of exclusion, such as the poor, unemployed, homeless, Roma communities, elderly, women and youth. The growing social and economic inequalities are reflected in reduced quality of urban life. To overcome these challenges the AgriGo4Cities project wants to employ Participatory Urban and Peri-urban agriculture (UPA) as a powerful and emerging method to improve public institutional capacities in order to tackle socio-economic exclusion of vulnerable/marginalized groups and to stimulate sustainable urban development in the Danube region. To this end the projects aims to develop innovative methodology of participatory planning and integrate it into decision-making processes. The methodology will improve capacities of public administrators to involve relevant stakeholders and civil society into governance and public participation. Intensified cooperation will boost mutual trust and stimulate strengthened socio-economic inclusion of vulnerable/marginalized groups. The reduction of social and economic inequalities will lead to more sustainable development of disadvantaged neighbourhoods. By applying a transnational multi-level approach the AgriGo4Cities project ambition is to become a flagship of well governed Danube region.

Achievements (EN):

IN MANY URBAN AREAS ACROSS THE DANUBE REGION, THE PARTICIPATION OF CITIZENS IN URBAN GOVERNANCE DECREASES. WHAT'S MORE, DUE TO LOW CAPACITIES OF PUBLIC AUTHORITIES TO ENSURE SUCH PARTICIPATION, DISADVANTAGED GROUPS, SUCH AS THE POOR, HOMELESS, ROMA, MIGRANTS, ELDERLY OR WOMEN WITH CHILDREN, FACE AN INCREASING RISK OF EXCLUSION. HAVING FIRST-HAND EXPERIENCE WITH TACKLING SIMILAR CHALLENGES IN THEIR COUNTRIES, ELEVEN PARTNER ORGANISATIONS JOINED FORCES IN AGRIGO4CITIES PROJECT, INTRODUCING URBAN AGRICULTURE AS A POWERFUL TOOL TO ADDRESS THIS COMPLEX ISSUE. Cities and their governance have a fundamental impact on the quality of life of urban citizens. Vice versa, active involvement of city residents is an important part of good policy making and urban governance. In 2017, a cooperation project supported by Interreg Danube decided to stimulate public participation in the Danube region by means of urban agriculture: a practice of cultivating, processing and distributing food in or around urban areas. While this increases access to locally grown food and can contribute to local economic development, targeted urban agriculture governance plans can also contribute to poverty alleviation and social inclusion of the urban poor and other vulnerable groups. URBAN FARMING TRANSFORMING THE CITY: Building a community is the primary aim of the partnership consortium of municipalities, research institutions and environmental NGOs involved in the AgriGo4Cities project. In a pilot phase, an urban agricultural project was carried out in five municipalities of the Danube region. One of them was Municipal district Prague 9, former industrial, now rapidly developing residential area, located within the capital of the Czech Republic. Through participatory methodology involving various stakeholders, single mothers with children were identified as a group most at risk of social exclusion in this part of the city. To support this community, the participants decided to establish Paletka community garden, as this type of urban agriculture project seemed to fit the particular needs of the group. Besides involving the target group in the process, significant partnerships were developed with local NGOs, maternity centres and also the kindergarten Pod Krocínkou, which was conveniently situated next to the site of the future community garden. "Kindergarten, among other things, tries to involve vulnerable groups into everyday life as well. It cooperates with the local young offenders institution. I wanted to establish a community garden there, permanently bringing this already created community closer together,” says Libuše Kopecká, director of the kindergarten Pod Krocínkou. For an urban agricultural site, such as the community garden in Prague 9, to be sustainable, it is important to ensure long-term use of the plot and funding by the municipality. Hence, the gradually improved communication and growing understanding between the citizens and the representatives of the Municipal District Prague 9 is being considered as one of the main achievements of the participatory methodology developed by the AgriGo4Cities project. This and 20 other good practices on how to design a successful application of participatory urban agriculture were included in the Catalogue, which is the main output of the project. Categorized into educational, social, community and therapeutic gardens, according to the included vulnerable groups, the catalogue presents a collection of successful ideas, initiatives and projects in urban agriculture. Moreover, it highlights the importance and role of public institutions in raising socio-economic inclusion of vulnerable/marginalized groups through participatory methodology. WHAT'S THE FUTURE? To what extent the project succeeds in bridging the gap between the public administrations and citizens, remains to be seen. However, it already gained wide recognition. The tool to involve relevant stakeholders and civil society into governance in the Danube region was featured by the European Commission as one of the success stories of Interreg cooperation on the occasion of its 30th anniversary.

Website: http://www.interreg-danube.eu/

Expected Results (EN): Intensity of cooperation of institutional actors and other stakeholders in the programme area in order to tackle major societal challenges (survey based composite indicator)

Expected Outputs (EN):

The AgriGo4Cities project main result represents intensified cooperation of public administrators and civil society in order to increase socio-economic integration of vulnerable/marginalized groups and improve sustainable urban development. To this end the project aims to develop a common methodology of participatory UPA. The project will motivate local partnerships in six pilot areas comprised of public administrators, vulnerable/marginalized groups and other relevant stakeholders through interactive good practices catalogue of participatory UPA. New findings and conclusions will be integrated into development of a training tool consisting of the training lessons and guidelines for the development and implementation of an action plan. The training tool will be delivered to local partnerships through intense training course and six study visits. The common methodology will be tested in pilot areas by developing and implementing six action plans of participatory UPA. The testing process will be supplemented with an innovative tutoring program and evaluation questionnaire on effectiveness of participatory UPA. All the knowledge and experience will be integrated into a transnational guide of participatory UPA and promoted through the instruments and channels of transnational multi-level partnership for a better governance framework. Exploitation of results will be secured by the six local and one transnational plan of follow-up activities in the Danube region.

Thematic information

Urban development Social inclusion and equal opportunities

Specific Objective:

Improve institutional capacities to tackle major societal challenges (short title). Strengthen multilevel- and transnational governance and institutional capacities and provide viable institutional and legal frameworks for more effective, wider and deeper transnational cooperation across the Danube region in areas with major societal challenges

Thematic Objective:

(11) enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration through actions to strengthen the institutional capacity and the efficiency of public administrations and public services related to the implementation of the ERDF, and in support of actions under the ESF to strengthen the institutional capacity and the efficiency of public administration.

Investment Priority: (11 ETC) ETC specific for transnational cooperation: enhancing institutional capacity of public authorities and stakeholders and efficient public administration by developing and coordinating macro-regional and sea-basin strategies

Partners (11)

Lead Partner: Znanstvenorqziskovalni center Slovenske akademije znanosti in umetnosti

Address: Novi trg 2, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.zrc-sazu.si/en

Total budget: EUR 317 657.00

ERDF budget: EUR 270 008.45

Ifuplan – InstitutfürUmweltplanung und Raumentwicklung

Name: Ifuplan – InstitutfürUmweltplanung und Raumentwicklung

Address: Amalienstr. 79, 80799 München, Germany

Legal status: private

Website: http://www.ifuplan.de

Total budget: EUR 144 692.60

ERDF budget: EUR 122 988.71

Mestna občina Velenje

Name: Mestna občina Velenje

Address: Titov trg 1, 3320 Velenje, Slovenia

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.velenje.si

Total budget: EUR 131 513.50

ERDF budget: EUR 111 786.48

Сдружение на Югозападните Общини

Name: Сдружение на Югозападните Общини

Address: Todor Aleksandrov Street, floor 3, office 32 23, 2700 Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.aswm.net

Total budget: EUR 131 253.50

ERDF budget: EUR 111 565.48

Evropská rozvojová agentura s.r.o.

Name: Evropská rozvojová agentura s.r.o.

Address: Na Čihadle 959/55, 16000 Prague, Czech Republic

Legal status: private

Website: http://www.euda.eu

Total budget: EUR 119 027.70

ERDF budget: EUR 101 173.54

Kulturno izobraževalno društvo PiNA

Name: Kulturno izobraževalno društvo PiNA

Address: Gregorčičeva ulica 6, 6000 Koper, Slovenia

Legal status: private

Website: http://www.pina.si

Total budget: EUR 116 758.50

ERDF budget: EUR 99 244.72

KDRIÜ Közép-dunántúli Regionális Innovációs Ügynökség Nonprofit Kft.

Name: KDRIÜ Közép-dunántúli Regionális Innovációs Ügynökség Nonprofit Kft.

Address: Seregélyesi út 113, 8000 Székesfehérvár,, Hungary

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.kdriu.hu

Total budget: EUR 116 403.70

ERDF budget: EUR 98 943.14

Municipiul Vaslui

Name: Municipiul Vaslui

Address: Haret Spiru street, 2Vaslui, Romania

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.primariavaslui.ro

Total budget: EUR 110 955.20

ERDF budget: EUR 94 311.92

Opština Ulcinj

Name: Opština Ulcinj

Address: Blv. Skenderbeu bb, 85360 Ulcinj, Montenegro

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.ul-gov.me

Total budget: EUR 99 316.50

IPA2 budget: EUR 84 419.02

ENVICORP Slovakia

Name: ENVICORP Slovakia

Address: Horná 89/3915, 974 01 Banská Bystrica, Slovakia

Legal status: private

Website: http://envicorp.webnode.sk/

Total budget: EUR 98 918.00

ERDF budget: EUR 84 080.30

Městská část Praha 9

Name: Městská část Praha 9

Address: okolovská 324/14, 180 49 Prague, Czech Republic

Legal status: public

Website: http://www.praha9.cz

Total budget: EUR 87 694.00

ERDF budget: EUR 74 539.90

Partners map

Partners and Projects info

Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts

Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Partners and Projects info

Ifuplan – Institute for Environmental Planning and Spatial Development

Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Partners and Projects info

Municipality of Velenje

Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Partners and Projects info

Association of South-Western Municipalities

Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Partners and Projects info

European Development Agency

Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Partners and Projects info

Association for culture and education, PiNA

Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Partners and Projects info

Central Transdanubian Regional Innovation Agency Nonprofit Ltd.

Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Partners and Projects info

Municipiul Vaslui

Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Partners and Projects info

Municipality of Ulcinj

Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Partners and Projects info

ENVICORP Slovakia

Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Partners and Projects info

Municipality of Prague 9

Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Lead partner

Project partner

Summary

Project name (EN): Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Project acronym: DTP1-533-4.1 AgriGo4Cities

Project start date: 2017-01-01

Project end date: 2019-06-30

Project status: closed

Total budget/expenditure: EUR 1 474 190.20

Total EU funding (amount): EUR 1 253 061.67

Total EU funding (co-financing rate): 85.00%

Co-financing sources:

ERDF: Amount, EUR 1 168 642.64.
IPA/IPA II/IPA III: Amount, EUR 84 419.02.

Documents

Documents on this project are listed below, and organised by category. Please note field "Data source", attached to each document. Keep.eu users are free to use these documents as long as they mention the data source and keep.eu.

Reports

Governance_Plan_RO

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/agrigo4cities

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2019-06-30

Languages: ro

Attachment file: Download

Governance_Plan_MNE

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/agrigo4cities

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2019-06-30

Languages: cnr

Attachment file: Download

Governance_Plan_ALB

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/agrigo4cities

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2019-06-30

Languages: en

Attachment file: Download

Governance_Plan_CZE

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/agrigo4cities

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2019-06-30

Languages: cs

Attachment file: Download

Governance_Plan_SLO

Attachment type: file

Type of document: Report

Data source: http://www.interreg-danube.eu/approved-projects/agrigo4cities

Publication date: 2020-01-27

Document date: 2019-06-30

Languages: sl

Attachment file: Download

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

Financing programme

2014 - 2020 INTERREG VB Danube

Last month that data in keep.eu was retrieved from the Programme's website or received from the Programme

2023-09-22

No. of projects in keep.eu / Total no. of projects (% of projects in keep.eu)

155 / 155 (100%)

No. of project partnerships in keep.eu / Total no. of project partnerships (% of project partnerships in keep.eu)

1 582 / 1 582 (100%)

Notes on the data

Information provided by the Programme. Achievements were retrieved by Interact from the Programme website (http://www.interreg-danube.eu/), or a website directly linked from it, on 2021-10-06, 2023-01-10 and 2024-01-30.

The financial data featured in keep.eu for this programme, it's projects and its partners is not exact and should be taken as a reference only.

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Urban agriculture for changing cities: governance models for better institutional capacities and social inclusion

Description

Thematic information

Partners (11)

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Summary

Documents

Information regarding the data in keep.eu on the programme financing this project

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